The Straits Times
SINGAPORE - The Cabinet reshuffle announced on Friday (April 23) provides the clearest signal yet that fourth-generation (4G) ministers Chan Chun Sing, Ong Ye Kung and Lawrence Wong are firmly in the running for the country s top political job, say observers. The most credible options are now visible, and perhaps the Government hopes that this will give Singaporeans slightly more confidence that succession plan B is now initiated and moving along, said Mr Harrison Cheng, associate director of the Control Risks consultancy.
The changes were sparked by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat s announcement earlier this month that he was stepping aside as the People s Action Party s 4G leader to make way for a younger successor to the premiership. Mr Heng s finance portfolio has now gone to Mr Wong.
January 18, 2021
A handout photo. Malaysia s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin poses for a picture at the parliament, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on November 26, 2020.
Reuters via Malaysia Information Department
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s decision this week to suspend democracy for the first time in over half a century may have forced a timeout of the furious, months-long efforts by his rivals to topple him by hook or by crook – but by no means has it quelled the disquiet surrounding his leadership.
A case in point was a scathing radio interview on Friday by his predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad.
The 95-year-old, ousted as prime minister in a political coup last February, lamented that Muhyiddin’s declaration of a nationwide emergency on Tuesday had plunged Malaysia into a “kind of dictatorship where people cannot protest or question”.