A management team with complementary strengths: Goh Chok Tong on Heng Swee Keat and Chan Chun Sing

SINGAPORE: In his first comments on the appointment of Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat as First Deputy General Secretary of the Party for People's Action (PAP), Prime Minister Emeritus Goh Chok Tong said that Mr. Heng and Mr. Chan Chun Sing, chosen as his deputy, have complementary strengths.

Addressing Channel NewsAsia on Monday, Nov. 26 to discuss his recently published authoritative biography, Tall Order, Mr. Goh noted that, while Mr. Heng's forces resided in his strong governance experience, he "n & # Has not yet been exposed to mobilizing people, working with the PAP, the NTUC (National Congress of Trade Unions) and working with the AP (People's Association) ".

"Chan Chun Sing has that," Goh added.

The former prime minister acknowledged that Mr. Chan would have "some management experience with some departments, but his strengths so far have been put to use in these areas of mobilization."

"So, the two will work very well, they will complement each other," Goh said.

Mr. Goh's comments come a few days after Heng's appointment as first Deputy Secretary General of PAP. The finance minister is clearly the favorite to replace Lee Hsien Loong as prime minister. Chan was appointed second deputy secretary general, and Heng selected Chan to replace him.

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Mr Goh's comments echo those of Mr Lee, who said the two new Deputy Secretaries-General had "complementary strengths and a strong couple".

When asked if he felt that the youngest generation (4G) leaders might have chosen the new PAP leadership based on this complementarity between Mr. Heng and Mr. Chan, Mr. Goh opposite.

"It's not quite that," he says.

"Ministers and bureau members decided who should lead the team. So Mr. Heng Swee Keat was chosen to be the leader and Mr. Heng, in my opinion, very wisely chose to complement each other. "

In his interview with Channel NewsAsia, Mr Goh was questioned about the possible delay in the party's decision to support Mr Heng, given the attack he suffered in May 2016.

"I think so," he says. "I think without the stroke, they would probably have made a decision earlier, maybe about six to nine months ago."

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UNDERSTANDING THE TRANSITION OF LEADERSHIP

Mr. Goh himself raised the issue of delays in the transition of PAP leaders, including during his public speech on Facebook on New Year's Eve last year.

At the time, Mr. Goh had written, "One of the urgent challenges that I would like to see resolved is our fourth generation leadership.

"Each estate is different, but one thing remains unchanged: each cohort will have to choose one of them to direct and support it.I hope the current cohort will do it in six to nine months. .

"Then the prime minister can officially designate his choice as his potential successor before the end of 2018."

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When asked why he chose to intervene at the time, Mr. Goh recalled the issue at his first political experience, where he was introduced to "managed political succession", first to present the candidates for the policy and then manage the transitions between the leaders.

Mr. Goh added that, according to his calculations, and considering Mr. Lee's intention to resign at age 70, the current transition had "taken a little longer".

Nevertheless, since the party's decision has since been taken, Mr. Goh said: "I am very happy that they decided to choose the leaders. Obviously, the team players are very good, the individual players are very good.

"But they formed a team under Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. So now they have to be a team, under a new leader. "

THE PAP APPROACH TO "TEAMWORK"

In his remarks following the announcement of his appointment, Mr. Heng highlighted the importance of the PAP leadership team in implementing governance for Singapore.

"I am deeply aware of the heavy responsibility that I assume, leading the party and governing Singapore are gigantic and complex tasks," he said.

"Nobody can do it alone, not even Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, who has benefited from the help of able-bodied, big-hearted colleagues, and I am comforted to have the support of a strong team. "

These 32 comments were echoed by the 32 younger political leaders who supported Heng as leader. In their statement issued following the announcement of the management, the group discussed the dynamics of the group and committed to "continue to work as a team", and to be "united in our goal of serve Singaporeans to the best of our ability. "

Asked to explain the underlying psyche of the PAP highlighting the team's ultimate importance, Mr. Goh said, "To lead the country, you need the entire team and, of course, 'There are a lot of people who could constitute a guy, that's good; it means that there is a strong leader.

"But strong leaders need a team to get things done," he added.

"So Mr. Lee Kuan Yew was a strong man, but he needed key members to help him: Goh Keng Swee, Rajaratnam, Othman Wok, they were the main members of his team, but apart from them, we had a bigger team: Ong Pang Boon, Toh Chye Chin, Chua Sian Chin, the other ministers. So you need a team to run a country.

"No matter the quality of a man, your reach may not be as wide to understand the problems, nor to be complete, nor total.You need a team."

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Seating the analogy of a football team, Mr. Goh said, "You can have a brilliant striker, but he himself could not win. You need a team work. "

By analogy with the football team, Mr Goh was asked if the PAP could, in future, have a personality within the party which declares from the start: "I want to be a captain one day. I know that I can be a captain and that I can rally the team around me. "

"Well, I think so," replied Mr. Goh. "I think there must come a time when someone says I want to be the leader.

"But they can not order that. To be a leader, people have to support it. "

Regarding everyone's strengths, Mr. Goh stated that Mr. Heng was able to handle a crisis, evoking the example of the time when Mr. Heng was Director General of the Authority Singapore and himself as President.

"I saw how he was working," Goh said, referring to Mr. Heng's work during the global financial crisis. "I think he could handle the crisis and that he could handle the crisis."

More information from Mr. Goh Chok Tong's interview will be released this weekend.