Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sent momentary shockwaves across Singapore when he wavered and stumbled an hour and 20 minutes into his scheduled two-hour English speech during his National Day Rally (NDR).
After a terse hour and a half of waiting (and much-needed rest and medical attention he received), PM Lee came back to a standing ovation, with the audience applauding his return to the stage for more than two full minutes.
Here are his first words:
"Thank you for waiting for me — I gave everybody a scare! (laughs all round) The last time I did this was on the parade square in SAFTI and fainted. I think that's what happened.
I have never had so many doctors look at me all at once. They think I'm all right, but anyway I'm going to have a full check-up after this."
Like the workaholic he clearly is, he continued:
"But before that, I'd like to finish my speech. I will not go into the Elected President, there's a lot of stuff which needs to be spoken, but I will find another occasion for that.
I'd just like to cover two things in my speech which I think is important and which I should say tonight. One, to do with leadership succession — and I think what happened makes it even more important that I talk about it now! (laughs again) — and two, where do we see Singapore, where are we today, where will we go next 15 years, next 50 years.
I think it's good for us to step back from our immediate preoccupations and problems and take a longer look at where Singapore is."
After that, he delved into leadership succession.
He announced that Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong would take on a new role of Second Finance Minister, to assist Heng Swee Keat, who will be resuming work at his ministry after suffering, but surviving and recovering from, a hemorrhagic stroke in May.
You can read a quick rundown of his speech at the rally here.
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Top image: Screenshot from live stream
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