Heng Swee Keat


Heng Swee Keat is a Singaporean politician who has been the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore since May 2019, Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies since July 2020 and Minister for Finance since October 2015 respectively. A member of the country's governing People's Action Party, he has been the party's First Assistant Secretary-General since November 2018 under Lee Hsien Loong. He previously served as Singapore's Minister for Education from May 2011 to August 2015. He has been the Member of Parliament for East Coast GRC for Bedok since July 2020. He was the MP for Tampines GRC for Tampines Central from May 2011 to June 2020.
He was widely believed to be poised as the next Prime Minister of Singapore, succeeding Lee Hsien Loong. On 1 May 2019, Heng became the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore while the two incumbent DPMs, Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam, relinquished their posts on the same day. He is also the first solo Deputy Prime Minister in 34 years. From 1985 to 2019, Singapore had two sitting deputy prime ministers working concurrently.
Prior to his election to Parliament, Heng served as the managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore from 2005 to 2011.

Career

Early career

In 1983, Heng began his career in the Singapore Police Force where he was awarded the SPF Overseas Scholarship from then President Devan Nair. In 1997, he joined the Singapore Civil Service's Administrative Service. He served a period at the Ministry of Education, before being appointed the Principal Private Secretary to former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1997. In 2001, Heng became the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry. He then served as managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore from 2005 to 2011.
In February 2011, Heng was named the Asia-Pacific Central Bank Governor of the Year by the British magazine The Banker.

Political career

At the 2011 general election, Heng was a People's Action Party candidate in the Tampines Group Representation Constituency. When he was introduced as a candidate, former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong tipped Heng to be a potential minister and core member of Singapore's fourth generation leadership team. Heng was one of five PAP candidates in his constituency in a team led by then-Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan, which also included Minister of State Masagos Zulkifli, Irene Ng, and Baey Yam Keng. They faced a team from the National Solidarity Party, led by the party's then-Secretary-General Goh Meng Seng, along with Reno Fong, Syafarin Sarif, Raymond Lim and Gilbert Goh. On polling day on 7 May, the PAP team won the contest with 57.22% of the votes.
On 22 November 2018, Heng succeeded Teo Chee Hean as the Party's first Assistant Secretary-General. The following day, on the CEC election, Heng was appointed as the first Assistant Secretary-General.
At the 2020 general election, Heng was a People's Action Party candidate in the East Coast Group Representation Constituency. On polling day on 10 July, the PAP team won the contest with 53.41% of the votes.

Minister for Education (2011–2015)

On 18 May 2011, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong appointed Heng to the Cabinet as the Minister for Education. Heng was the second first-term MP-elect to be directly promoted to a member of Cabinet, after Richard Hu back in 1984.
In August 2012, Heng was tasked to lead a new ministerial committee to conduct a broad-based review of the Government's policies and direction.

Minister for Finance

On 28 September 2015, it was announced that Heng will be the Minister of Finance from 1 October 2015.
On 19 February 2018, Heng announced on his annual budget statement in parliament that he plans to raise GST from 7% to 9% some time between 2021 and 2025. He said, "the GST increase is necessary because even after exploring various options to manage our future expenditures through prudent spending, saving and borrowing for infrastructure, there is still a gap".
On 24 April 2018, it was announced that Heng will take over responsibility for assisting the Prime Minister on National Research Foundation matters from Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean effectively from 1 May.
Heng's fourth budget took place on 18 February 2020. Referred to as the "Unity Budget", it covered measures to cover uncertainties long-term against the backdrop of the developing COVID-19 pandemic. Less than a month after on 26 March, Heng delivered a second budget, an additional S$55 billion "Resilience Budget" in response to the worsening situation of the pandemic and to mitigate the economic impact on businesses. It was the second time in Singapore's history since the financial crisis of 2007–08 that past reserves had to be used to fund the initiatives provided. Measures include a cash grant of S$9,000 for eligible self-employed persons as well as S$3,000 for lower-income recipients under the Workfare Income Supplement Scheme as emergency relief against the pandemic. Heng also mentioned that this will likely be the worst contraction ever in Singapore's economy since 1965.

Deputy Prime Minister

On 23 April 2019, the Prime Minister's Office announced that Heng will assume the role as the 12th Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore effectively from 1 May 2019, taking over Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who previously served in the office for 10 years and 8 years respectively.

Controversies

In 2020, multiple police reports were lodged against Heng after comments which he made to a student forum at Nanyang Technological University in 2019 resurfaced. In his comments, he claimed that Singaporeans was "not ready for a Prime Minister from a minority race" or someone that was non-Chinese, possibly inciting racial tensions and social division. He cited a 2016 survey conducted by the Institute of Policy Studies reflecting that only 60% of Singaporean Chinese would accept an Indian Prime Minister, which was in contrast to a survey conducted to about 900 Singaporeans in 2016 which showed that Singaporeans had preferred Tharman Shanmugaratnam, a minority, as their first choice by a wide margin to succeed Lee Hsien Loong as Singapore’s next Prime Minister.
However, the police released a statement a few days later that it has consulted with the Attorney-General of Singapore, Lucien Wong, who deemed that Heng's remarks had no intent to wound anyone’s racial feelings or promote enmity between different races.

Personal life

Heng is married to Chang Hwee Nee, CEO of the National Heritage Board. Heng has 2 children.

Stroke

On 12 May 2016, Heng Swee Keat collapsed from a stroke during a Cabinet meeting. He was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where he underwent neurosurgery to relieve pressure in his brain. He was transferred to the ICU after the surgery. Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, was immediately appointed to cover Mr Heng's duties.
On 25 June 2016, Heng Swee Keat was discharged from hospital after 6 weeks. The Prime Minister's Office said on a statement that Mr Heng "has made an excellent recovery", but is still on medical leave as he continues his rehabilitation. He resumed his duties as MP and Finance Minister on 22 August 2016.
Despite his stroke, Heng was still seen as the leading contender to be the next Prime Minister of Singapore after the 2020 election.

Education

He completed his pre-university education at Raffles Institution.
In 1983, Heng graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Christ's College, Cambridge.
In 1993, Heng obtained a Master of Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Notable awards