SINGAPORE, Aug 17: Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong late on Sunday set the tone for political succession in Singapore, saying he plans to step down by 2005 or earlier and named his preferred successor, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Goh, in a televised National Day Rally speech, said many people have urged him to stay around until after the next general elections due in 2007, but said it was in Singapore’s best interest for him to make way earlier.

“Let me explain why I think it is in Singapore’s interest for me to make way before the next general elections rather than after,” he said. “ It would take “a few years... for a new leader to win the trust and confidence of the people and to bond with them” and given the demands of the job, “it is better for the (next) prime minister to be young and vigorous and in tune with the times,” he said.

“I’m bringing up the subject of political succession to prepare you for change,” said Goh, who became prime minister in 1990 at the age of 49, succeeding the city-state’s founding father and first premier Lee Kuan Yew.—AFP