SINGAPORE — When he becomes Senior Minister, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he will do his best to help his successor Lawrence Wong but the incoming leader will have to “lead in (his) own way”.

Mr Lee, 72, was speaking to the media in his final interview as Prime Minister before he steps down on May 15, nearly 20 years after he took office in August 2004.

Mr Wong, who will be Singapore’s fourth Prime Minister, has said that Mr Lee will take on the role of Senior Minister in his new Cabinet. Details of a Cabinet reshuffle will be announced a few days before the leadership handover.

Asked if he has discussed his new role with Mr Wong, Mr Lee said: “Well, I talked to him. I said I will be here to do my best to help you to succeed.

“You have to be your own person. You have to make the decisions. You have to lead in your own way, persuade people in your own way but I will give you the benefit of my experience and my views.”

On whether there are specific areas that he thinks he can contribute more, the outgoing Prime Minister said he can certainly tap on the network of people who know him during his time in office.

“I hope that the people I know, the network of leaders I have met and who know me, will still be there for some time. They are getting old too,” he said, citing former leaders such as former German chancellor Angela Merkel and former British prime minister Tony Blair, who retired some time ago.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, whom Mr Lee met last month for a final leaders’ retreat, is also handing over the leadership reins this year, he added.

“But to the extent that I have people who know me and whom I can talk to, I will certainly make use of that and engage them,” Mr Lee said.

“Specific, sensitive policy – that is up to the Prime Minister to decide,” he added. “If he arrows me to do it, I will take the arrow.”

Mr Lee is the eldest son of Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

An impressive mathematician in school, he could have taken an entirely different path. But the Prime Minister has repeatedly said he does not regret choosing to be a politician rather than a mathematician.

He reiterated that last week when he delivered the keynote address at the May Day Rally, his final major speech as the head of government.

“I have done my duty, and I am very happy I chose this path of public service all those many years ago,” said Mr Lee, to a standing ovation from the crowd.

In his sit-down interview with Singapore media held at the Istana last month, Mr Lee was asked if he would encourage his children to join politics.

“If they were not my children and if they had an interest – yes. But they are my children, and the hurdle is higher.

“So far, none of them have shown any interest. My grandchildren are much too young.”

Mr Lee has a daughter, Li Xiuqi, and a son, Li Yipeng, from his first marriage. He married Ms Ho Ching in 1985 and they have two sons, Mr Li Hongyi and Mr Li Haoyi.

He had previously said in interviews that his children were not keen to enter politics.

In 2017, Mr Li Hongyi, a civil servant, publicly declared that he had no interest in politics. This brief Facebook post came after he was thrust into the spotlight when his aunt and uncle, Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang, alleged, among other things, that his parents harboured political ambitions for him.

The Prime Minister dismissed the allegations then, and described the claim of having political ambition for his son as “absurd”. CNA

For more stories like this, visit cna.asia.