It's official — Lawrence Wong will take office as Singapore's fourth prime minister on May 15, 2024.

The 51-year-old was elected the leader of the People's Action Party (PAP) 4G team in April 2022, after previous elect Heng Swee Keat stepped aside for age and health reasons.

When interviewed, 15 of the 19 "stakeholders", comprising cabinet ministers, 4G leaders and more, voted for him as their preferred 4G leader — a clear vote of confidence.

But what do we actually know about the man?

Former civil servant

The deputy prime minister entered politics in 2011 at age 39.

But before that, he had a 14-year-long career as a civil servant.

As a child, he attended Haig Boys' Primary where his mother — a school teacher — taught.

He later attended Tanjong Katong Secondary School and Victoria Junior College, and went on to obtain bachelor's and master's degrees in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor respectively.

In 1997, he began his career at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

A flourishing career culminated in him becoming principal private secretary to PM Lee in 2005, and chief executive of the Energy Market Authority.

Just shy of him reaching the 15-year mark — which would have made him eligible for a pension — Wong resigned from the public service and joined the PAP.

An unlikely candidate

In 2018, Wong didn't seem like a very likely pick for the PM role.

Picture this: it's November. The party's Central Executive Committee (CEC) — its highest decision-making body — is being elected.

DPM Heng Swee Keat and Education Minister Chan Chun Sing get elected as the 1st and 2nd Assistant Secretary-General respectively. And other 3G and 4G leaders are also elected to various roles.

But Wong isn't one of them.

At least, not at first. On Nov. 23, 2018, the CEC issues a press release saying that they had "`co-opted four additional members — Comrades Lawrence Wong, Desmond Lee, Sitoh Yih Pin and Christopher de Souza".

So what happened?

Long story short: Covid-19.

Face of the pandemic

In January 2020, a Multi-Ministry Task Force (MTF) was appointed to tackle the crisis.

Then-Health Minister Gan Kim Yong nominated Wong as "someone he could work well with" to be his fellow co-chair, despite the latter being Minister for National Development and Second Minister of Finance — not particularly related, it seemed, to the stresses of a global pandemic.

Wong noted that while he would be "happy to support", it was indeed not something that would naturally fit into his portfolios at the time.

And in the April 2021 Cabinet Reshuffle, PM Lee mentioned that Wong was appointed as MTF co-chair not on the basis of his "previous appointment" (i.e. ministry), but on a "basis personal to him".

It remains unclear what this basis might be. But Wong, as the MTF's co-chair, quickly became one of the faces of the MTF.

He made headlines in March 2020 when he was seen tearing up in Parliament as he expressed his appreciation for frontliners who were "going all out to fight the virus".

The same year, he joined the fairly new Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC as its sole anchor minister.

Wong's team won by an above-average margin of 63.18 per cent.

And in November 2020, Wong was directly elected to the CEC for the first time.

No co-opting this time.

Pawrent and music lover

The crying-on-camera incident cemented Wong's reputation as an "accessible minister".

But it wasn't just his willingness to show emotion that contributed to this.

A known music buff, he occasionally posts videos of him jamming to tunes on his instrument of choice, the guitar – such as a rendition of "Love Story" when Taylor Swift landed on our shores.

@mothershipsg Lawrence Wong (Taylor's Version) #singapore #taylorswift #tiktoksg #sgnews ♬ original sound - Mothership

He even used to busk with his roommate back in university.

Wong is also a former pawrent and dog lover, as highlighted in his Instagram bio.

In 2020, he posted a tribute on Instagram after his golden retriever, Summer, passed away at the age of 16.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Lawrence Wong (@lawrencewongst)

Born to an "ordinary family" at the Marine Parade HDB estate, Wong grew up as the second child of a sales manager father and a teacher mother.

He's also previously shared about his admiration for his mum, now 82, who he described as a "superwoman".

"She did it all – managing her teaching load, raising the family, and taking care of the household chores, all without any domestic help," he wrote in a 2014 Facebook post.

Wong is married to Loo Tze Lui. The couple has no children.

Leader of the 4G

It's been two years since Wong was elected the leader of the 4G team in April 2022.

Ever since then, he's delivered three Budgets as Finance Minister, fronted speeches like last year's May Day Rally keynote, and represented Singapore internationally in state visits to countries like Germany, France, and the U.S.

Importantly, he launched the Forward Singapore exercise in June 2022 — a roadmap for the PAP's next phase of nation building under the 4G leadership.

In November 2023, PM Lee said he would hand over the reins to Wong by November 2024, before the party's 70th birthday and the next General Elections.

"I am ready for my next assignment," Wong said then.

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Top image from Lawrence Wong/Instagram