RENEWAL OF PARTY LEADERSHIP
In response to a question on leadership renewal, Mr Wong said he is refreshing the party’s slate in order to ensure a “good pace of renewal” in the coming years.
“Why make these changes now? Because each time I fail to do so, it’s another five years. And then we bring people in later, it will make it harder, it will be slower to refresh and renew the team,” he said.
He said Singaporeans are concerned about this because they can already see that quite a number of ministers in the current Cabinet are aged 60 and above.
“Within my Cabinet, I’m one of the younger ones already, and we are the minority,” said Mr Wong, who is 52.
He added that keeping the current team would mean that the average age gets older and that the process of renewal is delayed, something that “will not be in the interest in the longer term for Singapore”.
“I may be okay for five years, but I am storing up more challenges for the country in the future, so I would rather have a good pace of renewal. There will be existing members of the team who will continue. Amongst them, Senior Minister Lee (Hsien Loong) is still continuing, DPM Gan (Kim Yong) certainly will continue,” said Mr Wong.
Mr Lee had handed over the country’s leadership reins to Mr Wong in May last year, while Mr Gan was chosen as one of two deputy prime ministers in Mr Wong’s first Cabinet.
