Changes to Cabinet and other appointments

The Prime Minister will make the following changes to Cabinet and other political appointments. These changes are part of leadership renewal and are summarised below. All changes take effect from 1 May 2017 unless otherwise stated. Annex A gives the new portfolios of the Cabinet members and other office changes.

Promotion to Full Minister 

Mrs Josephine Teo and Mr Desmond Lee will be promoted to full Ministers.

Mrs Josephine Teo will be appointed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, and Second Minister in the Ministry of Manpower. She will continue in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Second Minister. She will relinquish her appointment in the Ministry of Transport. She will continue to oversee population matters, assisting Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean.

Mr Desmond Lee will be appointed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, and will be Second Minister in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of National Development, his present ministries.

Promotion to Senior Minister of State

Dr Lam Pin Min, Dr Janil Puthucheary, Dr Koh Poh Koon, and Mr Chee Hong Tat will be promoted to Senior Ministers of State. They will continue in their current ministries.

Dr Lam Pin Min will also be appointed as Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Transport.

Promotion to Senior Parliamentary Secretary

Ms Low Yen Ling and Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal bin Ibrahim will be promoted to Senior Parliamentary Secretaries. They will continue in their current ministries.

New appointments

Mr Sam Tan Chin Siong will be appointed as Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He will continue as Minister of State in the Ministry of Manpower and in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Mr Amrin Amin will be appointed as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Health. He will continue as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Retirement of Mr Teo Ser Luck

Mr Teo Ser Luck has requested to step down from public office to return to the private sector.

The Prime Minister has accepted Mr Teo’s request. Mr Teo will relinquish his appointment as Minister of State for Manpower on 30 June 2017.

Mr Teo will also relinquish his appointment as Mayor of North East CDC when his current term ends on 26 May 2017. Mr Teo will continue serving the residents of Sengkang Central division as a Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

The Prime Minister thanks Mr Teo for his valuable services to the Government. At the Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Mr Teo played an active role in promoting SMEs, including developing their capabilities and setting up SME Centres. He also led the Lean Enterprise Development efforts. At the then Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, he promoted youth participation in community engagement, corporate social responsibility and sports. He launched the Singapore National Games and made a major contribution to the Youth Olympic Games. At the Ministry of Transport, he initiated the cycling plan, and installed lifts for overhead-bridges and wheelchair access for public buses. As Mayor, he worked with the other Mayors on many innovative and meaningful flagship programmes across the five CDCs, including the distribution of milk powder to needy families and the Community Employment Programme.

Mayors

Mr Desmond Choo will be appointed as Mayor of North East CDC.

Dr Mohamad Maliki bin Osman, Dr Teo Ho Pin, Ms Denise Phua and Ms Low Yen Ling will be re-appointed as Mayors, and Ms Low Yen Ling will be appointed as coordinator for the CDCs.

The new Mayor appointments will take effect when the terms of the current Mayors end on 27 May 2017.