Today (15 May), Singapore is set to welcome its fourth Prime Minister. Tonight, Lawrence Wong was sworn in as the new prime minister at the Presidential Palace. On Facebook, he invited everyone to watch the live broadcast of the swearing-in.
The bottom of the post also attracted many netizens to leave messages of congratulations. Among them, there are also Jamaican netizens who congratulated Huang Xuncai and said that they are looking forward to tonight's oath-taking ceremony.
Before the new prime minister took office, Singapore's minister posted a message of congratulations on Facebook, including the two major opposition parties, the Workers' Party and the Move Forward Party.
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung congratulated Lawrence Wong on taking over as Prime Minister. Today marks the third leadership transition in Singapore's history. Singaporean politics embodies the stability of the political system, the coherence of public policies, and the determination to uphold fundamental principles and values. He also mentioned that he and Lawrence Wong have been friends and colleagues for more than 20 years, having both served as private secretaries to the prime minister during their careers and had gone through very difficult times together in previous years.
Chen Qinliang, a candidate who participated in last year's presidential election, also sent a message of congratulations.
Workers' Party leader Bi Danxing congratulated Lawrence Wong on becoming the fourth prime minister and thanked Lee Hsien Loong for his 20-year tenure as Singapore's prime minister. He also wished Lawrence Wong all the best in his new post, and under his leadership, the Workers' Party will continue to discharge its legislative responsibilities to advance the interests of Singapore and its people.
At about the same time, the Move Forward Party also issued a message thanking Lee Hsien Loong for his 20 years of service and congratulating Lawrence Wong on becoming the new prime minister.
Elected as the successor of the Prime Minister
Huang Xuncai and his wife were surprised
Last week, Lawrence Wong was interviewed by Singaporean media. At that time, he and his wife Lu Zirui were surprised when they were elected as leaders by the fourth-generation leadership team.
In fact, they have already been mentally prepared, and he decided to run for election in the first place, so he readily accepts the result and will do his best to lead the country.
Source: Official website of the Prime Minister's Office of Singapore
Lawrence Wong also mentioned that he originally worked in economics in the public service and wanted to do the same in the private sector. His superiors at the time advised him to stay in the public service.
It wasn't until 2022 that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong invited him to join the political world. He thought it was his calling, so he accepted it. Today, he has 15 years of experience in public service and 13 years in politics.
It is not assumed that he will be prime minister after the next general election
The fourth-generation leadership team originally chose then-Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat as its leader in 2018, but he resigned in 2021 to give up the opportunity to a younger candidate with greater development potential. Subsequently, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong entrusted the retired Minister Koh Boon Yuen with coordinating a team to elect a new successor.
Lee Hsien Loong held a meeting on April 16, 2022, and reporters revealed that the fourth-generation team reached a consensus. Mr Wong said that the younger ministers in the fourth-generation leadership team were thinking about how to proceed and how to elect the new leaders, and that no one would be excluded, and that he hoped for a more open and thorough process. Whoever is chosen, everyone else will support it.
Lawrence Wong also believes that the People's Action Party may not win the next election, or that he will become prime minister after the election. The current political system is no longer a one-party monopoly, and there will be different voices in Congress. As long as he is entrusted with important tasks by the people, he can lead the country.
Continue to learn Chinese well I hope to have a better grasp of Chinese and Malay in the future
Mr. Wong, who loves to read, said that lately he has been reading mostly non-fiction books, mostly about current affairs. He also reads biographies of leaders, both local and foreign. In addition, he will also focus on current topics such as quantum computing, artificial intelligence, etc.
Lawrence Wong also revealed that he has been actively learning Chinese in the past year or two. He has also been working hard to improve his Malay language, but he will continue to learn Mandarin well. He doesn't find it difficult to use Mandarin in everyday conversations, but it requires a deeper level of mastery to use it in his work or to conduct interviews in Mandarin. He hopes that he can improve in this area so that he can communicate more fluently with more Chinese people.
KS丨Editor
HQ丨Editor
Singapore's Prime Minister's Office, Facebook丨Source
Singapore's Prime Minister's Office, Facebook丨Image source
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