PM makes 3rd round of Cabinet changes
Chan Chun Sing made full minister; 2 new office-holders; more women
By Robin Chan, The Straits Times, 29 Aug 2013
TWO years after entering politics, Acting Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing, 44, is being promoted to full minister, charting one of the fastest rises in recent times.
The former army chief's elevation was among several moves the PM's Office announced yesterday, including enlisting of two backbenchers to the front bench and a record number of promotions for women office-holders.
The changes underscore the gathering pace of transition to the fourth-generation leadership, as Mr Chan joins Education Minister Heng Swee Keat as the two full Cabinet ministers among those who entered politics in May 2011. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he wanted to reinforce his team and promote those who have done well.
The changes also reflect a strengthening of the team looking at social policies which have become more complex, he told reporters yesterday during his official visit to China.
And while these are a third set of changes since 2011, PM Lee made clear that he is not done. "After the election, I had a new Cabinet. It was a very lean team and since then, gradually, year by year, I've been building up, reinforcing, adding one or two here and there, and this is another step in that direction," he said.
Mr Chan thanked the PM and his colleagues, adding that "there is much for us to work together in the coming years to realise the direction that PM has charted out in National Day Rally 2013".
The rise of Mr Chan, who will also become Second Minister for Defence, outpaces that of the stars of previous cohorts, including Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who joined politics in 2001 and was made full minister in 2004.
The DPM was from the class of the "Super Seven" which has since formed the backbone of the third-generation leadership.
After the 2011 General Election, Mr Chan was among the "Fabulous Five" selected for political office. Leading the team, Mr Heng Swee Keat, at age 50, made it to full minister then. Mr Chan was made Acting Minister while Mr Tan Chuan-Jin and Mr Lawrence Wong became Ministers of State, before moving up to be Acting Ministers a year later.
Also in that batch, Ms Sim Ann became Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education, and Communications and Information. Yesterday, she was promoted to Minister of State.
Mr Tan will give up his second appointment as Senior Minister of State for National Development. The PM said it was so he "can concentrate on his responsibility at MOM" as "taking on two portfolios is too heavy".
Also in that batch, Ms Sim Ann became Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education, and Communications and Information. Yesterday, she was promoted to Minister of State.
Mr Tan will give up his second appointment as Senior Minister of State for National Development. The PM said it was so he "can concentrate on his responsibility at MOM" as "taking on two portfolios is too heavy".
Backbenchers Desmond Lee of Jurong GRC and Low Yen Ling of Chua Chu Kang GRC will join the front bench. Mr Lee will be Minister of State for National Development. Ms Low will be a Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Social and Family Development.
Apart from Ms Low and Ms Sim, two other women, Dr Amy Khor and Mrs Josephine Teo, moved a notch higher to become Senior Ministers of State in their current portfolios. Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman was also promoted from Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Defence and National Development to Minister of State.
Observers noted that the latest moves continue a deliberate but urgent process of leadership renewal begun in 2011.
Nominated MP Eugene Tan said: "It demonstrates confidence to the public that 'we have brought in people who can be part of the fourth- generation leadership, we are testing them and putting them in place'."
The changes take effect on Sept 1, except for Ms Low's which will be on Oct 1.
Leadership team being reinforced: PM
By Kor Kian Beng, The Straits Times, 29 Aug 2013
THE latest Cabinet changes are aimed at reinforcing Singapore's leadership team in the face of increasingly complicated and intense policy challenges, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said.
By Kor Kian Beng, The Straits Times, 29 Aug 2013
THE latest Cabinet changes are aimed at reinforcing Singapore's leadership team in the face of increasingly complicated and intense policy challenges, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said.
There is also a need for political leadership at the various ministries and departments, so as to help the Government engage and understand Singaporeans as well as get its own views across, he added.
Speaking to the Singapore media on the sidelines of his official visit to China yesterday, he said: "I'm reinforcing the team. I think the tasks have become more complicated and intense.
"For that, we need a team which has a varied range of talents and abilities, and which you build up gradually over time."
He further noted that the latest Cabinet changes would not be the last.
Topping the list of changes announced yesterday was Mr Chan Chun Sing's promotion from acting minister to a full minister. He will continue to helm the Ministry of Social and Family Development and serve concurrently as Second Minister for Defence.
Two backbenchers are taking up offices too.
Mr Desmond Lee will be appointed as Minister of State in the Ministry of National Development from Sept 1 and Ms Low Yen Ling will be Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Social and Family Development from Oct 1.
Asked if the changes mean that he is closer to identifying his successor, PM Lee said it is not his call to make but for "the younger ministers in the team to work out amongst themselves whom they will support as their leader".
He added: "The people who are in the Cabinet now will be an important part of the next generation of leaders for Singapore.
"I hope we will be able to reinforce them further in the next round, but I think we have a significant number of them already in the team, whom I have brought in in the last election."
PM Lee, who arrived in China on Sunday for a week-long visit, will travel to Kashgar today before heading to north-eastern Shenyang city in Liaoning province in the evening.
Four women now in senior positions
Number hits a record, but observers want more women as full ministers
By Rachel Chang And Andrea Ong, The Straits Times, 29 Aug 2013
SINGAPORE will have the highest number of women politicians in senior positions in its legislative history, following Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's decision to promote four of them yesterday.
Number hits a record, but observers want more women as full ministers
By Rachel Chang And Andrea Ong, The Straits Times, 29 Aug 2013
SINGAPORE will have the highest number of women politicians in senior positions in its legislative history, following Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's decision to promote four of them yesterday.
Moving into the senior ranks are Mrs Josephine Teo, 45, and Dr Amy Khor, 55, who will be Senior Ministers of State from Sept 1. Both are now Ministers of State.
They will continue to hold their current portfolios of Finance and Transport, and Health and Manpower respectively.
Their promotions will also double the number of senior women office-holders from the current two: Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Grace Fu, 49, and Senior Minister of State for Education and Law Indranee Rajah, 50.
Yesterday also saw Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education, Communications and Information Sim Ann, 38, moving up to be Minister of State, with the same portfolios.
In addition, backbencher Low Yen Ling, 39, will join the Government on Oct 1 as parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Social and Family Development.
With the four new promotions, six out of the 32 office-holders will be women. This is an increase from five, which resulted from Madam Halimah Yacob leaving the front bench to be Speaker of Parliament in January this year.
The greater female representation was cheered by Dr Khor.
She told The Straits Times: "I am very happy. It bodes well for women in politics. It is an affirmation of the meritocratic principles that Singapore has been built on."
She added: "I hope that more women who are interested to serve and join politics will be encouraged to step forward."
The changes also pleased observers like former Nominated MP Paulin Straughan, who saw them as part of a "very carefully calibrated" move to groom more women for senior levels of decision-making by the next election.
"It is hard to envision you can jump from very little experience to the very pinnacle of the (government) hierarchy," she added.
But many also noted there was a way to go. One milestone has yet to be reached: a full woman minister with her own ministry.
Singapore's first full woman minister, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, was Second Minister for Finance and Transport when she lost the 2011 General Election in Aljunied GRC. She left politics after the defeat.
In 1991, Dr Seet Ai Mee had barely taken charge as Acting Minister for Community Development when she lost her Bukit Gombak seat in the general election.
The promotions are "definitely good news", said former Nominated MP Kanwaljit Soin, "but somehow or other, we seem to have women only at the lower levels of ministerial ranks, and not many seem to make it all the way up".
"I would also like to see the women more spread out in the Government, and not just in what are perceived to be 'soft' areas," she added. "Why can't we have a woman in Defence?"
Ms Corinna Lim, executive director of the Association of Women for Action and Research, noted that with so many talented women, "we should actually see more appointments as full ministers."
Desmond Lee, Low Yen Ling join front bench
By Janice Heng And Andrea Ong, The Straits Times, 29 Aug 2013
THE son of a former Cabinet minister and a businesswoman with a keen interest in family issues will move from the backbench to become office-holders.
By Janice Heng And Andrea Ong, The Straits Times, 29 Aug 2013
THE son of a former Cabinet minister and a businesswoman with a keen interest in family issues will move from the backbench to become office-holders.
Jurong GRC MP Desmond Lee, who entered the political arena only in the last general election, has been appointed Minister of State for National Development.
Chua Chu Kang GRC MP Low Yen Ling, who also joined the People's Action Party at the last GE, will become Parliamentary Secretary for Social and Family Development.
Both were described as "outstanding backbenchers" by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday.
Mr Lee, 37, is following in the footsteps of his father Lee Yock Suan, whose first appointment was as Minister of State for National Development in 1983 when he was a year younger.
The elder Mr Lee retired from politics in 2006, after helming several ministries, including Finance, Labour and Education.
His son was a lawyer in the civil service before entering politics, when he then became associate director of Temasek Holdings' subsidiary Temasek International.
Heritage, conservation and "keeping places green" are areas he wants to pay attention to, he told The Straits Times yesterday.
PM Lee said of his appointment: "Looking at his experience and what he's able to do, I think that's a right place to peg it."
Meanwhile, Ms Low, 39, is the third chief executive officer from networking group Business China to become an office-holder. Her appointment was due to her good contacts and her interest in MSF issues, PM Lee said.
She has raised issues such as early childhood education, families and supporting those at risk in Parliament previously. "I hope in some ways, being a mother or parent, wife and daughter will bring me closer to the issues that we need to tackle," she said.
Mr Chan Chun Sing, promoted from Acting Minister for Social and Family Development to full minister. Also promoted from Senior Minister of State to Second Minister for Defence
"I would like to thank PM for this opportunity to serve. Will also like to thank colleagues and partners who have constantly supported and guided me in the work to build a better Singapore for our families and children. There is much for us to work together (on) in the coming years to realise the direction that PM has charted out in this year's National Day Rally."
Dr Amy Khor, promoted from Minister of State for Health and Manpower to Senior Minister of State
"As PM (Lee) has noted, Singapore is at a turning point and we need to work together to forge a new way forward to ensure that Singapore continues to thrive and remain relevant."
Mrs Josephine Teo, promoted from Minister of State for Transport and Finance to Senior Minister of State
"I see this as an encouragement for women who are juggling work and family, that we can make progress in Singapore through hard work and the support of family and friends. There are now more women in Cabinet and there will certainly be more women in our boardrooms."
Ms Sim Ann, promoted from Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education, and Information and Communications, to Minister of State
"Having more women office-holders, in addition to a woman Speaker of Parliament, reflects growing participation by women in public life. It also shows that PM Lee is consistent in valuing women's viewpoints and contributions. I particularly appreciate this inclusive aspect of his leadership."
Swimming at the deep end
By Rachel Chang, The Straits Times, 29 Aug 2013
FOR a country used to seeing its top politicians groomed over years or even decades, former chief of army Chan Chun Sing's ascendancy from political newbie to full minister has been meteoric.
By Rachel Chang, The Straits Times, 29 Aug 2013
FOR a country used to seeing its top politicians groomed over years or even decades, former chief of army Chan Chun Sing's ascendancy from political newbie to full minister has been meteoric.
Even the highest of the high-fliers of 2001's "Super Seven" batch of politicians - Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan - had about four years between entering politics and reaching the same milestone.
Of the current ministers, Mr Chan's rise is outpaced only by Education Minister Heng Swee Keat, who managed the rare feat of catapulting straight into full ministership in 2011. This was last accomplished by former finance minister Richard Hu in 1984.
But Mr Heng entered politics at age 50 - a decade older than Mr Chan and the other fourth-generation leaders.
What the accelerated pace of the careers of Mr Chan and his two peers - Acting Minister for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin and Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong - reflects is an urgency created by uncertainty.
Mr Chan became Acting Minister immediately after the 2011 General Election while Mr Tan and Mr Wong were made Ministers of State, before moving up to their current acting roles a year later.
Even with these moves, Singapore politics has never before had so little clarity on the ruling party's succession planning.
In 2011, as he inducted the fourth-generation leaders into his Cabinet, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that the faster pace of political appointment was due to the urgency of leadership succession.
He has since said that he hopes not to be PM beyond 70 years old - he is currently 61 - and has set himself a deadline of 2020 to hand over to Singapore's fourth-generation leadership. That is just seven years away. At the corresponding moment in Mr Goh Chok Tong's premiership, it was quite clear who his successor would be.
This is why the young ministers have had to endure the political equivalent of being dropped into the deep end of the pool.
They do not have the luxury of a few years in the baby pool of more junior appointments, observing their predecessors and learning the strokes, before they will be called on to lead the country. This is what the second and third generation, including PM Lee, had.
Instead, they have had to be propelled straight away into key decision-making roles, because it is in the crucible of highest responsibility that leaders are forged. It is only then that it can become clear who the next PM could be.
But this compressed process of political maturation is already showing signs of stress. Yesterday, PM Lee also announced that Mr Tan would relinquish his second portfolio as Senior Minister of State for National Development, to focus on the Manpower Ministry.
In an interview with reporters in China, Mr Lee said he had previously been asked to take on too much.
Some have taken it as a demotion of sorts, or even as a public insult to Mr Tan's abilities. But that is unfair. Both Mr Chan and Mr Wong are effectively helming half a ministry each - the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports was split last year - while the Manpower portfolio that Mr Tan is grappling with is at the centre of Singapore's economic restructuring.
Instead, what this reveals is the downside of a compressed political timeline. A baptism of fire will burn even men of the highest calibre, and all of the fourth-generation leadership will likely have already felt some form of this, public or not.
But it can also reveal their mettle. In a way, an intense, accelerated ascension befits a prime minister who will have to deal with a vastly more competitive political landscape than his predecessors did. Governance will be complex and unpredictable at every turn.
But it will also be replete with opportunities for a leader with a maverick vision for a country in transition, and the steely persuasion required to take the people along. The kind of leader who, when he is thrown in at the deep end, surfaces, swims and wins.