Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong diagnosed with prostate cancer

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Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong diagnosed with prostate cancer

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 15 February, 2015, 6:09pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 15 February, 2015, 6:18pm

Zuraidah Ibrahim



Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Photo: AFP

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has been diagnosed with prostate cancer but indications are that it is fully treatable and that he will be back at work after a week, his office said Sunday evening.

This is the second time that Lee, who turned 63 just last week, has suffered cancer. But doctors indicate that the latest bout is unrelated to the lymphoma that was first discovered in 1992 while he was deputy prime minister.

The news comes in the midst of a more politically contentious environment in Singapore. His ruling People’s Action Party suffered its worst showing since independence in the last General Election in 2011, claiming 60 per cent of the popular vote.

Lee’s recovery from this latest bout of illness is urgent as the party and the opposition are gearing up for what many see as yet another watershed election.

His office said on Sunday that Lee will undergo robot-assisted keyhole prostatectomy on Monday. Lee had found he had the cancer when he went for tests last month and is “expected to recover fully”, his office said, citing data from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre show that patients with similar medical profile and treatment have a cancer specific survival rate of 99% at 15 years.

Lee has been prime minister since 2004. Even before this health setback, political succession was a live issue. Although the PAP has a culture of long-term succession planning, no current Cabinet minister has been identified to take over from Lee. In Singapore’s Westminster-style system, the Prime Minister is chosen by the winning party from among elected Members of Parliament, and then appointed by the President.

The two previous successions were carried out in mid-term, when the outgoing Prime Ministers, Lee’s father Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong, were 67 and 63 respectively.

In a recent interview, Lee said that the candidate could come either from the current Cabinet or be inducted at the next general election, due by January 2017, at the latest.

“He is a fighter, he will recover,” said a source, adding that Lee intends to be back at work in time for the country’s budget sitting on February 23.





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