Heng Swee Keat

Heng Swee Keat (born 15 April 1961) is a Singaporean politician and former police officer who has been serving as 7th Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore since 2019 and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies since 2020.

Born in a Chinese Singaporean family of Teochew descent, Heng was educated at Raffles Institution before graduating from Christ College at the University of Cambridge in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts with honours (later promoted to Master of Arts by seniority) degree in economics after being conferred an overseas scholarship from the Singapore Police Force (SPF) in 1980.

From 1985 to 2019, there had always been two Deputy Prime Ministers sitting concurrently in the Cabinet.

The unique circumstance of Heng becoming the sole holder of the office, together with his earlier appointment as the party's first assistant secretary-general, was seen by political observers as paving him the way to becoming the next prime minister.

He subsequently went on to complete a Master of Public Administration degree at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1993.

He was also the principal private secretary to Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew between 1997 and 2001.

He returned to the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and served in various roles, including a five-year stint in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), before leaving in 1997 with the rank of Assistant Commissioner.

He also completed a nine-month Command and Staff Course conducted by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF).

Heng joined the Singapore Administrative Service in 1997 and worked at the Ministry of Education (MOE) before being appointed Principal Private Secretary to Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew that same year.

In 2001, Heng was appointed Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI).

From 1 June 2005 to 2 April 2011, he served as Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and was named Asia-Pacific Central Bank Governor of the Year by The Banker in February 2011.

Heng had previously served as Minister for Education between 2011 and 2015 and Minister for Finance between 2015 and 2021.

Prior to entering politics, Heng worked in the Singapore Police Force (SPF), Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

He made his political debut in the 2011 general election as part of a five-member PAP team contesting in Tampines GRC and won with 57.22% of the vote.

Heng made his political debut in the 2011 general election as part of the five-member PAP team contesting in Tampines GRC, with former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong claiming that Heng had the potential to become a Cabinet minister.

The PAP team won with 57.22% of the vote against the National Solidarity Party and Heng became a Member of Parliament representing the Tampines Central ward of Tampines GRC.

On 18 May 2011, Heng was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for Education even though he had just been elected for the first time as a Member of Parliament.

In August 2012, he was tasked with leading a new ministerial committee to conduct a broad-based review of the government's policies and direction.

He then elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Tampines Central ward of Tampines GRC and managed to retain his parliamentary seat in the 2015 general election with 72.06% of the vote before switching to contest in East Coast GRC in the 2020 general election.

During the 2015 general election, Heng led the five-member PAP team contesting in Tampines GRC and won 72.06% of the vote against the National Solidarity Party.

After the general election, on 1 October 2015, Heng relinquished his portfolio as Minister for Education and took up the position of Minister for Finance.

On 19 February 2018, Heng announced during a budget speech in Parliament that the government planned to raise the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from 7% to 9% sometime between 2021 and 2025.

He said that, "the GST increase is necessary because even after exploring various options to manage our future expenditures through prudent spending, saving and borrowing for infrastructure, there is still a gap".

On 1 May 2018, Heng took over the responsibility of assisting Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on the National Research Foundation matters from Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean.

Later that year, on 23 November, he replaced Teo as the first assistant secretary-general of the People's Action Party (PAP) following an election in the party's Central Executive Committee (CEC).

Heng was poised to succeed Lee Hsien Loong as the fourth prime minister of Singapore following his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore in May 2019 and First Assistant Secretary-General of the People's Action Party in November 2018.

However, Heng subsequently withdrew himself from the nomination in April 2021.

On 1 May 2019, Heng was appointed Deputy Prime Minister, taking over the office which had previously been shared between Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

He also continued to hold the Cabinet portfolio of Minister for Finance.

In the campaigning period, a police report was lodged against Heng after comments he had made during a student forum at Nanyang Technological University in 2019 resurfaced.

While responding to a question on the possibility of Singapore having an ethnicity from the non-Chinese community as Prime Minister, Heng had said that the older generation was "not ready for a prime minister from a minority race" or someone who was non-Chinese.

He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Bedok division of East Coast GRC since 2020.

On 30 June 2020, the Nomination Day for the 2020 general election, Heng announced that he would be contesting in East Coast GRC, after Lim Swee Say stepped down as Member of Parliament of East Coast GRC, which had surprising political observers as he had been expected to run for election in Tampines GRC, which he had been representing for two terms since 2011.

During a campaign speech, Heng unveiled the PAP's manifesto for East Coast GRC residents called "Together We Care @East Coast".

The plan became popularly known as the "East Coast Plan" among Singaporeans and on social media.

The police released a statement on 7 July 2020, stating that they had consulted the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) and deemed that Heng's remarks had no intent to wound anyone's racial feelings or promote enmity between different races.

On 10 July 2020, the five-member PAP team led by Heng contesting in East Coast GRC won 53.41% of the vote against the Workers' Party, and Heng was elected as the Member of Parliament representing the Bedok ward of East Coast GRC.

He continued to hold his Cabinet appointments as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance after the election.

On 18 February 2020, Heng delivered a budget speech in Parliament when the COVID-19 pandemic had just struck Singapore in January 2020.

Referred to as the "Unity Budget", the government budget for 2020 covered measures to cover uncertainties long-term against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic.