Lawrence Wong Sworn In As Singapore PM, Marking Leadership Change After 20 Years
Lawrence Wong was sworn in as just the fourth prime minister of Singapore on Wednesday evening, completing a rare political transition in the high-tech financial hub.
(Bloomberg) -- Lawrence Wong was sworn in as just the fourth prime minister of Singapore on Wednesday evening, completing a rare political transition in the high-tech financial hub.
The 51-year-old economist credited with managing the city-state’s response to the pandemic takes over from Lee Hsien Loong, who served in the post for two decades. The ascent of the Harvard-educated Wong marks a once-in-a-generation transition of power for a ruling party that has ruled Singapore since independence in 1965.
The new prime minister takes office with rising concerns in the Southeast Asian nation over the cost of living and geopolitical tensions that have put Singapore, which carefully balances its ties between the US and China, in a delicate position.
Wong “takes over as prime minister in a period of growing global fractiousness and big power contestation and a weakening international order,” President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said during the ceremony on the lawn of the presidential palace ahead of the swearing in.
Wong said earlier in the week that he will retain his role as finance minister, a post he has held since 2021. He also tapped Trade Minister Gan Kim Yong to be his deputy, while keeping much of the rest of the cabinet intact as the ruling People’s Action Party heads into a general election that must be held by November 2025.
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