Singapore, Apr 18 (PTI) Singapore’s Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen announced on Friday that he is stepping down from politics, making him the first minister confirmed to be not in the running for the general election scheduled for May 3.

Ng, 66, said that leadership succession is a cardinal strength of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), which is why he’s stepping aside for new blood, just as his predecessors had done.

“For any government, there’s always tension between renewal and experience, not sure what the best balance is,” Channel News Asia quoted him as saying.

“I think it’s a virtue that PAP forces itself to renew and that for more senior politicians like myself, we emulate the examples that we saw when we came in as newbies,” he said, adding, “If older ones don’t step aside for new ones, you don’t prepare for the future. It’s as simple as that.” Ng, a former oncologist, entered politics more than two decades ago in 2001.

He has been the Minister for Defence since 2011, before which he helmed the Education and Manpower ministries. Ng was also Leader of the House between 2011 and 2015.

He guided Singapore’s military strategy through an increasingly complex security environment and served five terms as a Member of Parliament.

A former Member of Parliament Chong Kee Hiong will also not stand in the upcoming polls.

The PAP, ruling Singapore since independence, is fielding 32 new candidates in the upcoming general election, the largest batch of fresh faces in decades, as part of a national leadership renewal.

Unveiling the line-up on Thursday alongside the party’s election manifesto, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said one of his key priorities has been to renew the team and bring in good people to be future backbenchers, office-holders and leaders. PTI GS GRS GRS GRS