History
The deputy prime minister is the second highest post, and is a senior Cabinet minister in Singapore. Since the mid-1980s, Singapore has had two deputy prime ministers at a time. The holder will sometimes assume the role of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent from Singapore.
The office of Deputy Prime Minister dates back to 1959 and it was first appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Negara , when Singapore attained self-governance from the British Empire.
The title of Deputy Prime Minister remained unchanged after the merger with the Federation of Malaya, Sarawak and North Borneo to form Malaysia, while Singapore was a federated state of Malaysia between 1962 and 1964. Toh Chin Chye was the first deputy prime minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1968.
Heng Swee Keat was appointed as Minister of Finance and assumed the office as Deputy Prime Minister on 1 May 2019 while both Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam relinquished their positions. Heng Swee Keat was widely believed to be poised to succeed Lee Hsien Loong as the next prime minister following his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister in May 2019. However, Heng subsequently withdrew himself from the nomination in April 2021 citing age and health reasons and relinquished his finance portfolio. [1] [2]
Lawrence Wong assumed the office as Deputy Prime Minister on 13 June 2022, serving alongside Heng Swee Keat after being appointed as Minister of Finance in 2021. [3] Lawrence Wong left office on 15 May 2024 making him the shortest serving Deputy Prime Minister, on the same day Gan Kim Yong assumed the office of Deputy Prime Minister.
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