Here is an interesting factoid for the day: Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat is acting Prime Minister for the first time for a week from June 10 to 16.

This notice that PM Lee Hsien Loong is on leave was published in the Singapore government gazette on Friday, June 7:

Where's PM Lee?

Like many Singaporeans, PM Lee is on leave during the June holidays.

He will be spending time with his family and catching up on his reading, according to him.

"Will be on leave for a week. Looking forward to spending time with family and catching up on my reading. Maybe I’ll see some of you when I go #jalanjalan! – LHL"

How about Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam?

In case you are wondering, there is a reason why both Teo and Tharman are not Acting PMs.

During the latest Cabinet reshuffle on April 23, PM Lee announced that both of the senior leaders will step down as DPMs and be appointed as Senior Ministers from May 1, 2019.

This means there is only one DPM in the Cabinet now: Heng.

And SM Tharman was acting PM for the last time in April.

Heng doing more "PM stuff" recently

It is likely that Singaporeans will ee Heng more as the PM-in-waiting, acting PM, or generally doing more PM-related stuff in the months and years to come.

Take the 2019 May Day Rally, for instance.

Heng replaced PM Lee as the keynote speaker, breaking with a long standing tradition of PM Lee delivering the May Day Rally.

PM Lee had been speaking at the May Day for 14 consecutive years since 2004.

Another example was Heng representing Singapore at the Nikkei International Conference in Tokyo, Japan.

The late Lee Kuan Yew attended the first Nikkei Conference and was a regular speaker for Singapore.

PM Lee followed LKY's footsteps and made time for the Nikkei conference until last year, because this happened.

DPM Teo subsequently attended on PM Lee's behalf as Singapore's representative.

Heng also accompanied Teo last year as the Finance Minister.

This year, Heng was the main guy for Singapore.

He delivered the keynote address at the Nikkei conference, and provided three key ideas on how the world can arrive at yet another stable global order, amid the rising tensions between the United States and China.

The three ideas were:

1) The U.S. and China will need to work out a new model of constructive cooperation.

2) The rest of Asia must take on greater responsibility in shaping the global order.

3) Asia and the international community must continue to work together to tackle global issues confronting all countries.

Compare his views to the Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte said that the Philippines has no corruption because he has "killed all of them (corrupt people) already.”

As a former policeman, Heng can consider speaking about Singapore's zero tolerance for corruption too.

Top photo from Heng Swee Keat Facebook.