Mr Heng Swee Keat: A key member of Cabinet

SINGAPORE — Since he entered politics in 2011, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat has overseen several important national initiatives, including the Our Singapore Conversation (OSC) project and the Golden Jubilee celebrations.

Mr Heng, who presented his first Budget in March as the Finance Minister, currently chairs the Committee on the Future Economy, which has been tasked to develop economic strategies to position Singapore well for the future.

Mr Heng was elected into Parliament in 2011 as part of the People’s Action Party’s Tampines GRC team. He was made Education Minister soon after the General Election — a portfolio that he held until October last year when he moved to helm the Finance Ministry.

Before joining politics, Mr Heng was a top civil servant. Between 2005 and 2011, he was the managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Prior to his appointment at MAS, he was the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry. He also served as the Principal Private Secretary to founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew from 1997 to 2001. Mr Lee, who died in March last year, had described Mr Heng as having one of the “finest minds among the civil servants (he had) worked with”.

He was identified early in his political career as a core member of the fourth generation leadership, and touted by some as a possible future Prime Minister.

In 2012, Mr Heng led the OSC project which reached out to over 47,000 Singaporeans from all walks of life, via more than 660 dialogue sessions. Last year, he chaired the SG50 Steering Committee to celebrate Singapore’s 50th year of independence. The committee planned year-long activities across the island and encouraged ground-up initiatives to mark the milestone.

During Mr Heng’s term as Minister for Education from 2011 to last year, the Singapore education system “moved towards a student-centric, values-driven phase, emphasising the holistic development of students and educational pathways towards multiple definitions of success, regardless of students’ backgrounds”, according to the Cabinet website. Among other things, Mr Heng’s priorities included Character and Citizenship Education and the Applied Learning and Lifelong Learning Programmes for school students, increased financial and developmental support for students at all levels, as well as greater integration of learning and working opportunities for tertiary students.