The widely anticipated announcement of the leadership change -- only the timing hadn't been clear -- was made by the office of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong on Saturday. The succession isn't expected to bring any major change in policies for governing Singapore, which has been transformed in past decades from a struggling port into one of Asia's wealthiest and most-stable countries.

Many Singaporeans wonder if they will see a different, tougher style of leadership. Mr Goh has proved popular for his self-effacing, relatively informal manner and has pushed through changes making Singapore society more open. Mr Goh, who succeeded founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1990, said the younger Mr Lee wants him in the new cabinet and "there will be a role for me to play."

Mr Lee, who has said he wants Singapore to keep opening up, will likely preside over long-term economic change. Economically, the city-state is trying to find needed new sources of growth in the face of competition from China and elsewhere in Asia; politically, the government has signaled it wants to continue to shift from tight regulation, partly to encourage creativity and risk-taking in business.

Mr Lee, whom Mr Goh named as his successor last August, is the deputy premier, finance minister and chief of Singapore's central bank. He is a leader of the People's Action Party, which controls 82 of 84 elected seats in Parliament.

"Lee has been a major driver of economic policy, and the main directions have been already set," said Manu Bhaskaran, an economist at the Centennial Group, a Washington-based consultancy.

Though the government expects the economy to grow by as much as 7.5% this year, Singapore has endured three bruising slowdowns during the past seven years and lost manufacturing jobs to lower-cost countries. This has left many older and less-educated citizens out of work.

The government believes Singapore can remain competitive by cutting costs, including wages, diversifying manufacturing from electronics to areas such as biomedical sciences and expanding the service sector by tapping into the growing wealth-management business.

Mr Lee will preside over another, most likely slower transition. After decades of close political control under which the state exerted great influence over many aspects of people's lives, it has been moving toward a less-intrusive role.

In recent years, this evolution has brought small changes such as the lifting of bans on bar-top dancing and selling chewing gum (though it can only be bought for medicinal purposes). The government has created a park corner for public debate -- but police must first approve the topics to be addressed and no microphones are allowed.

Mr Lee has vowed to "uphold the spirit of consultation" with the public but his government isn't expected to ease controls over dissent greatly. "The government will not view all critics as adversaries. ... But a criticism that scores political points and undermines the government's standing, whether or not this is intended, is another matter altogether," he said in January.

He said he had "no doubts" Singapore would open up but said the process would be "evolutionary." Mr Lee has signaled there are limits to how much he will engage in public dialogue. "Coffee-shop talk is helpful for sensing the popular mood but it cannot be the basis for deciding on national policies," he has said.

The presence of Mr Lee's father might help ensure continuity in policy making; Lee Kuan Yew, 80 years old, remains powerful as senior minister and chairman of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp, which manages more than $100 billion in reserves.

"It's the way he helps to point me in certain directions and formed even the personality to some extent and set an example of what can be done and how to do it," the younger Lee said of his father in a 1999 interview with Singaporean media. "We're quite close. We have somewhat similar temperaments."

Mr Goh will deliver a farewell speech Aug 9, National Day, and Mr. Lee will spell out his vision Aug 22 in a National Day Rally speech. Last year, Mr Goh acknowledged that handing over power to Mr Lee appears to be a dynastic succession, but insisted it isn't, saying the younger Lee is the best person for the job.

Mr Lee studied mathematics at Cambridge and graduated from Harvard with top honors in public administration. A brigadier general at age 32, he left the army for politics in 1984. He was struck by cancer in 1992 but has recovered.

In 1982, Mr Lee's wife died, and three years later he married Ho Ching, now the head of Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd, the state investment company that holds major stakes in some of the city-state's largest companies. One of them, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. is run by Lee Hsien Yang, the incoming prime minister's younger brother.

Separately, exports continue to gird the city-state's economic rebound. Nonoil domestic exports rose 20.9% in June to S$11.1 billion (US$6.53 billion) from a year earlier, as companies such as Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd exported more computer chips to the US and other markets.

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