The top leaders from the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) met today and co-opted four additional members into Central Executive Committee (CEC), which is PAP’s highest decision-making body.

They include two fourth generation Ministers (Masagos Zulkifli, Ong Ye Kung) and two Members of Parliament (MP) in single-member constituency (Potong Pasir MP Sitoh Yih Pin and Bukit Batok MP Murali Pillai).

The PAP had earlier held their 34th Party Conference late last year in Dec. 4 at Singapore Expo.

The CEC members are elected for a two-year term.

The full 18-member CEC list (including the office-holders) are as follows:

1. Lee Hsien Loong, Secretary-general

2. Khaw Boon Wan, Chairman

3. Yaacob Ibrahim, Vice Chairman

4. Teo Chee Hean, First assistant secretary-general

5. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Second assistant secretary-general

6. Lim Swee Say, Treasurer

7. K Shanmugam, Assistant treasurer

8. Chan Chun Sing, Organising secretary

9. Gan Kim Yong, Organising secretary

10. Grace Fu

11. Heng Swee Keat

12. Halimah Yacob

Co-opted members

13. Vivian Balakrishnan

14. Tan Chuan-Jin

15. Masagos Zulkifli

16. Ong Ye Kung, Organising secretary

17. Sitoh Yih Pin

18. Murali Pillai

What is the significance of this PAP’s CEC meeting and co-opting of four new members?

Among the office-holders, there was no movement among the top -- Lee, Khaw, Teo, Tharman, Yaacob, Lim, and Shanmugam. The top seven had held PAP office positions that had remained unchanged since 2010.

But this meeting can be seen as the party leaders' preferences to groom certain younger leaders ahead of others as part of PAP's leadership renewal for the fourth generation.

Importantly, two younger Ministers -- Masagos and Ong -- are co-opted in the CEC to join three other fourth generation leaders -- Heng, Chan and Tan (who was co-opted as one of the highest vote-getters).

Ong Ye Kung is the bigger winner

The co-opting of Ong revealed that he has decisively moved ahead of two fourth generation leaders -- National Development Minister Lawrence Wong and Education (Schools) Minister Ng Chee Meng -- in the party.

Both were not co-opted in the meeting.

Ong's appointment as the third Organising Secretary of the PAP means that he now has a larger role in the party compared to a third fourth generation leader -- Social and Family Development Minister Tan.

Masagos' appointment as a CEC member has indicated that he is likely to be the pre-eminent Malay-Muslim political leader of the fourth generation.

Outside the CEC, the office-holder to watch is Minister of State Janil Puthucheary, who is now the Chair of Young PAP (YP). Past YP chairmen include Ministers Chan Chun Sing, Vivian Balakrishnan and former Minister George Yeo.

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