The recent pronouncements in the media regarding the signed statement of 16 Next gen Leadership candidates and the utterances of PM Lee and ex PM Goh regarding the selection of the next PM, lead me to the only conclusion that I can come to. And that is, that I am witness to a slow and painful train wreck. Of course, Singaporeans might not agree with what I say, but then we know 70% of them are buffoons anyway. This article does not dwell on the merits of one candidate over the others, but rather on the process chosen.
What do we know so far? The most important thing is that no successor to PM Lee has been chosen, identified and promoted. Indeed, no one even knew how many were in the running to be the next PM, until these 16 put their names to a statement. This shortlist of 16 candidates appears to have been shoved down the public’s throat, with no consultation and no grassroots input, because favourites like Tharman are not signatories to it. Contemplate the following. In Singapore’s entire history, the successor has always been identified by the current leader of the day. LKY chose LHL, but when he contracted cancer, the first preferred choice became Dr. Tony Tan, who refused it. Then the offer was made to Goh Chok Tong. And when GCT stepped down, the successor was also chosen way before hand, that being LHL. For almost 40 years, (1963-2004) this has been the way it has been done, and this has been the way that uncertainty was avoided. For our neighbours, allies, trade partners, and investors, this continuity and certainty was a welcome feature of Singapore. Former Minister Dhanabalan said it as much.
Then-PM Lee Kuan Yew favoured Dr Tan, but the latter "made it clear he would not want to be leader", said Mr Dhanabalan, describing what happened at Dr Tan's house.
This is all thrown out the window now. PM Lee has completely abdicated his duty to groom, train and develop the next leader, much like he was. A good leader always prepares a competent second in command to take over from him. In this case, it should be one of his 2 deputies, Teo Chee Hean or Tharman S. But these 2 names are not on the list of 16. A responsible leader should have identified the 2 best candidates from the 16, and install them into the deputy PM positions to learn on the job.
Instead, he has completely washed his hands of the whole affair and asked the 16 to choose amongst themselves. What would happen when 16 people are asked to chose one leader from their ranks? There will be infighting, alliance forming, cliques, and various candidates maneuvering to position themselves as the one. No one candidate will openly say, “I don’t want it because I am not the best one for it”. And every candidate will privately say he is the man/woman for the job. There is a high probability that factions will form in cabinet, and the winner will end up purging the loser and his faction. Even if revengeful purging is carried out, there will still be lingering ill will over who won and who lost. If Chan Chun Sing won and was chosen as the next leader, will Heng Swee Keat honestly say “I support him, he is the best man for the job”? Is this the way that we should do things in Singapore? Are we to have a cabinet, potentially divided by this selection process at such a crucial point in our history? There is no way that the 16 candidates have access to each other’s performance reviews and KPIs. How are they to rate each other and pick the best? Only LHL has access to this and only he knows the overall picture. He is asking them to play office politics, which is entirely counter-productive.
More alarming is the fact that it is ESM GCT that seems to be the one kick starting the leadership renewal and lighting a fire among the group of 16. He was the one that posted on his Facebook about the urgent need to identify the next Prime Minister and in fact issued an edict to the group of 16 to "In other words get on with the task," he added. Should this not have been the responsibility of LHL? Yet more evidence of his abdication of his leadership role. GCT has even given the 16 a dateline of 6-9 months to come up with the next leader. To me, that is 6-9 wasted months. If LHL did his job, the next PM would have been a DPM 2 years ago and have that much more experience of the job.
It boggles the mind that not one of the 16 has the ambition and drive to make himself the leading candidate for the role. This is evidenced by the fact that no one knows the frontrunner. GCT has said they will not fight among themselves but instead will choose the leader by consensus we assume. Why should we settle for a leader that does not try to differentiate himself for the job and allows himself to be picked by others? The right person should go to the PM and say “Look, I think I am the right person for the job. If not then, tell me what I need to do to get it”. We want someone with the all consuming drive to be the PM because he/she has a great vision for the country and can only execute it by being its leader. They should make public their ambition.
Instead, the 16 are like a pack of rats with the torchlight suddenly shone on them. Until the Facebook post by GCT, no one knew for sure who they were, nor how many were in their number. Now, they are forced to reveal themselves and issue a statement on how long they will take to decide. In good time, apparently. Why did GCT even drag them kicking and screaming into the light? Why did he not just leave them alone to decide? I am sure if he had asked them, they would have told him the same answer. Namely, “we will decide in good time”. By making it public, GCT has started the countdown for them, and they are now accountable to the public for the timeline.
All this leads up to the next big question. Does no one want the role of Prime Minister? Is this why they are taking their own sweet time to decide? Is this a case of no one wanting to be arrowed for this odorous duty? Could this be the reason why it has taken so long? The 16 are passing the Prime Ministership around like a hot potato. “You take it, no. You take it. No, after you. Etc.” It must have gotten so bad that ESM Goh lost his patience and lit into them on this Facebook post. I can think of no other reason. If you contemplate further on this, it makes sense that no one wants the Prime Minister seat. Why not?
1) The next PM might well be a figure head and window dressing. It’s more than likely that a Senior Minister position will be created for LHL, much like one was created for his father. The real power will be wielded by this SM position, just like it was by his father. Who wants to be a figurehead and a puppet on a string?
2) The next PM will be a seat warmer for Li Hongyi, just like GCT was a seat warmer for LHL. I am sure this is the reason that Tharman turned it down. I am sure the position of the next PM was offered to him first, prompting him to publicly refuse it some time back.
3) The next PM might well have to deal with the figure of Ho Ching roaming the hallways of the PMO as evidenced by the lawsuit over the LHL’s private papers. The interference of the soon to be former first lady, and expected full access to PMO given to Ho Ching cannot be something that next PM will look forward to.
4) The difference in base salary between the top Minister pay and the Prime Minister pay is only $700K. Many Nextgen leaders might think that all the responsibility and hassle of being the PM is not worth $700K, considering their compensation is already very high.
5) It’s possible that Singapore has been circling around the drain for while now, and it might be possible that the music might stop on the watch of the next PM. No one wants to be the last one caught holding the bag and no one wants to be the PM that goes down in history as being Captain on the Singapore Titanic.
Just my 2 cents.
What do we know so far? The most important thing is that no successor to PM Lee has been chosen, identified and promoted. Indeed, no one even knew how many were in the running to be the next PM, until these 16 put their names to a statement. This shortlist of 16 candidates appears to have been shoved down the public’s throat, with no consultation and no grassroots input, because favourites like Tharman are not signatories to it. Contemplate the following. In Singapore’s entire history, the successor has always been identified by the current leader of the day. LKY chose LHL, but when he contracted cancer, the first preferred choice became Dr. Tony Tan, who refused it. Then the offer was made to Goh Chok Tong. And when GCT stepped down, the successor was also chosen way before hand, that being LHL. For almost 40 years, (1963-2004) this has been the way it has been done, and this has been the way that uncertainty was avoided. For our neighbours, allies, trade partners, and investors, this continuity and certainty was a welcome feature of Singapore. Former Minister Dhanabalan said it as much.
Then-PM Lee Kuan Yew favoured Dr Tan, but the latter "made it clear he would not want to be leader", said Mr Dhanabalan, describing what happened at Dr Tan's house.
This is all thrown out the window now. PM Lee has completely abdicated his duty to groom, train and develop the next leader, much like he was. A good leader always prepares a competent second in command to take over from him. In this case, it should be one of his 2 deputies, Teo Chee Hean or Tharman S. But these 2 names are not on the list of 16. A responsible leader should have identified the 2 best candidates from the 16, and install them into the deputy PM positions to learn on the job.
Instead, he has completely washed his hands of the whole affair and asked the 16 to choose amongst themselves. What would happen when 16 people are asked to chose one leader from their ranks? There will be infighting, alliance forming, cliques, and various candidates maneuvering to position themselves as the one. No one candidate will openly say, “I don’t want it because I am not the best one for it”. And every candidate will privately say he is the man/woman for the job. There is a high probability that factions will form in cabinet, and the winner will end up purging the loser and his faction. Even if revengeful purging is carried out, there will still be lingering ill will over who won and who lost. If Chan Chun Sing won and was chosen as the next leader, will Heng Swee Keat honestly say “I support him, he is the best man for the job”? Is this the way that we should do things in Singapore? Are we to have a cabinet, potentially divided by this selection process at such a crucial point in our history? There is no way that the 16 candidates have access to each other’s performance reviews and KPIs. How are they to rate each other and pick the best? Only LHL has access to this and only he knows the overall picture. He is asking them to play office politics, which is entirely counter-productive.
More alarming is the fact that it is ESM GCT that seems to be the one kick starting the leadership renewal and lighting a fire among the group of 16. He was the one that posted on his Facebook about the urgent need to identify the next Prime Minister and in fact issued an edict to the group of 16 to "In other words get on with the task," he added. Should this not have been the responsibility of LHL? Yet more evidence of his abdication of his leadership role. GCT has even given the 16 a dateline of 6-9 months to come up with the next leader. To me, that is 6-9 wasted months. If LHL did his job, the next PM would have been a DPM 2 years ago and have that much more experience of the job.
It boggles the mind that not one of the 16 has the ambition and drive to make himself the leading candidate for the role. This is evidenced by the fact that no one knows the frontrunner. GCT has said they will not fight among themselves but instead will choose the leader by consensus we assume. Why should we settle for a leader that does not try to differentiate himself for the job and allows himself to be picked by others? The right person should go to the PM and say “Look, I think I am the right person for the job. If not then, tell me what I need to do to get it”. We want someone with the all consuming drive to be the PM because he/she has a great vision for the country and can only execute it by being its leader. They should make public their ambition.
Instead, the 16 are like a pack of rats with the torchlight suddenly shone on them. Until the Facebook post by GCT, no one knew for sure who they were, nor how many were in their number. Now, they are forced to reveal themselves and issue a statement on how long they will take to decide. In good time, apparently. Why did GCT even drag them kicking and screaming into the light? Why did he not just leave them alone to decide? I am sure if he had asked them, they would have told him the same answer. Namely, “we will decide in good time”. By making it public, GCT has started the countdown for them, and they are now accountable to the public for the timeline.
All this leads up to the next big question. Does no one want the role of Prime Minister? Is this why they are taking their own sweet time to decide? Is this a case of no one wanting to be arrowed for this odorous duty? Could this be the reason why it has taken so long? The 16 are passing the Prime Ministership around like a hot potato. “You take it, no. You take it. No, after you. Etc.” It must have gotten so bad that ESM Goh lost his patience and lit into them on this Facebook post. I can think of no other reason. If you contemplate further on this, it makes sense that no one wants the Prime Minister seat. Why not?
1) The next PM might well be a figure head and window dressing. It’s more than likely that a Senior Minister position will be created for LHL, much like one was created for his father. The real power will be wielded by this SM position, just like it was by his father. Who wants to be a figurehead and a puppet on a string?
2) The next PM will be a seat warmer for Li Hongyi, just like GCT was a seat warmer for LHL. I am sure this is the reason that Tharman turned it down. I am sure the position of the next PM was offered to him first, prompting him to publicly refuse it some time back.
3) The next PM might well have to deal with the figure of Ho Ching roaming the hallways of the PMO as evidenced by the lawsuit over the LHL’s private papers. The interference of the soon to be former first lady, and expected full access to PMO given to Ho Ching cannot be something that next PM will look forward to.
4) The difference in base salary between the top Minister pay and the Prime Minister pay is only $700K. Many Nextgen leaders might think that all the responsibility and hassle of being the PM is not worth $700K, considering their compensation is already very high.
5) It’s possible that Singapore has been circling around the drain for while now, and it might be possible that the music might stop on the watch of the next PM. No one wants to be the last one caught holding the bag and no one wants to be the PM that goes down in history as being Captain on the Singapore Titanic.
Just my 2 cents.
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