At a media interview on Wednesday (1 Sep) to mark his first 100 days as Manpower Minister, Dr Tan See Leng told reporters that he has “very good mentors” helping him to transit from the private sector to the public sector.
Dr Tan first entered politics in the General Election last year. After winning the election in Marine Parade GRC, he was appointed a minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Second Minister for Manpower and for Trade and Industry.
In May this year, he officially became the Minister for Manpower replacing Josephine Teo. Mrs Teo was moved to the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI).
Among his “very good mentors”, Dr Tan listed Mrs Teo as one of those who provided invaluable guidance and support to him.
“She was a very good mentor, (she) understands and provided me with a lot of guidance and support in terms of the dormitories,” he praised Mrs Teo.
“I remember when I was first appointed in August last year and very quickly went head-on into it, I could always count on the support from Minister Josephine Teo and the entire team.”
While Mrs Teo provided Dr Tan with a lot of guidance and support in terms of the dormitories, it is not known if she had also provided the migrant workers with the same guidance and support with regard to their dormitories.
Last year, COVID-19 infections spread like wildfire in many of the migrant workers’ dormitories. During a Parliamentary debate in May last year, one nominated member of parliament (NMP) asked Mrs Teo if the Government would apologise to the workers for the “dismal conditions” at their dormitories, which aided in the spread of the pandemic.
Mrs Teo replied, “I have not come across one single migrant worker himself that has demanded an apology.”
She added that it was unnecessary to compare Singapore’s response to other countries, after another MP asked why Singapore’s foreign worker infection rate was much higher when compared to other countries that had a similarly large migrant worker population.
“In terms of dealing with COVID-19, countries have their own unique situation to deal with, including how they want to address the migrant workers-related issues,” said Mrs Teo.
