Text | Observe Jun
Give up ruling for life! Lee Hsien Loong announced his resignation, and he is a real hero if he can afford to let go!
Lee Hsien Loong, the son of Singapore's founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, succeeded Goh Chok Tong as Singapore's third-generation leader in 2004. And because Singapore's economy has developed rapidly under Lee Hsien Loong's governance, many Singaporeans are very supportive of Lee Hsien Loong's administration.
To tell the truth, with the backing of his father Lee Kuan Yew, who is the father of the country, and the Lee family is the most powerful family in the local area, as well as his political achievements during his reign, as long as Lee Hsien Loong is willing, then he will definitely be able to rule for life. After all, Singapore is still an authoritarian state at its roots.
However, what the outside world did not expect was that Lee Hsien Loong finally chose to give up his lifelong rule. What is even more rare is that Lee Hsien Loong did not choose a successor from his own family, but chose to hand over power to a second-generation immigrant from Hainan, Huang Xuncai. According to public information, Lawrence Wong was born in Singapore, his ancestral home is Hainan, China, and his father followed his grandfather to Malaysia as a cook in the early years, and later moved to Singapore with his family.
To tell the truth, Huang Xuncai himself does not have rare blood, nor does he have an outstanding background, and he was able to be selected as the successor by Lee Hsien Loong, mainly by his own ability. For example, during the new crown period, Lawrence Wong was appointed to become the co-leader of the Singapore government's anti-epidemic team, and he also personally rushed to the front line many times during the period, and it is precisely because Lawrence Wong dared to think and do that Singapore was able to gradually defeat the epidemic and make Singapore one of the countries with the best anti-epidemic performance.
Obviously, Huang Xuncai's ascension to the position is by no means due to blood relationship, let alone background, but because he is indeed very good. But having said that, Lawrence Wong was able to successfully ascend to the throne with his ability to become the most powerful prime minister in Singapore, which can indeed prove that Singapore's system is really good and truly capable.
Moving on to Lee Hsien Loong, as we said above, as long as Lee Hsien Loong is willing, he will definitely be able to rule for life, no matter how bad it is, he can also choose his own descendants to take his place, but Lee Hsien Loong did not, but resolutely decided to give up power, this kind of decisiveness can indeed be called a real hero.
Obviously, deep down in Lee Hsien Loong's heart, he has never regarded Singapore as his "private property", which is why he said: Singapore should not have a "prime minister over 70 years old".
Perhaps in Lee Hsien Loong's view, although he can easily achieve lifelong governance, this is not a good thing for Singapore, because a person's "brain power" is limited after all, and as he grows older, his brain will gradually "go wrong", and if he still has absolute power in this unconscious situation, it will probably be a disaster for the people of Singapore.
Secondly, if you choose to hand over power to your descendants, then Singapore will gradually become mediocre, because the facts have now proved that Singapore has a better successor, if you still insist on "choosing a mediocre person to succeed you" at this time, it will also be harmful to Singapore's future development.
Being able to hold power is a kind of ability, and being able to let go of power is also a kind of ability. The latter is obviously more difficult than the former, and after clarifying this point, and looking at the Singapore economic miracle created by Lee Hsien Loong, it is not difficult for us to understand.