Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat is now officially promoted to Deputy Prime Minister (DPM).

And he has chosen to deliver his first major speech in the presence of unionists and workers on May Day.

At the Singapore Conference on the Future of Work on Sunday, Heng told representatives of the International Labour Organisation, ASEAN labour ministers and unionists that the tripartite collaboration between the government, unions and employers continues to be successful and relevant in Singapore.

Heng also hinted at what he would be talking about in his speech, saying he plans to elaborate on how the Singapore "government will continue to support the unions to develop an adaptable and future-ready workforce".

While waiting to hear what he will say in full, here're some observations we have about this:

1) Heng picked a good public platform to deliver his first DPM speech

Heng could have chosen Labour Day to rest and let Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong deliver another May Day Rally speech.

Instead, he displayed a pro-activeness in opting to deliver his first major speech on May Day, his first day on the job as DPM.

We'll perhaps find out one day if it was Heng who initiated the idea or whether it was PM Lee who made the decision to let Heng speak, but nevertheless, the idea for a DPM to deliver a May Day Rally speech is a good call on the part of whoever made it.

During PM Lee's premiership, May Day rallies became increasingly high profile.

This is likely due to PM Lee's own active involvement in them, having spoken at every single one since he became PM in August 2004.

Together with the National Day Rally and the Chap Goh Mei speech (usually held on the 15th and last night of the Lunar New Year celebrations), the May Day Rally has become one of the major speeches to watch out for each year.

Take PM Lee's May Day Rally 2015 for instance.

He took the opportunity to remind unionists and the public of the need for leadership renewal at the national level, just ahead of the 2015 General Election.

Significantly, at the same May Day rally, PM Lee also talked about his health, revealing to the public that doctors had given him the all-clear for prostate cancer after undergoing operation in February to remove his prostate gland.

2) Heng wants to connect with the unionists

Perhaps Heng made the decision to give the May Day rally speech because he as a politician, he knows he needs to work hard what is perceived as his weakness.

Heng may recall Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong's views about his lack of exposure to the mobilisation of people, and possibly plans to use the May Day Rally to connect with this key component of the ruling party's support base.

Here's the context: In an interview with Channel NewsAsia last November, Goh noted that Heng’s strengths lay in his strong experience in governance, but he “hasn’t quite been exposed to the mobilisation of people, working with the PAP, the NTUC (National Trades Union Congress), and working with the PA (People’s Association)”.

Goh did, however, say that Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing, as former Labour Chief and Deputy Chairman of the PA, has "been exposed in those mobilisation areas".

Goh therefore praised Heng for "quite wisely" choosing Chan as his deputy to complement Heng's strengths.

And certainly, at the moment, there are a few 4G leaders who are seen as having deeper experiences and better appreciation of the labour movement than Heng.

Besides Chan, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung was NTUC's Assistant Sec-Gen and subsequently its Deputy Sec-Gen from 2008 to 2011. Manpower Minister Josephine Teo joined NTUC in 2005 and was its Assistant Sec-Gen from 2007 to 2011.

Heng probably wants to get a good sense of the labour movement himself, and nothing beats hanging out with the unionists on their most important day of the year.

3) The May Day rally will be a countdown (of sorts) to PM Lee's impending retirement

It's possible also that Heng is a student of history and his decision to speak will trigger a predictable countdown clock for leadership succession.

Leadership succession, as now-Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said recently in the wake of the latest cabinet reshuffle (involving chiefly him, Heng and fellow Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean), is unexciting and predictable, but it works for Singapore:

SM Tharman noted that Singapore has once again "avoided sudden change" in leadership succession.

A predictable pattern has therefore emerged, with Heng speaking in his first May Day Rally as DPM.

Delving back to PM Lee's time as DPM, he, too, previously delivered three May Day Rally addresses (2001, 2002, 2003) as DPM.

PM Lee will be 69 by the time (and if, of course) Heng continues this tradition and delivers two more May Day Rally addresses (in 2020 and 2021) as DPM.

With PM Lee this week reaffirming his previously announced timeline of stepping down when he turns 70 in 2022, DPM Heng is unlikely to deliver his fourth May Day Rally speech in the same year.

He will have the chance to deliver the May Day Rally as PM in 2022.

As expected.

Top photo from Heng Swee Keat Facebook page.