Veteran journalist urges PM to get rid of his image as a ‘last-minute compromise candidate’ who no one can take offence with

SINGAPORE: In a recent interview, veteran journalist Bertha Henson had a piece of advice for new Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, urging him to show that he’s not a last-minute, inoffensive candidate but someone who his whole cabinet has gotten behind.

Ms Henson, a former editor with The Straits Times and The New Paper, said this in an Inconvenient Questions interview.

On Wednesday (June 12), she spoke with series host, former Nominated Member of Parliament Viswa Sadasivan, about a number of issues facing Singapore and Singaporeans today, including political and economic challenges.

And while she had a lot to say about Singapore’s former Prime Ministers, particularly Goh Chok Tong, whom she spoke of fondly, she feels that she doesn’t quite know Mr Wong, whose profile rose during the pandemic when he led the multi-ministry task force assigned to tackle the crisis.

“Before that, he was a technocrat with very little visibility,” she said.

However, she also said that she welcomed the handover of power from now-Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, even stating that she wouldn’t have minded if it had come earlier.

Nevertheless, Ms Henson gave Mr Wong this advice:

“I think he has to find a way to get rid of this image of himself as a last-minute compromise candidate who no one can take offence to. He has to be able to show that his cabinet colleagues are behind him.”

She added that the best occasion for him to be able to do this would be the ruling People’s Action Party (Central Executive Committee) conference in November.

“I think he should quickly make a bid to be Secretary General because that’s when it’s very clear that his cabinet colleagues” chose him and stand behind him as a leader “so he won’t suffer from this short runway that he had.”

Mr Sadasivan, however pointed out that when Mr Goh and Mr Lee became Prime Minister, neither man immediately became PAP Secretary-General. “So there is precedence,” he told Ms Henson.

“So what if there’s precedence?” she replied. “We do what’s right for our time.”

Ms Henson clarified that this would show that even if PM Wong’s runway to the election is short, as Secretary-General, he will come into the GE with everything in his hands, which means he can set the tone for the next five years.

She added that what the Prime Minister tells the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee—what he believes about the number of GRCs and SMCs—will say much about him, how fair he is, and what sort of playing ground there will be.

Watch the interview in full here:

/TISG

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