PM Lee announces Cabinet changes, with Lawrence Wong promoted to Deputy Prime Minister

SINGAPORE — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday (June 6) announced Cabinet changes, which will see Finance Minister Lawrence Wong promoted to Deputy Prime Minister (DPM).

The changes take effect from June 13, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement.

Mr Wong will also assume responsibility for the Strategy Group within the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), taking over from Mr Heng Swee Keat, who will continue as DPM.

The Strategy Group was set up in 2015 to strengthen strategic alignment across the Government.

The new Cabinet will have two DPMs. Mr Wong, who will continue as Finance Minister, will be the Acting Prime Minister in the absence of Mr Lee.

The reshuffle follows April’s announcement that Mr Wong had been picked by Cabinet ministers as the leader of the fourth generation (4G) of Singapore's political leadership.

The decision, which was endorsed by all Members of Parliament from the ruling party, means that Mr Wong is set to succeed Mr Lee as the next Prime Minister.

Mr Lee also said at the time that with this decision, he would make adjustments to Cabinet appointments, which would be announced at a later date.

Mr Lee then said last month to reporters that the reshuffle will likely occur early this month.

The decision to appoint Mr Wong as 4G leader was made after Mr Heng relinquished that role in April last year.

Following Mr Heng’s shock announcement, a cabinet reshuffle was announced within the same month, which saw seven new ministries with new ministers.

In the latest cabinet reshuffle, there were no other changes to roles of ministers and second ministers, but there were some promotions: 

• Mr Tan Kiat How will be promoted to Senior Minister of State. He will continue in the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and the Ministry of National Development 
• Mr Eric Chua will be promoted to Senior Parliamentary Secretary. He will continue in the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) 
• Ms Rahayu Mahzam will be promoted to Senior Parliamentary Secretary, and will take up a new appointment in the Ministry of Law (MinLaw). She will continue in the Ministry of Health (MOH), but relinquish her appointment in MCI.

New appointments were also announced: 

• Mr Chee Hong Tat will be appointed Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance. He will continue in his appointment at the Ministry of Transport (MOT), but will relinquish his role as the deputy-secretary general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)
• Dr Koh Poh Koon will be appointed Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Sustainability and Environment (MSE). He will continue in the Ministry of Manpower, but relinquish his appointment in MOH
• Ms Sun Xueling will be appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). She will continue in MSF, but relinquish her appointment in her appointment at the Ministry of Education
• Mr Desmond Tan will be appointed Minister of State in the PMO. He will relinquish his appointments in MHA and MSE
• Mr Baey Yam Keng will be appointed Senior Parliamentary Secretary in MSE. He will continue in his appointment in MOT.

After the announcement of his promotion, Mr Wong said in a Facebook post: "When I was asked by my peers to lead the 4G team, I said that I would be taking on what would possibly be the biggest responsibility of my life.

"As I’ve said before, I will do my best and give every ounce of my strength to serve Singapore and Singaporeans. In turn, I seek your support, as I take on my latest appointment as DPM, and take another step forward in embracing my new responsibilities."

NTUC APPOINTMENT

PMO added that NTUC has also agreed to the Mr Lee's request for Mr Chee, its deputy-secretary general, to return to the Government full‐time, and accepted his proposal for Mr Desmond Tan to join NTUC.

NTUC said in a statement on Monday that Mr Lee had written to NTUC president Mary Liew on June 2 with the request, and the labour movement had on June 3 “deliberated and accepted the prime minister’s request”. 

“The NTUC Central Committee looks forward to working with Mr Chee in his new capacity and is confident that he will continue to further the interest of workers.” 

It also said that Mr Chee will relinquish his role at NTUC on June 13, while Mr Desmond Tan’s official appointment is expected to take place at a later date. 

POLITICAL ANALYSTS WEIGH IN ON RESHUFFLE

Political analysts told TODAY that Mr Wong's appointment as DPM, while not surprising, removes all doubt that he will succeed PM Lee.

The fact that it took two months for Mr Wong to be promoted to DPM since his unveiling as 4G leader speaks to how urgent the question of succession was. 

"(The People's Action Party) came to the decision on the 4G leadership earlier on, but they had to consolidate the rest of the cabinet reshuffle, including some of the more minor promotions," said Dr Woo Jun Jie, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) at the National University of Singapore. 

Agreeing, Singapore Management University's Eugene Tan said that it was important for the new 4G leader to be revealed last month rather than drag on until the minor promotions were finalised, given that more than a year had elapsed since Mr Heng stepping down from the role. 

"They wanted to stop the clock running on that particular matter, and so today's announcement is really a formality," said Associate Professor Tan, a former Nominated Member of Parliament. 

As to why there were no other major changes to the roles of the ministers or second ministers, Dr Woo said that this could be due to the need for political stability during this uncertain period.

"We are facing a very unstable global environment," he said. "The Government is playing it safer, to keep those stable pairs of hands in place first." 

At the same time, some of the more junior political office holders are being rotated to other portfolios to help them gain experience, and these are not as disruptive as shuffling full minister roles, said Dr Woo.  

Dr Felix Tan, a political analyst at the Nanyang Technological University, said the dearth of role changes could also be to allow Mr Wong to have fuller reign over the appointment of new leadership roles. 

"On a later date, it will give Mr Wong a chance to be involved and partake in... a more major cabinet reshuffle," he said. 

Some the analysts noted that one of the office holders, newly appointed Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How, has been promoted quicker than most of his colleagues who had entered politics during the 2020 General Election (GE).

Of those elected into Parliament in 2020, only Dr Tan See Leng has had a quicker promotion, being appointed a minister shortly after the election and taking over as Manpower Minister following last year's cabinet reshuffle. 

IPS’ deputy director, Dr Gillian Koh, said that Mr Tan's promotion could help to address the future need for a new team anchor and more senior political office holders at the group representation constituency (GRC) he is under, East Coast GRC, which is currently helmed by Mr Heng. 

"Many wonder if (Mr Heng) will stay in politics after the next GE," said Dr Koh, who noted that Dr Maliki Osman, who is Minister in the PMO as well as Second Minister for both Education and Foreign Affairs, is also in the team.

The analysts also added that it is no surprise that Mr Chee relinquished his role at NTUC only a little more than a year as its deputy-secretary general. 

Assoc Prof Tan noted that it is not uncommon for political office holders to serve short stints at NTUC. Mr Chee's predecessor, Dr Koh Poh Koon, served in NTUC for only about 2 years. 

"One should not read it as them being pulled out prematurely," said Assoc Prof Tan.

"I look at it more as a reflection of... PM Lee's beliefs that it is important for as many of the junior office holders to have a stint in NTUC for them to better understand the labour movement... to have a deeper understanding of the labour issues." 

Here is the full press release from PMO: