Looking back and looking ahead: Dr. Kenneth Paul Tan on PAP’s governing principles, PM Lawrence Wong, and the next general election - Part 2

socialservice.sg presents: "Before the Ballot"

On May 15, 2024, at the Istana, Singapore's fourth prime minister Lawrence Wong took his oath of office and was officially sworn in, taking over from prime minister Lee Hsien Loong. This political transition is significant for a host of different reasons, and so, across two episodes, we take a deeper dive with Dr. Kenneth Paul Tan of Hong Kong Baptist University. We look back, and we look ahead. We look back, across Singapore's first three prime ministers or three generations of leadership. We then look ahead to three potential electoral scenarios for Mr. Wong and his ruling People's Action Party or PAP.

In this second episode, we focus on the next general election. Fundamentally, we ask Dr. Tan, is it the PAP’s election to lose, or the opposition parties’ election to win?

LISTEN TO THE FIRST EPISODE.

We previously hosted Dr. Tan on this podcast in 2020, in ⁠an episode focused primarily on our collective, growing reliance on migrant labour in neo-authoritarian Singapore⁠.

The feature photos are by ⁠⁠Ng Shi Wen⁠⁠ (episode) and Kelli McClintock on Unsplash (cover).