Heng Swee Keat

In 1983, Heng began his career in the Singapore Police Force where he was awarded the SPF Overseas Scholarship from then President Devan Nair.[4] In 1997, he joined the Singapore Civil Service's Administrative Service. He served a period at the Ministry of Education, before being appointed the Principal Private Secretary to former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (who was then Senior Minister) in 1997. In 2001, Heng became the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.[5] He then served as managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore from 2005 to 2011.[6]

In February 2011, Heng was named the Asia-Pacific Central Bank Governor of the Year by the British magazine The Banker.[7]

At the 2011 general election, Heng was a People's Action Party (PAP) candidate in the Tampines Group Representation Constituency (Tampines GRC). When he was introduced as a candidate, former Prime Minister (and Emeritus Senior Minister) Goh Chok Tong tipped Heng to be a potential minister and core member of Singapore's fourth generation leadership team.[8] Heng was one of five PAP candidates in his constituency in a team led by then-Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan, which also included Minister of State Masagos Zulkifli, Irene Ng, and Baey Yam Keng. They faced a team from the National Solidarity Party (NSP), led by the party's then-secretary-general Goh Meng Seng (now the leader of People's Power Party), along with Reno Fong, Syafarin Sarif, Raymond Lim and Gilbert Goh. On polling day on 7 May, the PAP team won the contest with 57.22% of the votes.[9] (This represented a drop of 11.29% from the PAP's percentage of the votes in the constituency at the 2006 general election.)[10]

On 22 November 2018, Heng succeeded Teo Chee Hean as the party's first assistant secretary-general.[11] The following day, on the CEC election, Heng was appointed as the first assistant secretary-general.[12][13]

At the 2020 general election, Heng was a People's Action Party (PAP) candidate in the East Coast Group Representation Constituency (East Coast GRC). On polling day on 10 July, the PAP team won the contest with 53.41% of the votes.[14]

On 18 May 2011, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong appointed Heng to the Cabinet as the Minister for Education. Heng was the second first-term MP-elect to be directly promoted to a member of Cabinet, after Richard Hu back in 1984.

In August 2012, Heng was tasked to lead a new ministerial committee to conduct a broad-based review of the Government's policies and direction.[15]

On 28 September 2015, it was announced that Heng will be the Minister of Finance from 1 October 2015.[16]

On 19 February 2018, Heng announced on his annual budget statement in parliament that he plans to raise GST from 7% to 9% some time between 2021 and 2025. He said, "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".[17]

On 24 April 2018, it was announced that Heng will take over responsibility for assisting the prime minister on National Research Foundation matters from Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean effectively from 1 May.[18]

Heng's fourth budget took place on 18 February 2020. Referred to as the "Unity Budget", it covered measures to cover uncertainties long-term against the backdrop of the developing COVID-19 pandemic. Less than a month after on 26 March, Heng delivered a second budget, an additional S$55 billion "Resilience Budget" in response to the worsening situation of the pandemic and to mitigate the economic impact on businesses. It was the second time in Singapore's history since the financial crisis of 2007–08 that past reserves had to be used to fund the initiatives provided. Measures include a cash grant of S$9,000 for eligible self-employed persons as well as S$3,000 for lower-income recipients under the Workfare Income Supplement Scheme (WIS) as emergency relief against the pandemic. Heng also mentioned that this will likely be the worst contraction ever in Singapore's economy since 1965.[19]

On 23 April 2019, the Prime Minister's Office announced that Heng will assume the role as the 12th Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore effectively from 1 May 2019, taking over Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who previously served in the office for 10 years and 8 years respectively.[3]

On Nomination Day for the 2020 general elections on 30 June 2020, Heng unveiled the PAP manifesto for the residents living in the East Coast Group Representation Constituency, titled “Together We Care @ East Coast”. The plan became popularly known as the “East Coast Plan” on social media and among Singaporeans.[20] However, he also noted that the programme will be postponed until further notice due to the COVID-19 situation.

In 2020, multiple police reports were lodged against Heng after comments which he made to a student forum at Nanyang Technological University in 2019 resurfaced.[21][22] In his comments, he claimed that Singaporeans was "not ready for a prime minister from a minority race" or someone that was non-Chinese, possibly inciting racial tensions and social division. He cited a 2016 survey conducted by the Institute of Policy Studies reflecting that only 60% of Singaporean Chinese would accept an Indian prime minister, which was in contrast to a survey conducted to about 900 Singaporeans in 2016 which showed that Singaporeans had preferred Tharman Shanmugaratnam, a minority, as their first choice by a wide margin to succeed Lee Hsien Loong as Singapore's next prime minister.[23]

However, the police released a statement a few days later that it has consulted with the Attorney-General of Singapore, Lucien Wong, who deemed that Heng's remarks had no intent to wound anyone's racial feelings or promote enmity between different races.[24][25]

On 12 May 2016, Heng Swee Keat collapsed from a stroke during a Cabinet meeting. He was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where he underwent neurosurgery to relieve pressure in his brain. He was transferred to the ICU after the surgery.[29] Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, was immediately appointed to cover Mr Heng's duties.[30]

On 25 June 2016, Heng Swee Keat was discharged from hospital after 6 weeks. The Prime Minister's Office said on a statement that Mr Heng "has made an excellent recovery", but is still on medical leave as he continues his rehabilitation. He resumed his duties as MP and Finance Minister on 22 August 2016.

Despite his stroke, Heng was still seen as the leading contender to be the next prime minister of Singapore after the 2020 election.[31]