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Singapore must guard against division and distrust, warns leader-in-waiting Heng Swee Keat
- Inequality, populism and polarisation pose threat to the city state’s economic success story, Heng tells summit of global corporate circles
- The deputy prime minister and finance minister is expected to take over from Singaporean leader Lee Hsien Loong after the next election
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Singapore’s prime minister-designate Heng Swee Keat on Friday said divides along class, generational and political lines posed the biggest risk to the city state’s vaunted prosperity and stability, amid rising talk that his ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) could call snap polls in months.
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Heng, the deputy prime minister and finance minister, was speaking to top business leaders attending the Singapore Summit, an annual business forum usually held in conjunction with the country’s Formula One race.
The conference usually features a who’s who of global corporate circles, with the Singapore government using the marquee sporting event as a means to confer with the country’s investment partners.
In his speech at the luxurious Shangri-La Hotel, Heng painted the backdrop of the world experiencing a retreat from globalisation, rising nationalist and populist movements and disenchantment among the young. These forces have played out worldwide, such as in the ongoing Hong Kong protests, 2016 US presidential elections, and Yellow Vest movement in France, he said.
Meanwhile, politics are increasingly marked by “snap polls, hung parliaments and government shutdowns”, which have further bred distrust towards governments and the political system, said Heng, who was elevated to the second-most senior position in the PAP last November. In April, he was named Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s sole deputy.
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