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gatehousethetinkertailor

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If this is Singapore’s next leader, can he bridge its English-Mandarin divide?

With years of experience as a close aide to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and battle-hardened with a tough election loss in the past, Ong Ye Kung has the tools necessary to one day contend for the premiership

18 Jul 2017

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Coined by my good friend and Straits Times columnist Chua Mui Hoong – the “Age of Contestation” captures the growing intensity of the public debate in once-placid Singapore, especially in the aftermath of Lee Kuan Yew’s death in 2015.

The “contestation” arguably reached its peak with the Lee family’s nasty squabble over the late patriarch’s intentions for his 38 Oxley Road residence.

In the past, the government-controlled media would have “managed” the public debate, but with the emergence of social media, such neat solutions are impossible.

It’s hard to see how the well-meaning but bland technocrats of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) are going to cope with these political challenges. Moreover, all of this is taking place against a backdrop of political uncertainty as both Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat suffered extremely public health incidents last year.

Tharman’s a perfect leader for Singapore – so what’s stopping him? His ethnicity?

Adding to the confusion is the elite’s seeming determination to exclude the highly respected Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam (who is Indian-Singaporean) from all talk of succession.

Attention has now zeroed in on the PAP’s so-called “Fourth Generation”, particularly six men that the state-controlled Straits Times highlighted last year as possible future leaders.

Of the six cited, one is particularly intriguing: Ong Ye Kung, the minister for education (higher education and skills) and second minister for defence.

Three key points stood out before I even met him.

First, the 47-year-old has spent years serving Lee personally, having been his press secretary from 1997 to 2003 and then his principal private secretary from 2003 to 2005.

Such proximity suggests deep and enduring bonds of trust between the two men.

Second, Ong has been “battle-hardened”. Most PAP cadres have only experienced success as a dash to the top. However, Ong was roundly defeated at the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) along with the former foreign minister George Yeo, in his maiden political outing in the 2011 general elections.

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It was a humbling moment for the rising star – forcing him, no doubt, into a period of personal reassessment.

Third, I was struck by his unusual personal narrative. His father was a Barisan Sosialis MP in the 1960s and very much antagonistic to Lee Kuan Yew’s PAP.

Brought up speaking Mandarin, he managed to switch into the dominant English-language stream, going on to study in the London School of Economics. He was able to bridge Singapore’s rarely discussed English-Mandarin linguistic and cultural divide.

So, this was what had brought me to Singapore.

I started by following him on one of his twice-weekly constituency visits to his Sembawang GRC.

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He approached a host of different HDB flat dwellers – this was a relatively new block of studio apartments. Turning on the charm, he spent his time coaxing the occupants to let him in for a chat and photo.

There were elderly Hokkien couples, one or two ladies complaining about the garbage, a Tamil gentleman, a young Malay boy and his hijab-wearing aunt – the entire gamut of Singaporean life.

Ong handled all deftly and with zero protocol.

Sembawang and especially Yishun (in the Gambas ward – his designated part of the constituency), was an eye-opener.

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Located in the far north of Singapore and just across the Causeway from Malaysia, the constituency was quite unlike the densely packed areas elsewhere in the city state.

The Simpang marshes to the northeast of Yishun and other parts of Sembawang contain significant undeveloped plots of state land, reminiscent of the suburbs still being built outside other Southeast Asian cities like Manila, Surabaya or even Hanoi.

In short, it is an area of enormous future potential. Indeed, the phrase “future potential” is a theme for Ong as I would discover while chatting with him. However, by the time I sat down with him later in the week, I knew he wouldn’t be providing me radical answers about his ambitions or 38 Oxley Road.

During the interview, he was discreet, focused and entirely on-message. Uncharitable people would call him “boring”.

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However, when he talked about education, I must admit I was surprised when he displayed a mastery of the subject – especially “lifelong education”– as well as flashes of passion and raw determination.

When asked about how the country was preparing for the age of automation, he noted: “Singapore is taking a different approach from just teaching students coding and AI (artificial intelligence) … because things are changing so fast, it’s far more important to focus on the fundamentals.

“We must inculcate students’ curiosity and joy of learning, teach them how to work in teams and to be good with people, particularly when working across cultures.”

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Curiosity and joy of learning? And coming from a PAP minister?

But he pressed on: “We have a system now to help students discover their strengths and passions – that is critical for the joy of learning. If you find yourself with a certain affinity, there should be a choice for you to pursue that path.

“Our economy is more diverse now and can offer jobs that cater to different interests. Your passions should lead to a job that can earn you a living and also be accorded societal recognition. You can already see it happening in various vocations – digital animation for example. Lucasfilm and other creative industries setting up here. They don’t necessarily look at paper qualifications, but portfolios,” he said.

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Ong Ye Kung, seen here in a publicity billboard, is part of the PAP’s so-called “Fourth Generation” of leaders. Photo: Karim Raslan

“Schools and institutions must shift away from their traditional role of dissemination of knowledge to providing experiences and imparting skills. So, there’s now a lot more focus on experiential learning, internships, community projects and overseas exposure. The main challenge is changing the mindsets of students and parents. I am fairly confident this will happen over a generation.”

The idea of a people-centred Singapore – whether in terms of education or governance – is frankly counter-intuitive and quite extraordinary.

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Certainly, the city state, recognising the shifts in future economic activity, is ramping up investment in education, spending 12.9 billion Singaporean dollars (HK$73.5 billion), or 17 per cent of the total budget, on it this year, a 100 per cent increase from 2005.

But more importantly, the increase is apparently being matched by a near total re-engineering of the terms of that education.

This will have a dramatic impact on the future of politics and society in Singapore.

Indeed, implementing such a sea change will be a formidable challenge. But Ong proved himself up to the task when he launched a groundbreaking workforce skills qualification system as the chief of the Workforce Development Agency back from 2005 to 2008.

He also has insights into how language, culture and politics influence one another.

“It’s important not only to be proficient in a language but also master its thinking patterns. Mandarin is holistic and historical. English is logical and analytical. I believe learning different languages enhances the power of the mind,” he said.

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Ong is neither a rebel nor a maverick, but may be well-suited to navigate Singapore through these next decades that are likely to be dominated by China.

But his highly unusual personal history, the fact that he’s lost an election and learnt from the experience, plus the passion with which he has embraced educational reform, reveals a man resolutely focused on future potential – that phrase again.

Only time will tell whether Ong is truly premiership material.

But to my mind, in the Age of Contestation, leadership will often gravitate to those who look to the future and are determined to build accordingly.

http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/polit...ext-leader-can-he-bridge-its-english-mandarin


The same journo had penned this piece last year and it was updated today:



Tharman’s a perfect leader for Singapore – so what’s stopping him? His ethnicity?


By Karim Raslan

5 Oct 2016 / UPDATED ON 19 Jul 2017

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Singapore is different – or at least that’s what we’re supposed to think. It’s the ultimate technocratic state: manned by scholars from the world’s best universities. “Politics” is said to have been expunged.

Moreover, in a series of extremely well-choreographed transitions of power from “Founding Father” Lee Kuan Yew to Goh Chok Tong in 1990 and thereafter to Lee Hsien Loong in 2004, stability has been a constant.

If this is Singapore’s next leader, can he bridge its English-Mandarin divide?

Indeed, only six months ago, a column on political succession in Singapore would have been a joke. However; two recent events have roiled the island-state.

First, in May, the acknowledged “fourth generation” successor to Lee, the affable and highly-competent fifty-four-year-old Minister of Finance, Heng Swee Keat suffered an unexpected stroke whilst attending a cabinet meeting.

Then, and most shockingly, on the evening of the 21 August, just as the PM was delivering his annual National Day Rally speech, the sixty-four-year-old faltered and appeared to faint. Fortunately, the news cameras were quickly pointed elsewhere just as he seemingly collapsed – thereby preserving the former cancer patient’s dignity.

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Needless to say, footage of the “mishap” was relayed across the city-state (if not the whole of Southeast Asia) within minutes. I remember being in Jakarta at the time and scrambling to get to a television screen as soon as I heard.

Things really became interesting as we waited to hear about Lee’s condition. I could only imagine the feverish sea of questions: what was wrong with the PM? Could this be a relapse? Was it a stroke or heart attack?

For a country that is so delicately balanced – the uncertainty had people on tenterhooks.

Moreover, recent economic events – the “perfect storm” of negative factors ranging from falling demand in China (its largest export market), a near-collapse of oil and gas prices as well as a sense of torpor in both the retail and gaming sectors – have only heightened the sense of siege in the city-state. Growth is expected to only drag away at a mere 1-2 per cent by the end of 2016.

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As the country speculated, a lone voice – that of Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean – came across the PA system. With a former Rear-Admiral’s customary aplomb (and a distinct lack of empathy) he explained to the audience that all was well and that the speech would be continued after a short delay.

A young professional who was watching the speech at the time told me: “It felt as though Teo was merely informing us. It came across as very impersonal.”

Twenty minutes later, the second Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam spoke directly to the national media.

Despite the growing uncertainty, his manner was calm, understated and self-assured.

Acknowledging the country’s sense of shock, he went on to say that he had spoken to Lee, as well as the doctors and that the situation was under control.

Watching Tharman’s flawless performance, I knew I was witnessing pure political intuition. Within a matter of minutes, he had connected with the entire nation, shared in their anxieties and then allayed their fears.

Contrary to what Singapore’s political masters may think, “leadership” cannot be manufactured.

Some have pointed to Tharman’s popularity compared to his cabinet colleagues – citing poll after poll, his electoral results in the Jurong Group Representative Constituency (GRC) and his superior communication skills.

Who can step up as Singapore’s next leader?

For me, the real test came in the moments immediately after Lee’s collapse, when he recognised the need to intervene and calm his country in its moment of need.

Tharman’s future leadership prospects are now the subject of intense debate in Singapore.

On the surface, he comes across as a prefect product of the People’s Action Party’s system of grooming leaders, one who checks all the boxes.

Highly-educated? He went to LSE, Cambridge and Harvard.

Technocratic excellence? He rose to become Chief Executive and then Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). He served with distinction in key Cabinet portfolios such as Education and Finance.

International experience? He chaired the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) of the IMF.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam, in his role as chairperson of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, speaks at a press conference with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde in 2014. Photo: AFP

Is he good on the hustings? He’s held on to Jurong since 2001, securing substantial majorities time and again.

Could Tharman’s ethnicity be the problem: an Indian Singaporean in a majority Chinese milieu?

Indeed, a recent article published by the Straits Times outlined the six candidates being considered in the succession race for PM. Tharman was excluded.

What gives? Isn’t Singapore supposed to be a meritocracy? Doesn’t it always recruit and elevate the best and the brightest, each and every single time?

I confess, I’m very intrigued about why is there such a reluctance to consider a man who clearly towers over his peers, especially given the economic and financial squalls that Singapore is in and will face in the decade ahead?

The Singaporean elite is faced with an unusual dilemma: a potential leader who surpasses all his peers in terms of modern administrative and political skills.

In Singapore, where raw brain-power and book learning have long trumped emotional intelligence, Tharman has the intuition and rhetoric to win over and persuade his countrymen like no one else.

One has to ask if Singaporeans are truly being served by this failure of imagination on the part of their establishment?

Karim Raslan is a commentator and columnist covering Southeast Asia
 
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eatshitndie

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
seat warmer. empress determines real line of succession. has been, had been, always in sg context. like to add below that if hongyi has a son, son bin hongyi will supercede haoyi as clown prince designate. :p

by imperial chink tradition and decree 3rd in line behind hongyi and haoyi. but empress not emperor calls the shots, oops no pun intended, i mean drafts the roll of imperial succession. :p

huat ahhh!

View attachment 31172
 

scroobal

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@Smiley, not sure if you are aware, HC and Karim Raslan are in same circle of influential asian powerbrokers. Now imagination is running wild. Who approached who? And is Ong the proxy?
 

gatehousethetinkertailor

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Loyal
@Smiley, not sure if you are aware, HC and Karim Raslan are in same circle of influential asian powerbrokers. Now imagination is running wild. Who approached who? And is Ong the proxy?

Intriguing timing for this article post-Oxleymandias saga. Thanks for connecting the dots although it would be disappointing if KR was somehow manipulated into penning this.
 

scroobal

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I have lot of respect for KR. Simon Tay acted as the intermediary for the initial contact nearly a decade back and the lady was yearning for recognition outside her local circle.

Intriguing timing for this article post-Oxleymandias saga. Thanks for connecting the dots although it would be disappointing if KR was somehow manipulated into penning this.
 
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