A legacy that runs well into the future

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s decision to step aside on May 15 in favour of Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has been met with equanimity among most Singaporeans. They would ask: What’s the big deal?

Rightly so, since the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) template for transitions is drawn from the coordinates of stable continuity. Unlike countries where a change of premiership drives people and markets into a tizzy, transitions in Singapore are devoid of political or economic drama.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew was prime minister from 1959 to 1990, and Mr Goh Chok Tong from 1990 to 2004, when Mr Lee Hsien Loong succeeded him. Each transition was meaningful, in that an elder leader handed over the reins to a younger one, but there was no fear of jarring discontinuity.

So it should be with Mr Wong, who will take over the mantle of leadership soon.

What is the secret of this seamless transition? It is the recognition of the reality that Singapore is far too small to experiment with centrifugal change.

Election after election, Singaporeans vote for continuity predicated on their expectations of stability. Of course, the opposition has been gaining traction, but not so much as to overtake the running record of the PAP which, after all, is the party of Independence that was achieved after separation from Malaysia in 1965.

And even the opposition themselves do not speak in the language of messianic change but in that of incremental advances towards the kind of society that it prefers.

In the PAP itself, continuity is in fine display. Take public housing. It has been treated as a centrepiece of nation-building since the Lee Kuan Yew years because it serves to anchor newer generations of a largely immigrant population in this island city state.

Soldiers in a conscript military will defend what they themselves possess – the homes inhabited by their grandparents, parents, spouses and children.

Also, the Ethnic Integration Policy practised in Housing Board precincts ensures that they reflect the national ethnic profile so that people’s penchant of seeking to stay near their own kind does not produce ethnic ghettos in which the minorities are driven to the margins of the housing landscape. While public housing policy is tweaked to incorporate the rising expectations of Singaporeans, there is no doubt that the principles behind that policy have stayed constant through three prime ministers.

National Service is another cardinal state policy. The philosophy behind it is that no country will help defend a nation unless its own citizens are prepared to do so. It would not have been feasible to raise a regular armed force of sufficient size to protect Singapore given its small population. Hence the need for conscription. The public understanding and acceptance of this logic has underpinned Singapore’s security for more than half a century. NS is a national institution.

From one prime minister to the next, such fundamentals of state policy have remained untouched. This is why the latest transition could be expected to last.

Mr Wong inherits what could be called PAP genes: a fundamental emphasis on fiscal prudence in the conduct of economic affairs; a non-negotiable approach to the primacy of law and order in domestic society; an appreciation of the anchoring role of multiracialism; and an acute awareness of how, in spite of these priorities, Singapore’s place in global affairs remains fragile.

Of particular importance is the outbreak of great-power discord between the United States and China, a development that could affect Singapore deeply given its close ties with both powers.

There are other challenges as well. Globalisation benefits Singapore by plugging it into the international hinterland, but it also creates domestic problems by dividing Singaporeans between globalised cosmopolitans and localised heartlanders. This formulation is drawn from the Goh Chok Tong years but it has retained some of its agency in the decades since.

The Government has responded to this particular challenge by amending the educational and employment system in a way that allows more Singaporeans to participate in the country’s global journey.

However, challenges and threats remain because Singapore, unlike larger countries, cannot turn inwards and ultimately become isolationist. It remains in many ways a price-taker in the international economy.

That said, it has developed a habit of punching above its weight in global affairs. So long as Singaporeans by and large are prepared to remain in the ring, Singapore will prevail. A strong Singapore dollar and the deterrent power of the Singapore Armed Forces would ensure that this country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity cannot be taken for granted by international predators or adventurers.

This is what Mr Lee Hsien Loong the man and Singapore under his leadership have achieved collectively. Mr Wong has much to build on.