Community partnership, economic know-how helped to shape DPM Heng's career

The importance of community partnership, a principled foreign policy and economic know-how amid crises were key learning points from Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat's public service career.

- Goh Yan Han

All these came together during his political career from 2011 to 2025, when he helmed the Education and Finance ministries and saw the country through the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent economic restructuring.

The 64-year-old, once slated to be Singapore's fourth prime minister, announced his retirement on April 23.

He sat down with The Straits Times on May 15 at the Treasury for a farewell interview to recap his career.

After university, DPM Heng joined the public service as a police officer, rising to become commander of the Jurong Police Division.

One highlight of that stint was when he implemented a new community policing system, built on learnings from the Japanese.

Their focus was on building trust and confidence in the police and a meaningful relationship with the vast majority of people who do not commit crimes and share the same objectives of maintaining law and order.

"It was for me a major lesson in how we align our common purpose, how we mobilise the public to do their part, and how we as a society can come together to achieve common objectives," he said.

Later in the administrative service, he was principal private secretary to then Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew between 1997 and 2000.

"That is the highlight of my career, to be able to serve our founding prime minister and to learn so much from him directly, in particular in how we manage international relations," said DPM Heng.

He cited an example where Singapore was working on the Suzhou Industrial Park project, and there was a misalignment of interests between what had been agreed on with the central government, and what local officials were doing.

The local officials had decided to promote their own official park, resulting in two rival parks in the same area.

Mr Lee made the incident public even though some officials had cautioned him against it for fear of tarnishing his reputation, said DPM Heng.