Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke at length about a number of issues during the debate on the President's Address in Parliament last week.

He made a mention of the issues that were to be of top priority for him and his freshly-reshuffled Cabinet.

Though PM Lee mentioned that the fourth-generation leaders prepared President Halimah's speech, he spoke significantly at length about his thinking with regard to who his successor will be.

But let's break it down for you first:

1. Agenda and advice for new generation of leadership

PM Lee began by setting the list of tasks on the agenda for his younger leaders now in office:

- To keep growing and reinventing our economy,

- To preserve our meritocracy, justice and fairness as a society, and

- To hold Singaporeans together in one cohesive society.

Warning that just like with previous generations of leaders, the successors will have to realise that the electorate, economic landscape and international order of things will be different, and so will need to adopt a new approach in governing the nation.

He cautions that "some hard truths will always remain" for Singapore, but has the following advice for the new leaders:

- To keep an open mind and make decisions with both the head and the heart

- To remember, but not be trapped by, our history

- And to generate new ideas, bonds and connections.

[related_story]

2. PAP does not have monopoly of power or indefinite right to rule S'pore

PM Lee related the details of the conversation he had with former Workers' Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang at Parliament House that gave rise to this photo:

PM Lee said he had observed the fact that the WP had just completed its leadership transition — with Low handing the reins to new secretary-general Pritam Singh — and asked Low what changes are to be expected.

In reply, Low had said, "Nothing much. We the WP have our role. These things should not change suddenly. Don't you agree?" to which PM Lee said he did agree.

He explained his view on the role of opposition politics and parties in Singapore at length:

"As an opposition party, the Workers' Party plays a role in our political system, whoever is their party leader.

Opposition parties keep Singapore politics contestable. In other words, the ruling party, the PAP does not have a monopoly of power, does not have the right to rule Singapore indefinitely. So long as the PAP government performs, it keeps the voters’ support, and stays in power, and the opposition cannot gain ground. But if the PAP government becomes incompetent or corrupt, then of course the opposition will grow.

So our system gives the PAP government, gives any government, every incentive to perform, and to keep the opposition performing its role where it is, namely, in the opposition...

Political parties do not have a fixed lifespan – a time to live and a time to die, as Ecclesiastes might put it.

How long a political party continues in government – or in opposition for that matter, because parties come and go in the opposition too – depends on whether it can renew itself, continue to serve the people, continue to bring progress to the nation.

If the PAP can keep on successfully doing that, we can stay in government. But if we ever fail, we deserve to lose. So my message to all PAP MPs is 'work hard, serve the people, hold the ground, win the elections.'"

3. "If ministers are not prepared to govern, then give it up"

PM Lee also spoke quite sharply of the need for Singapore's ministers to be able to make decisions to carry out difficult things when necessary. He said the government will not shy from difficult problems, because governing involves doing these.

"The government must govern. And if ministers are not prepared to govern, then give it up because that's your duty, that's what you're here for. And governing means that from time to time you have to do difficult things, when they become necessary."

PM Lee said leadership involves maintaining the people's trust through explaining, persuading and convincing them that a) the leaders know what they're doing, b) that what they plan to do is the best course of action for the people, and c) that what you chose is the right thing to do.

PM Lee added in his speech that trust in the political leadership of a country is essential so they can "do the right thing on their behalf even when it is painful".

"I think this is the right lesson to learn. Without trust the government can't govern. It wouldn't dare to do painful but necessary things, and politics becomes the art of pandering, a bidding war between the parties, who can give more? Who can offer more? You say you reduce the tax, I say I abolish the tax, then you say I will give you a hongbao on top of that. And how to pay? Well we can think about that after the elections, and the country goes downhill."

4. And finally, who will be The One?

To answer this, PM Lee spoke a fascinatingly great deal on teamwork and the importance of our 4G leadership being a strong team.

"They have been working together, learning to complement one another’s strengths and weaknesses, making decisions as a team, and taking collective responsibility for these decisions.

To me, this working together is just as important, if not more important, than the question of who should be the next PM."

He said in brief:

- There is more than one qualified candidate to be PM

- The team has to come to a consensus on "the best option"

- The 4G ministers' ability to work together as a team will determine whether or not the next PM will succeed or fail.

And he also reiterated his previous position that the next PM will simply be "first among equals", which he spoke at length to make the case that it was the same for his late father and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, during their terms in office.

He went as far as to list out key members of his predecessors' core teams of political leaders: Goh Keng Swee, S Rajaratnam, Lim Kim San, Hon Sui Sen and Othman Wok for the late Lee, as well as Ong Teng Cheong, Tony Tan, Wong Kan Seng, Jayakumar, Dhanabalan, Abdullah Tarmugi and George Yeo in Goh's.

As for him, PM Lee said he not only inherited Goh's team, but also added talent to it, and now his own core team includes "several" of the 4G ministers, although he stops short of naming them specifically.

Then, he bought himself — and by extension, the 4G leadership — more time:

"I know everyone is anxious to know who the next PM will be. Well, the leader must command the respect and the loyalty of his whole team. He must enjoy the support and confidence of the broad mass of Singaporeans. And these things take time. They cannot be forced.

I do not believe we are ready to settle on a choice yet. Nor is it helpful to treat this either as a horse race or as a campaign to lobby support for one or the other candidate. This a team game. We want a strong and cohesive team so that team Singapore is the winner...

Let us give them the time and space to do their own work, to work together in their new roles, and to get better known by the public. I am confident that in the fullness of time we will see a clear outcome, and a leader will emerge from the process. Certainly I expect this to happen before the next General Election."

Bonus point: Low Thia Khiang asked one of the big questions on our minds

So after PM Lee concluded his speech that was greeted with armchair-thumping applause pretty much all round, veteran opposition MP Low Thia Khiang stepped up with one of the many questions about the upcoming, and long-awaited, leadership transition in our ruling party:

"Speaker sir, I would like to seek a clarification from the PM. Given that the 4G leadership, especially the three frontrunners for the next PM, largely come from the SAF or civil service, is it not a sign that there is now an elite political class in Singapore?"

The Prime Minister responded by saying Low's question was "an example of the way not to think about the problem".

"When you look at the person you ask is he making a contribution, what are his strengths and weaknesses? What are his contributions, does he or does he not measure up? You don't ask where did he come from, who his parents are. Is it bad to come from the civil service or the SAF? No. Is it necessary to come from there? No. Is it good to have people from a wide range? Yes, and we do have a wide range."

He also questioned Low's mention of there being "three" frontrunners — who have widely been acknowledged to be Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat — saying he doesn't know "how many people are running" because he said "it's not a horse race".

"I have people from the private sector, I have doctors, I have lawyers, I have brought in new people from the backbenchers, some of whom also from the private sector, business experience.

So we are looking for people wherever we can find them to bring in to form a Singapore team. And the stronger this team is, the harder I make Mr Low's job. And I can't help it, it wasn't my objective, I just want the best team for Singapore."

Make what you will of his response.

You can watch the relevant section of PM Lee's speech from the 44:06 mark in this video of it. Low's point of clarification comes in at the 1:03:20 mark:

Top photo via PM Lee's Facebook page