First day in office: PM Lawrence Wong meets Cabinet, calls world leaders

SINGAPORE - Prime Minister Lawrence Wong hit the ground running a day after he was sworn in as Singapore’s fourth prime minister on May 15.

In posts to his social media platforms on May 16, the first day in his new role, PM Wong said he held his first Cabinet meeting in the afternoon.

“We have a full agenda ahead,” he said alongside a photo of the meeting with his ministers, in what looked to be a different and bigger room at the Istana than where past Cabinet meetings were usually held.

“Look forward to working with all of you to take Singapore forward in our next phase.”

Earlier in the day, he also spoke with foreign counterparts who had phoned him to congratulate him on his new role.

PM Wong said he spoke with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and thanked them for their good wishes.

“I look forward to working with them to boost bilateral and regional cooperation,” he said. “There’s much we can do with like-minded countries to achieve win-win outcomes, and steer developments towards continued peace, stability and prosperity for Asia and the world.”

The calls followed congratulatory messages from other world leaders after PM Wong was sworn into office on May 15.

Among them were Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and several Malaysian leaders.

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu and United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan also wrote that they look forward to working with PM Wong.

In his first speech as prime minister on May 15, PM Wong had called on Singaporeans to join him in reaching the ambitious goal of building a society where people can be the best version of themselves, and where everyone matters.

There will be no easy formulas to apply or available models to follow in this task, he said. But he and his fourth-generation political leaders, working with Singaporeans, will experiment to discover fresh solutions and blaze new paths.

“Everyone will have a stake in our nation’s progress. Everyone will play a key role in shaping our future,” he said in his inauguration speech.

He also promised to serve with all his heart, to never settle for the status quo, and to “always seek better ways to make tomorrow better than today”.

“My mission is clear: To continue defying the odds and to sustain this miracle called Singapore,” he said.

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