From being a civil service ‘quant’ to PM, Lawrence Wong recounts struggles and wins along his journey to the top job

Mr. Wong recalls that when Prime Minister Lee invited him to elections in 2011, he said that being in politics was his” calling.”

About a century and one COVID- 19 pandemic after, it was day for the 4G leaders to get a head among themselves.

They chose someone to help the process, hear their opinions, pick the ideal candidate for the position, and unite the entire group. Mr. Khaw was roped in to help the process after the 4G squad had a discussion with Mr. Lee.

” As he was going about the discussions, Boon Wan was very careful, he did not allow on at all who might have emerged from the process. Not at all, according to Mr. Wong, who added that the outcome surprised both him and his family.

Mr Wong is married to Ms Loo Tze Lui, who was the vice- president of the Singapore’s Young Men’s Christian Association ( YMCA ). Previous lender Ms. Loo is described as a former banker in an archived version of her account on the YMCA site.

She knew that I was a part of this process, so we were prepared for it. And we were aware that we would take the process’s conclusion before proceeding. And if this is the effect, then I would move away and I did get on the responsibility”, he said.

” And that is why I am below, where I am today”.

THE SINGAPORE SYSTEM

A blogger inquired what Mr. Wong’s qualifications in the Singapore structure and its social compact meant when he learned that he attended a neighborhood school.

To this, Mr Wong said he was” a solution of the Singapore system”.

He claimed that regardless of what their talents or abilities may be or what career paths they choose to take, every person has the opportunity to thrive and realize their potential in the Singapore they want to see.

” But to achieve this, we may have a system and a world where every task is respected and where every work is paid fairly. And we recognise folks for each of their efforts”, said Mr Wong.

As long as they work continuously, part of the Singapore small aims to give Singaporeans the assurance and security that their “basics in existence” may be taken care of even if they stumble or experience setbacks.

” And this confidence, this support, has to be provided not just by the government only, but it also has to be something provided by all of us in society, but that we feel a sense of shared responsibility to one another, and we can develop as a more polite, more generous, more big- loving society”, he said.

Dusting UP ON MALAY AND MANDARIN

Mr. Wong also discussed the difficulties he had with speaking in different languages, including how he had to” struggling” when he was a child and how he has improved since mastering both Malay and Mandarin.

He claimed that he had been talking about Malay since his time in the legal services and that he had given it even more thought since he first started working in elections.

” But then ever since the appointment as DPM- for close to two years today- I have been taking the lessons more significantly, too, because I do want to engage more in Malay, speak in Malay, so it is a continuing process”, he said.

” I think to be able to deliver a speech, it’s something I can do, to be fluent and be able to engage completely in Malay- I think that will be much, much harder”, he added.

Singapore’s Prime Ministers have in the past delivered important speeches, such as the National Day Rally, in more than one language.

Mr. Wong explained that he has also been taking Mandarin lessons more frequently in recent years, though not as frequently as Malay ones because” I had to improve my Malay skills.”

” After all, I have struggled with Mandarin study in school my entire life and did so with English.” But I have had the foundations with me”, he said.

” It’s just that I did n’t have the benefit of having a family where we used to communicate in Mandarin,” I said.

He claimed that speaking to his residents in Mandarin was not difficult, but that what is still to be done is to improve upon using it for official work and in media interviews.