When The Independent Singapore ran a report that it had been tipped off about Education Minister Chan Chun Sing being a front runner to become Singapore’s next Prime Minister, netizens had quite a lot to say on the matter.
Mr Chan enjoys the support of Madam Ho Ching, the Prime Minister’s wife, who has shared his photos and posts liberally on her Facebook page. Currently, Mr Chan is 2nd Assistant Secretary-General of the ruling People’s Action Party.
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, who is also Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies, is 1st Assistant Secretary-General. When he became Deputy Prime Minister in 2019, after nearly six years as Finance Minister and more than four as Education Minister, he was assumed that he would be the successor.
Then last year, in a shock announcement, Mr Heng bowed out of the running to succeed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
PM Lee is Secretary-General of the PAP, the party’s highest-ranking official, and heads its Central Executive Committee (CEC). The Secretary-General is also the person who is chosen to be the Prime Minister of the country.
“Mr Chan is the preferred choice of both PM Lee and Madam Ho Ching. This is why he has been the Minister-in-charge of Public Service as well as the Deputy Chairman of the People’s Association, since 2015, the year the Office was created,” a source told TISG.
As convinced as the source may seem, not all netizens are quite so sure that Mr Chan would be their own choice.
Quite a few seem to feel that the future belongs to the current Opposition, with votes of confidence for Workers’ Party head and Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh.
That would seem an awfully long shot. In the 2020 General Elections, the Workers’ Party won 10 of the 89 parliamentary seats. So, as of now, that would mean 10 down, 79 to go.
Other netizens highlighted Mr Chan’s past gaffes, his “xia suay” and “cotton comes from sheep” blunders.
A few commenters pointed out that Mr Chan is not the most proficient in the English language.
Others compared Mr Chan, rather unfavorably, with Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.
But some, on the other hand, expressed confidence that he would be PM Lee’s successor, asserting that Mr Chan is better than Finance Minister Lawrence Wong and Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, who are also seen as strong contenders to be the next PM.
One area in which he is definitely hard to beat is his breadth of cabinet and leadership experience. Chief of Army before he quit the SAF to enter politics, Mr Chan is currently Education Minister.
Before that, he was Trade and Industry Minister, and has been Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Second Minister for Defence, Minister for Social and Family Development, Minister of State for Information, Communication and the Arts, Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress and Deputy Chairman of the People’s Association.
/TISG
Is Chan Chun Sing leading the race to be the next Prime Minister of Singapore?