Singaporeans are in the dark about their next prime minister
A PILLAR of stability, Lee Hsien Loong, son of Singapore’s independence leader, Lee Kuan Yew, has run the country since 2004. Despite a decline in his party’s popularity, the manicured electoral system has returned him to office time and again, most recently in 2015. The country is now more than halfway to the next election, which must be held in 2021 at the latest. As it nears, a tricky subject looms: who will replace Mr Lee? He plans to step down as prime minister ahead of his 70th birthday in 2022. The question has the government on edge.
新加坡独立领袖李光耀的儿子李显龙(Lee Hsien Loong)是新加坡稳固的支柱，自2004年以来一直掌管着这个国家。尽管他所在政党的支持率有所下降，但精心改编的选举制度让他一再继任，最近一次是在2015年。这个国家现距下次选举已经过去了一半多，下一次选举最晚在2021年举行。随着它的临近，一个棘手的问题浮出水面:谁将取代李显龙?他计划在2022年70岁生日之前辞去总理一职。这个问题让政府坐立不安。
Mr Lee will almost certainly win the next election. The ruling People’s Action Party has held power since before independence in 1965. It holds 83 of the 89 elected seats in Singapore’s parliament. Predicting the identity of the next prime minister is trickier. But a cabinet reshuffle this week provided clues. Three older ministers, all in their 60s, stepped down. Younger ones won more responsibility.
李先生几乎肯定会赢得下次选举。自1965年独立以来，执政的人民行动党一直掌权。在新加坡议会的89个席位中，它有83个席位。预测下一任总理的身份会更加棘手，但本周内阁改组提供了一些线索。三位年长的部长都在60多岁的时候辞职了，更年轻的人则承担更多的责任。
Mr Lee’s possible successors include Heng Swee Keat, the finance minister, Ong Ye Kung, the education minister and Chan Chun Sing, newly promoted from the prime minister’s office to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Mr Heng, who has led the education ministry and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, as well as serving as an aide to Mr Lee’s father, is regarded as the frontrunner. One former official praises him for his growing ease in the public eye, despite not being “a natural politician”. Wonkishness does not tend to hold Singaporean politicians back. His health, however, might: he suffered a stroke in 2016.
李显龙可能的继任者包括财政部长恒瑞琪(Heng Swee Keat)、教育部长Ong Ye Kung，以及刚刚从总理办公室升任贸易和工业部的Chan Chun Sing。曾领导新加坡教育部和新加坡金融管理局(Monetary Authority of Singapore)的恒先生，还曾是李光耀父亲的一名助手，被认为是最热门的人选。一名前官员称赞他在公众眼中越来越应付自如，尽管他不是“天生的政治家”。“书呆子气”并不会让新加坡政界人士退缩，然而，他的健康状况可能是:他在2016年中风了。
Public opinion is unlikely to play much part in the decision. In fact, the government is further crimping freedom of speech in a country not exactly known for it. In March parliament passed a law that allows police to ban the dissemination of videos or pictures of certain events. The sorts of incidents that qualify range from terrorist attacks to demonstrations that block pavements or disrupt business. Plans to put cameras linked to facial-recognition software on more than 100,000 lampposts will further discourage even the most respectable protests. Social media are also being scrutinised by a parliamentary committee which wants to fight “deliberate online falsehoods”. Whoever ends up in charge, the government will be well defended against unruly critics.
公众舆论不太可能在这一决定中扮演重要角色。事实上，政府进一步限制了国家的言论自由，尽管这个国家在这方面做得并不出色。今年3月，议会通过了一项法律，允许警方禁止发布某些事件的视频或图片。这类事件的范围从恐怖袭击到街区的示威，再到阻碍商业发展的示威活动。在10万多个灯柱上安装与面部识别软件相相关的摄像头计划，就连最令人尊敬的抗议活动也深受打击。社交媒体也受到了一个议会委员会的审查，来打击“蓄意网络谎言”。无论谁最终掌权，政府都能很好地抵御那些不守规矩的批评。
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline "Not much leeway"