Why should Huang Xuncai take over? To put it bluntly, Wang Ruijie and Chen Zhensheng did not perform well in the 2020 election, so they were eliminated. When Wang announced his resignation as Finance Minister last year, the author analyzed it. (See Analysis of Singapore 's Cabinet Restructuring: Lee Hsien Loong may be "full"? Who has enough leverage to take over as Prime Minister after Heng Swee Keat's "resignation"? ) But who was Huang Xuncai who took over? Many media describe him as a grass-roots elite.
For example, if he did not study at the elite photo restoration service Raffles Institution , or he was a son of a political and businessman, he was gradually promoted to this position by an ordinary person. In fact, the outside world has misunderstood this background. One is the Tanjung Katong Secondary School that Huang studied. Although it is not a famous school, it has a small reputation in the area, and its standard is no worse than Raffles College. Then, he went to Harvard to study after receiving a government scholarship1]. After stepping into politics, he has been following Lee Hsien Loong as his private secretary.
Therefore, Huang is not so "grassroots". The environment he was in in college and the official culture he absorbed in the political circle are enough to give him a full score of political capital. Over the past few months, Lee Hsien Loong appointed the senior leader of the ruling party, Xu Wenyuan, to find a leadership successor. After asking the opinions of the 19 members of the Standing Committee of the Action Party (15 agreed with Huang's leadership), and all the MPs of the ruling party (82), the decision was made. Huang Xuncai was appointed.