Cabinet line-up: Leadership changes in almost all ministries

SINGAPORE  —  In one of the most radical Cabinet reshuffles in recent years, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong today (Sept 28) announced a new expanded line-up where nearly all ministries will undergo leadership changes. 

Among the changes: Deputy Prime Ministers Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Teo Chee Hean will relinquish their previous portfolios of Finance and Home Affairs respectively, to focus on their roles as Coordinating Ministers. Education Minister Heng Swee Keat will take over as Finance Minister while Mr K Shanmugam will be appointed Home Affairs Minister - a portfolio which he had previously helmed briefly - while concurrently remaining the Law Minister.

Mr Vivian Balakrishnan will become Minister for Foreign Affairs, while Mr Masagos Zulkifli will take over him as Minister for Environment and Water Resources. 

Minister in Prime Minister’s Office Grace Fu will be appointed Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, taking over from Mr Lawrence Wong who will become Minister for National Development. 

Mr Khaw Boon Wan, who had helmed the Ministry for National Development since 2011, will be appointed Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure while concurrently helming the Transport Ministry.

New faces Ong Ye Kung and Ng Chee Meng will be appointed co-Acting Ministers for Education. In the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Lim Hng Kiang will remain Minister overseeing trade negotiations, the Economic Development Board and Jurong Town Corporation, while Mr S Iswaran will be appointed Minister overseeing the rest of MTI’s statutory boards.

"The net effect is that nearly all the ministries have new Ministers, and new Ministers of State (MOSs) and Parliamentary Secretaries," said Mr Lee. "I am moving the office holders to different portfolios to give them more experience and exposure in different areas of Government and to prepare them to take on greater responsibilities."

A handful of ministers will see their portfolios unchanged such as Dr Ng Eng Hen and Mr Gan Kim Yong who retain the Defence and Health portfolios, respectively. Mr Lim Swee Say, who was appointed Manpower Minister in April, will continue in the role. Similarly, Mr Chan Chun Sing and Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, who were respectively appointed labour chief and Minister for Social and Family Development earlier this year, will remain in their current capacities.

"For those who have recently been appointed to their portfolios or are doing good work in their current portfolios and cannot be spared, I have asked them to carry on. They will be valuable in providing stability and continuity to their ministries in the time of transition," he said.