Although the recent Cabinet reshuffle announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was technically a government matter, there was an undeniable political element as well to moving ministers around to head up different ministries.

Observers were curious to see if the reshuffle would hint at who would succeed PM Lee as the next PM of Singapore.

While that didn't really happen, Singapore's various political parties still weighed in on the developments.

A Workers' Party spokesperson declined to comment in response to a query from Mothership.

Progress Singapore Party

The Progress Singapore Party (PSP) released a statement to Mothership on April 23, the same day as the reshuffle.

Francis Yuen singled out Lawrence Wong by name, saying the party would like to wish him well on his appointment as the new Finance Minister, and also the other "appointment holders in the Cabinet."

However, Yuen said the party hopes that the new Cabinet would address the following:

"The current economic climate calls for greater support for SMEs and the underprivileged. The major task of helping our SMEs and PMETs to get through the challenges of the current economic downturn in the short-term and restructuring of our economy to stay robust in the long run, must remain our top priority besides fighting the pandemic. Our NCMPs will continue to advance such causes in Parliament."

Yuen was referring to its two Non-Constituency Members of Parliament, Hazel Poa and Leong Mun Wai.

Yuen, who was recently elected Secretary-General of the party, previously mentioned the plight of PMETs during his election debate appearance in GE2020.

Singapore Democratic Party

Speaking to Mothership, Alfred Tan of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) said the announcement showed that the "PAP Cabinet has a big leadership problem".

Tan, who is a Central Executive Committee member and stood in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC during GE2020, said: "No one seems to be ready to take on from Mr Lee Hsien Loong at the moment."

He added:

"Does moving existing ministers out of their recently-assigned portfolios mean they have not done their jobs well? Shouldn't they be given more time to implement their plans? They were given less than one year in their office since the last GE."

Tan might have been referring to ministers like Ong and Wong, who helmed the Transport and Education ministries respectively for less than a year.

Tan also said Singapore needs ministers who are "relevant and experienced in their portfolios" to provide "ministerial leadership".

Otherwise, he added, Singapore will continue to be "directionless and not progress".

PM Lee addressed this point in his press conference, saying it was "disruptive", but it was a necessary move in his view.

However, poor performance was not cited by PM Lee as a reason. Instead, he said:

"They have made contributions, they are getting to their stride, and now I have to disrupt them. But I hope that after this adjustment, the new ministers in those two posts will be able to settle down for some time."

Reform Party

Kenneth Jeyaretnam, Secretary-General of the Reform Party, shared his thoughts on the reshuffle in a blog post on April 24.

Also sharing the post to his Facebook page, Jeyaretnam made a number of unsubstantiated claims about PM Lee's motives behind the reshuffle.

First off, Heng Swee Keat's stated reasons for stepping aside (i.e. age and health) did not strike him as convincing:

"His decision to step aside may have been his but it is hard to believe that Heng would have voluntarily decided that he did not want to be PM unless his health was not up to it. It is far more likely that LHL decided to cull him, which seems consistent with LHL’s mealymouthed praise for him as an “important member” of the team."

In Jeyaretnam's view, Wong is now in pole position to be PM-in-waiting.

He claimed that the reshuffle sends a message to the public that supposedly only Chinese men are being considered for the next PM.

Finally, Jeyaretnam claimed that PM Lee intends to stay on for another term of Parliament until "either his wife or son" is in a position to assume leadership.

While Jeyaretnam did not name PM Lee's son, the blogpost includes a photo of Li Hongyi, who is currently at GovTech Singapore. Jeyaretnam did not provide any evidence for this claim.

People's Voice

Lim Tean, leader of the People's Voice, made two Facebook posts commenting on the reshuffle.

The first was on April 24, which said: "No Amount Of Change In Cabinet Can Cause A Spark Of Hope. They Are All Exhausted And Dormant!"

The second was on April 27, and included a cartoon sporting the logo of The Online Citizen Asia.

Lim referred to Goh Chok Tong's comment that he would like to see the 4G leadership settle on a successor by the end of 2018.

He added, "It’s been 3 and a half years and all they can show is a blank canvass (sic)! Have they run out of paint?"

However, the 4G did settle on a leader -- Heng Swee Keat -- by the end of 2018.

You can see Lim's post below:

Top image from Kenneth Jeyaretnam, Future of Singapore, Lim Tean and Singapore Democratic Party's Facebook pages.