Monday, September 28, 2015

SINGAPORE CABINET LINE-UP: Eight Things you need to Know

PM Lee has just announced his new Singapore cabinet and some of the line-up which are surprising to me are:

1) Twenty ministers including Prime Minister in the cabinet, this, I believe is the highest number of Ministers to-date in Singapore's cabinet.

2) No new ministries were formed in line with an increase in the number of Ministers. I have expected that with many Ministers around, there would be have at least one new Ministry for new Ministers to helm.


3) Three coordinating Ministers: While one coordinating Minister in the past was not new (coordinating Minister for National Security), there are now two more coordinating Ministers.

4) Two Ministers/Acting Minister in Two Ministries each: Trade & Industry and Education. There are no longer "Second Minister" in this new cabinet.

5) Chee Hong Tat: I would have expected that with Chee's Permanent Secretary background, he would go into the cabinet on the same par (Senior Minister of State) as Ng Chee Meng and Ong Ye Kung, both of who take on the designation of Acting Minister

6) Backbencher Superstar: Dr Janil Puthucheary was promoted straight from back-bencher to Minister of State, mirroring the move of Dr Lam Pin Min in the last cabinet deployment. Baey Yam Keng a former back-bencher also joined the new cabinet as a Parliamentary Secretary.

7) Lee Yi -Shyan: Former Minister-of-State Lee Yi-Shyan stepped down into the back-benchers. Yi-Shyan was one of the four from the year 2006 cohort featuring Grace Fu, Lui Tuck Yew and S Iswaran.

8) And last but not least, Potential PM?: well, it could be what many have guessed: Ng Chee Meng and Ong Ye Kung. Both of the newcomers are Acting Minister in Education and each of them are also second in line to the helm of another Ministry: Ng Chee Meng is Senior Minister of State for Transport while Ong Ye Kung holds the same post in Ministry of Defence, perhaps to give them more "exposure". Chan Chun Sing who stays on in the new cabinet as Chief of NTUC could still have opportunities to be the next PM as it is common for cabinet to have a mid-term reshuffle.  You can follow me on Facebook page if you find my posts interesting

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