PM Wong says it was painful to drop people from PAP team during GE, hardest part of job is managing people

The hardest part so far of being prime minister has been managing people and party management, especially when it came to making the decision on who to drop from the People's Action Party (PAP) team during the recent general election, PM Lawrence Wong said in an interview with the Financial Times (FT) on Oct. 21.

Painful to have to drop people: PM Wong

In terms of managing people and the party, PM Wong shared that he did not realise the full extent of it until he got the job.

"I'm not just prime minister, I'm leading a party ... I had to go into elections, and you have to then think about which are the members of my team who I have to drop because I want renewal," he elaborated.

He commented that renewing the team each election has underpinned the PAP's success so far.

He also shared that it would have been easier to continue with the status quo and not "offend anyone", but this will come at a cost years down the road.

"So having to look hard at the members of the team, speak to each one of them individually, and say, 'I'm sorry, I'm not able to allow you to continue. I have to drop you'. That was very painful," he said.

"I had to steel myself to do it and manage it, and I am glad we had a good election outcome at the end of the day," PM Wong added.

When FT's editor, Roula Khalaf, first asked PM Wong what the hardest thing he has had to do since becoming PM was, he paused briefly before letting out a smile and saying: "There have been many hard things."

Khalaf pressed PM Wong, and quipped that seeing U.S. President Donald Trump might be the hardest, to which the prime minister replied that he hasn't met him and was sure there will be an opportunity to do so.

Wong added that he have had a phone call with Trump late last year and it "went well". 

Changing global order and anxiety among youths

Apart from this, PM Wong also discussed the changing global order and how youths have been affected.

The prime minister pointed out that the shift in American societal attitude towards the prevailing global order was not temporary.

There will be a new multipolar world order, and this order does not provide a stable framework for countries to cooperate, PM Wong explained.

FT asked PM Wong if this impending change would require domestic changes in Singapore towards more political liberalisation, especially given the context of emerging youth movements around the world.

In his reply, the prime minister pointed out that the we are in an environment that is "less stable, more chaotic, more disorderly."

This has led to an increased concerned amongst youths about their future, and Singapore youths were not spared from this.

"So from a political point of view, from a domestic point of view, our focus must be to find ways to give assurance to our young, to give them the confidence that they can chart a better future for themselves, and that is what we are determined to do," the prime minister said.

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Top image via FT / YouTube