Meet your 4 brand-new political office holders in the 2018 Cabinet reshuffle

Read our past interviews with the three of them.

Sulaiman Daud | April 24, 2018, 06:50 PM

As part of its latest cabinet reshuffle announced on Tuesday (April 24), the Prime Minister's Office also unveiled four brand-new political office-holders.

Catch up on the highlights of the announcements here:

They are:

  • Sun Xueling -- Senior Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of National Development.
  • Edwin Tong -- Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Health.
  • Tan Wu Meng -- Senior Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and
  • Zaqy Mohamad -- Minister of State in the Ministry of National Development and the Ministry of Manpower.

1. Sun Xueling

Sun Xueling is an MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, a team that is currently anchored by Deputy Prime Minister & Co-ordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean.

She is a relative newcomer to politics, having contested and won her first election in GE2015.

Before entering the political arena, she was educated at the National University of Singapore and then the London School of Economics in the UK.

She then worked for EDB before moving to the private sector, holding positions with DBS Bank Singapore, Macquarie Capital Securities (Hong Kong), and Deutsche Bank AG (Hong Kong). She also worked for Temasek Holdings as a Director in 2014.

Recently, Sun's profile was raised when she was chosen to join the Parliamentary Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods.

You can gain a little more insight by reading our 2016 interview with her below:

2. Edwin Tong

Edwin Tong is a name that is perhaps familiar to non-political observers. He served as Kong Hee's lawyer in the well-known City Harvest Church case.

His involvement with Kong Hee was brought up earlier this year in February, when someone doctored a newspaper headline to suggest that the City Harvest leaders received lenient sentences due to the fact that Kong Hee's lawyer was also an MP.

Tong entered politics earlier than Sun, becoming an MP for Moulmein-Kallang GRC in GE2011.

In GE2015, he contested in Marine Parade GRC together with Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, winning his second term in Parliament.

Like Sun, he was also chosen to join the Select Committee on Deliberate Online Falsehoods. On one occasion, he spent some time discussing the kind of online content that he felt ought to be taken down, if it was aimed at Singapore.

According to The Straits TimesTong will leave law firm Allen & Gledhill, ahead of his new Ministerial duties.

You can learn more about what Tong thought of the City Harvest case in our interview with him below:

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3. Tan Wu Meng

We have a banker and a lawyer, so why not a doctor as well?

Tan Wu Meng is another relative newbie to politics, having first contested in GE2015. He represents Jurong GRC together with Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Tan is a professional oncologist, having graduated from Cambridge University with Distinctions in Medicine and Pathology. He also found the time to earn a PhD at the UK Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology.

He was in the news last week (April 16). Tan was attending a Meet-the-People Session in Clementi when a man allegedly rushed up to him and hit him with his fists, causing him to fall.

The suspect was later charged with trespass and criminal assault.

For something less dramatic but more insightful, you can read our interview with Tan below, where he recounts his emotional experiences as a cancer doctor:

4. Zaqy Mohamad

Zaqy Mohamad is perhaps the most experienced politician of the four.

He began his political career in GE2006, representing Hong Kah GRC. In GE2011 he contested and won in Chua Chu Kang GRC, and repeated the feat in GE2015. Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong is his teammate.

According to The Straits TimesZaqy is serving notice to Ernst and Young, one of the Big Four accounting firms. He will take up his new duties on May 1.

Zaqy recently made the headlines in connection to President Halimah Yacob's departure from Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, which left the constituency bereft of a minority representative.

It was announced that he would take up a new role of adviser to Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, while also remaining an MP for Chua Chu Kang GRC.

Top image adapted from photos by Weixiang Lim, Jamie Chan, Jonathan Lim and Zaqy Mohamad's Facebook page.