DPM Heng hopes to spend time with family, travel, 'not do any work' in first year of retirement

Retiring Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat hopes to spend the next six to 12 months "not doing any work", before he figures out his next steps.

- Goh Yan Han

"I have a very bad work habit, I work long hours. I don't have much time for myself," he said.

"I hope to spend time travelling to all my favourite places, to read my favourite books and listen to my music, so that I can slow down. Then I'll decide what else might be meaningful for me to do."

The 64-year-old also hopes to spend time with his children and extended family, and continue exercising and taking care of his health.

Plans for his post-politics life have been on the cards for at least a year.

In May 2024, he told Prime Minister Lawrence Wong just after his swearing-in ceremony that he wanted to retire "if the transition goes well for the rest of the year".

"I had decided on that before that, but I didn't want to disturb him," DPM Heng told The Straits Times on May 15.

He does not intend to go back to public life, quipping: "Only if I am absolutely needed. Do you have something in mind?"

But he told ST that he may return to his areas of interest – the future of science, technology and innovation, and the future of Singapore's economy. Both are areas that he has covered in his work in government.

DPM Heng had announced on Nomination Day, April 23, that he would be retiring from politics after 14 years in the Government, which accounted for nearly a third of his 45 years in public service.