information sector, to
head of government relations at Grab, one of the region’s biggest tech giants. There was also PAP MP Christopher de Souza’s
guilty charge, and later appeal, for professional misconduct while he was acting for clients.
If Lee’s succession planning relies on stability, the recent volatility in the PAP could affect future elections.
But the extent to which the 2023 presidential election served as a litmus test for the PAP’s popularity was constrained by Tharman’s personal popularity,
with a 2016 survey indicating 69 per cent of Singaporeans would back him as prime minister. The same survey revealed only 10 per cent of respondents expressed a preference for Lee’s newest successor, Lawrence Wong. A credible assessment of the PAP’s support might only happen in the next two years, when the scheduled general election is held no later than November 2025.
In his
National Day Rally, Lee acknowledged his succession planning was disrupted by COVID-19 and by ‘several controversial issues [that] have drawn Singaporeans’ attention’. His call for trust in the Wong and his PAP team is a particularly tough ask, considering the recent scandals surrounding his team’s
highest-ranking members. Lee will need to clean up his party’s act and find a more convincing assurance of integrity than ‘
ownself check ownself’.
Kazimier Lim (he/him) is a Sydney-based Public Policy Consultant at an international management consultancy and writes on Asia, international relations and international aviation politics.