As part of the 16 key PAP appointment holders deciding the next Prime Minister, Senior Minister Indranee Rajah said that the decision to elect the next Prime Minister is not her priority. The Minister who is not shortlisted as PM material made a salty response to reporters yesterday (Jan 8):
“It’s a question that people ask, and we also recognise it’s a pressing issue. But it’s not the kind of thing you want to be fixated upon, simply because there are other pressing issues like the economy, jobs, social and fiscal sustainability. Even when you talk about future leadership, you talk about all of this, at the end of the day, what is this for?”
The current three contenders for the PM post are Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat, Minister of State Chan Chun Sing and Education Minister Ong Ye Kung. All 3 favourites are Chinese and males.
Interestingly, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was complaining about the lack of racial diversity about the Singapore President position but the retiring PM was notably quiet about the criteria for his successor. PM Lee Hsien Loong earlier re-wrote the Constitution to enact the country’s first racist election, allowing only Malays to contest.
