SINGAPORE CITY (SINGAPORE) – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced on Saturday a largely unchanged cabinet and indicated that his plans to step down would be delayed because of the pandemic crisis.
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, who is expected to succeed him, helms the finance ministry and senior ministers Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Teo Chee Hean were also retained.
“We are in a crisis of a generation … therefore I have kept on many of my older colleagues who are all participating in this fight against COVID-19,” Lee, 68, said.
He said he would have to put on hold his plan to retire when he is 70 because of the coronavirus.
“A lot will depend on how events unfold and all I can say is I will see this through,” said Lee, who is the son of Singapore’s modern day founder Lee Kuan Yew.
National development minister Lawrence Wong, who is the co-head of a COVID-19 task force, was given charge of education, while education minister Ong Ye Kung was shifted to transport portfolio.
Newcomer Alvin Tan, head of public policy for business social network LinkedIn and a former senior Facebook executive, was appointed as minister of state in the trade ministry.
The election on July 10 witnessed the incumbent People’s Action Party retaining its unbroken rule since the city-state’s independence in 1965. But its share of votes slipped to a record low and opposition parties making historic inroads.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field
