Asia Sentinel
Rigid selection process thrown into confusion by heir-apparent’s sudden departure
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The sudden decision by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat (above) to step down from the succession to become the country’s next prime minister, officially because at 60 he is too old to succeed the 69-year-old Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, has raised confusion and intense speculation on who will replace him to become the country’s next leader.
Except for an interregnum from 1990 to 2004 when Goh Chok Tong held office under the watchful eye of modern founder Lee Kuan Yew as “minister mentor,” the Lee family has dominated politics for the entire 62 years since independence in 1959. The process of selecting a new leader has thus been a good deal more fraught than for other countries.