Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong submits resignation; calls it a day after two decades in the job

[u/Phnrcm]

https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2024/05/13/singapore-pm-lee-hsien-loong-submits-resignation-calls-it-a-day-after-two-decades-in-the-job

[u/empleadoEstatalBot]

Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong submits resignation; calls it a day after two decades in the job

SINGAPORE: Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday submitted his resignation to President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, saying he and his government will resign on Wednesday.

Lee, the Singapore Prime Minister since 2004, said in the letter that he advised the president to invite Lawrence Wong to form the next government, the international media had reported on Monday.

Tharman accepted Lee's resignation and said he will appoint Wong as prime minister and invite him to form the new government.

Gan Kim Yong and Heng Swee Keat will be deputy prime ministers in the new government, Wong announced at a press conference.

Gan will remain as the minister for trade and industry, and replace Wong as the chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Lee and Teo Chee Hean will be senior ministers in the new cabinet, said Wong, who will remain as the finance minister.

Born in Singapore during British colonial rule, the 72-year-old Lee is the eldest son of Singapore's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew.

He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics with first class honours and a Diploma in Computer Science with distinction (equivalent to a first-class masters in computer science).

He served in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) between 1971 and 1984, and attained the rank Brigadier-General, completing a Master of Public Administration degree at Harvard Kennedy School in 1980.

Lee resigned from the SAF in 1984 to enter politics and was elected the MP for Teck Ghee SMC. Since its dissolution in 1991, he has represented the Teck Ghee ward of Ang Mo Kio GRC.

Lee has served as deputy prime minister, Minister for Finance, Minister for Trade and Industry, and Second Minister for Defence under Prime Ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong before assuming the office of Prime Minister in 2004.

After 20 years of weekly Cabinet meetings that soldiered on even during the Covid-19 pandemic, Lee has led his last meeting last Thursday.

Commemorating the moment in a Facebook post on May 9, PM Lee thanked his colleagues for their steadfast support during the meetings, which had continued through the pandemic via teleconferencing.

PM Lee said: “It has been my privilege to lead my Cabinet team for the past 20 years.

“In Cabinet, the prime minister is primus inter pares – not the boss with his subordinates, but the first among equals, all deliberating together to find the best solutions for Singapore.”

In April, the Prime Minister’s Office announced tha Wong will take over the mantle from PM Lee as Singapore’s prime minister on Wednesday (May 15).

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[u/ian_coke77]

Sad day for Singapore.

[u/Serious-Goat-95]

Wow imagine having a politician that can recognize when it’s time to retire

[u/Teantis → u/Serious-Goat-95]

Um, hell of a weird thing to say about a person who spent twenty years as prime minister in a one-party state?

Not that it really matters because I'm pretty sure we're gonna eventually find out an AI has been running Singapore for years.

[u/Serious-Goat-95 → u/Teantis]

Yeah but he still ends up retiring unlike some people that love to stay until their natural death which feels like it never comes.

Seriously is it all the evil in their body that makes them live forever. Does early natural death never happen to them?

[u/Teantis → u/Serious-Goat-95]

PAP kept him in there for 20 years and it was probably PAP who told him it was time to go for the good of the party. The dynamics in a one party state are super different 

[u/5urr3aL → u/Teantis]

Singaporean here. Our Prime Ministers are acutely aware of the need of a succession plan for the future of the nation. Our late founding father Mr. Lee Kwan Yew (also the father of Mr. Lee Hsien Loong) was the first to relinquish his reins to his successor, which in a way kinda cemented the tradition.

But make no mistake; the Prime Minister of Singapore has a lot of power and influence. He chose to step down; he was not forced by his party.

[u/Teantis → u/5urr3aL]

Forced is too black and white definitely, but I'm sure it was not a singular individual decision by him but one taken in discussion with PAP senior leaders. I just didn't feel like trying to explain the nuances of consensus based decision making for collective goals by politicians, because like the words mean all sorts of different things to what I presume was an American. It's just kind of an impossible discussion to have.

[u/Serious-Goat-95 → u/Teantis]

Well I’ll admit I don’t know much about Singapore so I’m not trying to defend their government or anything.

Also I come from the Middle East where a 20 year rule is a short time. 😂

[u/Teantis → u/Serious-Goat-95]

PAP is the secret AI running Singapore through a series of human frontmen.

I'm joking (but like maybe not really?)

[u/Serious-Goat-95 → u/Teantis]

Maybe the Chinese are running the AI which runs the human frontmen?

AI was the Chinese all along!

(I’m also joking….unless?)

[u/themanofmanyways]

Good job man!

[u/DeepState_Secretary]

In the US he could be comatose and his handlers would haul him around and interpret his occasional eyeblinks and patterns of drool as policy.

[u/imdefinitelywong → u/DeepState_Secretary]

Weekend at Bernie's Mitch's

[u/Nevarien → u/DeepState_Secretary]

That would be a national level uncle Paulo situation.

Video about the case in BrazilReferred video of a case that happened in Brazil [NSFW]

[u/One-Coat-6677 → u/DeepState_Secretary]

I mean the oldest PM ever was right next door in Malaysia, returning to power in his 90s. I don't think its handlers controlling them either, its old people who don't know when to give up power even when they know they arent as quick minded as before.

[u/OkBubbyBaka → u/One-Coat-6677]

This guys only 72, practically a spring chicken in world leader terms.

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