Most expect Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat to take over for a retiring Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 68, in the government’s next term. While PM Lee on Monday stirred speculation about a delay in handing over the reins due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was Heng who made the PAP’s pitch to the nation in a broadcast last Thursday night, as if to emphasise that he is the next face of the party. Heng is “an easygoing gentleman” and “does not turn very ambitious against his critics,” observed RSIS Associate Professor Alan Chong, noting that some senior PAP politicians tend to lash out at criticism. Chong also described Heng as a technocrat. “You don’t expect him to be very eloquent, but he is very good at fixing the economy.”