From Math Whiz To World Leader: Singapore’s PM Stepping Down After 20 Years

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After being Singapore’s prime minister for nearly 20 years, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will step down on 15 May and named Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, 51, his successor.

Hsien Loong, 72, had announced in 2012 that he did not want to be Prime Minister beyond the age of 70. He planned his succession years before but it was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Initially, the plan was to hand over the reins to his Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat. However, Heng stepped down at 60 years old, citing his age as a factor for not taking up the role.

In Hsien Loong’s Instagram post, he asked the Singaporean public to support and work with Lawrence and his team to create a brighter future for the country.

Lee Hsien Loong’s journey into politics

Lee Hsien Loong is the eldest son of Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Thus, most expected Hsien Loong to follow in his father’s footsteps.

However, he could have been one of the greatest mathematicians if he hadn’t gone into politics.

Born in 1952, Hsien Loong was a President’s Scholar and received the Singapore Armed Forces Scholarship to read mathematics at Cambridge University in the UK.

He graduated in 1974 as a Senior Wrangler in the Mathematics Tripos, an equivalent to first-class honours. He also possessed a diploma in computer science with distinction.

In an interview in 2007, Professor Bela Bollobas who had taught Hsien Loong at Cambridge said Hsien Loong was “truly outstanding.”

Loong was not only hardworking, conscientious and professional, but he was also very inventive. All the signs indicated that he would have been a world-class research mathematician.

Professor Bela Bollobas

Sometime in 1979, he was later a Mason Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, receiving a Master in Public Administration.

Lee Hsien Loong. Image: TRP File

After graduating from Cambridge, he returned to Singapore to join the military and achieved the rank of Brigadier-General by age 32.

In 1978, Hsien Loong attended the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, USA, for a year.

His army career highlight was the 1983 rescue of 13 cable car passengers after the cableway to Sentosa Island snapped. Hsien Loong, who was then a colonel, directed the rescue operations.

Hsien Loong made his foray into politics, not at the behest of his father, but Singapore’s second Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. Goh was then the Defence Minister and asked Hsien Loong to join politics.

In 1984, he left the army and ran in his first general election. He won the Teck Ghee ward with 80.38% of the votes.

Not long after becoming an MP, Hsien Loong was appointed Minister of State for Trade and Industry and for Defence. He was also the Second Minister for Defence and Minister for Trade and Industry in the 80s and early 90s.

He also held the post of Finance Minister from 2001 to 2007, and the Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore from 1998 until 2004.

When Goh succeeded Kuan Yew as prime minister in 1990, Hsien Loong became Goh’s deputy. Hsien Loong was seen as the heir apparent long before stepping up to the top post.

Hsien Loong was sworn in as Singapore’s third Prime Minister on 12 August 2004.

His noted achievements as prime minister include growing Singapore’s GDP from S$194 billion in 2004 to more than S$600 billion last year and focusing and investing in education, especially in the Institutes of Technical Education and polytechnics.

He also launched SkillsFuture to support Singaporeans in embracing lifelong learning and skills, and the Smart Nation initiative to use technology to create a future of better living, more opportunities, and stronger communities.

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