Early Political Career
In the 1980s, Lee was regarded as one of the next key leaders in the People's Action Party (PAP) leadership transition that was taking place in the mid-1980s, as Lee Kuan Yew had declared that he would eventually step down as Prime Minister in 1984. Following the Singaporean general election, 1984, all the old Central Executive Committee members had resigned on 1 January 1985, except for Lee Kuan Yew himself.
Lee was elected a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1984 at the age of 32. Following his election, he was appointed a Minister of State at the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Defence by his father, who was the Prime Minister at the time.
In 1985, Lee chaired the government's Economic Committee, which recommended changes to established government policies to reduce business costs, foster longer-term growth and revive the Singapore economy, which was experiencing a recession at the time. The committee's recommendations included reductions in corporate and personal taxes and the introduction of a consumption tax.
In 1986, Lee was made the Acting Minister for Trade and Industry. In 1987, he became a full member of the Cabinet as the Minister for Trade and Industry and Second Minister for Defence.
Lee was the chairman of the PAP Youth Committee, the predecessor to the Young PAP, when it was established in 1986, while he was still a brigadier-general. The PAP had been undergoing leadership transition, and many of its key leaders were aging, with younger replacements scarce. PAP branches were urged to recruit 40-50 members each. Lee envisioned there would be a lot of young people who were "idealistic, patriotic, nationalistic, keen to work for the nation." Lee's goal was to maintain the preeminence of the PAP such that "when the people think about the government of Singapore, if they think about the future of Singapore, then they will think about the PAP". Lee also said that the youth wing would be a channel in which the youth could communicate dissent, in which otherwise they might be "tempted" to vote for the opposition political parties and bring the PAP government down.
Read more about this topic: Lee Hsien Loong
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