'A much bigger step forward'

Lawrence Wong on his journey to becoming Singapores fourth PM:

- Linette Lai

It is 'not just about one ministry, one GRC' but national responsibility

In deciding to step up as Singapore's fourth prime minister, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong considered the much larger scale of his future responsibilities and whether he was prepared to shoulder them.

Unlike his decision to join politics in 2011 and subsequent appointment as an office-holder, it was "not just about one ministry, one GRC", he told reporters in an interview on May 10.

"Now you are talking about national responsibility, leading the party into (the general) election.

So, it was a much bigger role. And I had to ask myself whether it was something I was prepared to do." Responding to a question on the differences between choosing to join politics and stepping up as prime minister, he added: "It is similar and yet it is different. Similar because it is still very much a continuation in my mind of public service. Different because obviously this is a much bigger step forward." DPM Wong said he had no idea what role he would take on when he entered politics.

"No one tells you. So you just know that you are entering politics and only later they assign you an appointment," said DPM Wong, who is also finance minister.

He started out as a minister of state in the education and defence ministries in 2011.

While he had to adjust to the new role, he was prepared for what the job entailed, having worked with office-holders as a civil servant.

In contrast, the role of prime minister involves shouldering a much greater burden of responsibility.

"Yes, you are first among equals," he said. "But I had seen also the scale of responsibilities, what it entails, and how much and what was involved in this job." DPM Wong said that having agreed to be part of the process of picking the People's Action Party's fourth-generation (4G) leader, he knew that he would accept the outcome and step up.