Singapore's Lawrence Wong forges personal ties with Malaysian leaders in first trip as PM-in-waiting

Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's visit to Malaysia this week is part of a bid to forge personal relationships with neighbours and key strategic partners before he succeeds Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, analysts say.

Wong, 49, on Sunday made his first working trip to the city state's northern neighbour since he was promoted in June, following a decision by the ruling People's Action Party to designate him as the leader of its so-called fourth generation (4G) of ministers.

Lee, 70, has said he will retire before or after elections due by 2025.

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Wong's four-day itinerary in Malaysia was expected of a high-profile visit, observers said. He paid courtesy calls on Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Senior Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, and Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus.

Wong, who is also finance minister, was granted an audience with the Malaysian king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, on Tuesday as well.

Despite the officious nature of his meetings, Wong sought to highlight the lighter moments of his engagements on social media.

One picture showed him strumming guitars with his counterpart Zafrul after a private dinner with their spouses on the first day of his trip. "This is what happens when the Singapore and Malaysia Finance Ministers hang out together," Wong wrote in his post on Facebook.

In remarks to Singapore media on Tuesday, he said the "close relationships we have at a personal level and between our two countries" ensured that differences that emerge between the neighbours can be discussed candidly.

"We are able to work out these differences in the context of our broader relationship, always taking the overall approach of advancing and strengthening our bilateral ties," he was quoted as saying by The Straits Times. "That's how we have done it over so many decades, and that's what we will continue to do."

While seemingly innocuous, Wong's push to portray a more casual relationship with Malaysian leaders indicates he is laying the groundwork ahead of his eventual rise to the top job, according to Ariel Tan, a senior fellow and coordinator of the Malaysia Programme at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS).

"It is a strong signal that Minister Wong wants to get to know the Malaysian leaders at a more personal level, and isn't there just for a strictly business trip," Tan said. "Personal relationships help to develop a greater ease of communication, trust, and empathy that are especially important in times of emergency and tension."

The decision by the PAP's 4G team to pick Wong as their leader in April ended months of speculation about Singapore's leadership succession.

The previous heir-apparent, 61-year-old Heng Swee Keat, last year said he would stand aside as Lee's successor as he believed the next leader needed to be younger so that they would have a longer runway to lead the country in the post-pandemic era.

Wong, 49, whose background is far removed from the elite and Ivy League pedigree of his peers, came into his own over the past two-and-a-half years when he served as the calm and steady face of the government in handling the pandemic as a co-chair of Singapore's Covid-19 task force.

While the timeline of the power transition has yet to be decided, analysts expect Wong to continue engaging foreign leaders with increased frequency.

Wong has been one of the key Singapore officials whom visiting leaders have called on in recent months. In July, he held talks with the foreign ministers of India and Australia as they passed through the city state ahead of a G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Bali.

As finance minister - a position he has held since May last year - Wong has attended events such as the World Bank and IMF's Spring Meeting in April, and the meeting of G20 countries' finance ministers and central bank chiefs in July.

Singaporeans are likely to keep a close eye on how Wong handles relationships with key partner nations as his previous portfolios have largely focused on domestic matters, said Nydia Ngiow, Singapore managing director for political risk consultancy BowerGroupAsia.

"This suggests that he will not differ significantly from the status quo for the foreseeable future, although we expect to see him injecting more of his own style and impact in managing such relationships as he grows into the role in the coming years," Ngiow said.

In a statement on Monday, Singapore's Prime Minister's Office said Wong's meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri reaffirmed "substantive and broad-based cooperation" between the two nations.

Wong had also informed Ismail Sabri that Singapore was "open to fresh proposals" from Malaysia on potentially reviving the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur high speed rail (HSR) project, according to the statement.

Malaysia in 2021 paid S$102 million (US$72.6 million) in compensation to Singapore after both countries agreed to terminate the project at Malaysia's request.

But Malaysia's government has recently proposed to possibly revive the HSR project in several meetings between top leaders of both nations, including during Ismail Sabri's meeting with Singapore premier Lee during the former's first official visit to Singapore as prime minister in November last year.

Malaysia's Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong had in May said that they were considering plans to establish HSR lines to link up Kuala Lumpur to Singapore in the south and Bangkok in the north.

While the possibility of the HSR project coming back online cannot be dismissed, Singapore is likely to approach the matter "very cautiously", said RSIS' Tan.

"Given the value of socioeconomic ties between the two countries, and their role and strategic interest in facilitating greater connectivity within Asean and Asia, new connections would always be worthy of consideration," Tan said.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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