Singapore — One of the more interesting parts of the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, which ended its first day on Wednesday (Nov 18), was the exchange between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait about Singapore’s leadership succession question.
The forum, held at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa, is the first major international forum to be held since the Covid-19 pandemic began, with 300 delegates from 51 countries.
At one point, as PM Lee and Mr Micklethwait were discussing the steps Singapore is taking in easing Covid restrictions, the Bloomberg editor-in-chief pointed out that two possible successors to PM Lee heading the Multi-Ministry Task Force addressing the pandemic, although the Prime Minister has said he will stay on as the leader of the country until it’s over.
It is highly probable that Mr Micklethwait was referring to Finance Minister Lawrence Wong and Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, who has been rumoured to succeed the Prime Minister.
“Some journalists have noted that you have, however, cleverly put two of your potential successors onto the Covid taskforce to see how they do. It looks a little like Squid Game,” said Mr Micklethwait, to laughter from the audience.
While it’s highly unlikely that anyone hasn’t heard of Netflix’s Squid Game, when it debuted in September of this year, a South Korean series wherein participants compete in a series of deadly children’s games to win a cash prize that will get them out of deep financial debt.
The show, which is largely perceived to be a social commentary on late-stage, predatory capitalism, took the world by storm and has gone on to become Netflix’s most-watched series.
“Do you have any idea how are they performing? Are you thinking of eliminating them or continuing?” he then asked.
“I think our approach is not to write off any participants. I don’t have (a) spare. I’m not trying to look for a winner, I’m trying to build a team,” PM Lee replied.
“And the team needs many different skills, and many different people to carry a very heavy responsibility of taking Singapore into the next generation, beyond me and my age-group of leaders.
And I think they each make a contribution.
I put them there not as a beauty contest, but because I think they can make a contribution and it is a very important job which needs to be done.
If I don’t put the best people available on the COVID team, what am I doing with them?”
To this, Mr Micklethwait replied, “I will take that as a sign that they’re still in the competition.”
The conversation between PM Lee and Mr Micklethwait may be viewed in the video below:
/TISG