On, Singapore

As prime minister, Wong is building an agenda reminiscent of the Wisconsin Idea. Ministry of Digital Development and Information

A few decades before Lawrence Wong ’94 took his place as Singapore’s fourth prime minister in 2024, he was zooming around New Glarus and Devil’s Lake on his motorcycle and plucking his guitar on State Street. He was also studying economics at UW–Madison and learning some foundational lessons — ones that would later come in handy for leading a nation.

Wong enrolled at the UW after earning a scholarship from Singapore’s Public Service Commission. “Back then, I had never traveled outside of Southeast Asia,” he says. “I could not afford an overseas education all the way in America. The scholarship was an opportunity of a lifetime.”

He then completed his master’s in applied economics at the University of Michigan in 1995 before returning to Singapore to work as an economist for the Ministry of Trade and Industry. He didn’t intend to stay in the public sector, but the work drew him in.

“Initially, I thought I might leave after a while and pursue a career in finance. But eventually, I found my calling in public service,” Wong says. “The work was meaningful and fulfilling, and it was work that I could never do in the private sector.”

As a greenhorn economist, he began his career with an assignment to study the 1997 Asian financial crisis. “The gap between textbook theory and real-world economics was stark. I found myself suddenly thrust in an environment where I had to learn on the go,” Wong says. “But my time at UW–Madison provided me with excellent foundations to adapt and to navigate those turbulent times.”

Wong took on several more civil service roles in the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health before running for political office in 2011, when he first became a member of parliament. Throughout more than a decade in Singaporean politics, Wong served in a variety of cabinet positions, including minister for education, minister for finance, and minister for national development.

In 2022, as deputy prime minister, Wong launched an initiative that should strike a chord with Wisconsinites: “Forward Singapore.” Now prime minister, he is continuing to build an agenda reminiscent of the Wisconsin Idea and the state motto. As he said in a speech last August, “Forward Singapore is … to keep our society strong and united; to share the benefits of progress with all, not just some; to uplift all Singaporeans, not just a few.”

Published in the Winter 2024 issue