Singapore’s Shanmugam rebuts ‘sneering’ Economist article on Lawrence Wong’s political succession

Shanmugam said The Economist could not resist ‘sneering’ at Singapore and the British commentariat class cannot stand seeing the island nation ‘doing better’

The publication said deputy PM Lawrence Wong was ‘guaranteed’ a majority envied by other country leaders amid coming elections, despite not being the first choice

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Singapore law minister K Shanmugam has hit back at The Economist for an article they published about the country’s political succession. Photo: SCMPOST

Published: 9:18pm, 19 Apr 2024Updated: 3:34pm, 20 Apr 2024

Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam on Friday criticised a commentary by British publication The Economist, which he said could not “resist sneering” at Singapore’s political leadership handover.

The weekly newspaper’s commentary, published on Thursday, noted that Singapore has had “only” three leaders in its 59 years, and that the next prime minister Lawrence Wong “remains relatively unknown among Singaporeans”.

“He was not the 4G’s [fourth generation leaders’] first choice,” said the publication, noting that Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat had withdrawn himself from contention for the premiership in 2021.

Despite this, the piece argued, the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) will win at the coming General Election due to its “formidable organisation, unrelenting attacks on the opposition, a docile press”, among other factors.

They can’t stand that a people they were accustomed to lecturing are now doing better than they are, across the board

K Shanmugam, Singapore’s Law and Home Affairs Minister

In a response published on Facebook on Friday, Shanmugam said the publication “can’t resist” sneering at Singapore due to an instinct lodged “in the unconscious of the British commentariat class”.