These PAP new faces might become political office holders after PM Wong's cabinet reshuffle

Now that the GE2025 dust has settled, the next big thing to look forward to is Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's cabinet reshuffle.

The retirement of a few cabinet ministers has left many questions lingering.

Who is going to take on the defence portfolio?

Will PM Wong appoint another deputy prime minister?

And who among the new faces fielded in GE2025 will take on roles as political office holders?

A few clues were dropped during GE2025.

PM Wong said during a lunchtime election rally on Apr. 28 that he had "new candidates who will add to my team, and eventually grow to take on larger leadership roles".

At that particular rally, he identified several new faces: Tampines GRC MP David Neo, East Coast GRC MP Dinesh Vasu Dash, and Chua Chu Kang GRC MP Jeffrey Siow.

At another rally in Choa Chu Kang, the prime minister identified West Coast-Jurong West GRC MP Hamid Razak as another new face with leadership potential.

Meanwhile, Minister for Law & Home Affairs K Shanmugam identified his constituency MPs Goh Hanyan and Syed Harun Alhabsyi as potential political office holders.

At the unveiling of the PAP's Nee Soon GRC slate on Apr. 21, Shanmugam said that he would "strongly recommend" Goh and Syed Harun to the prime minister, should his team get elected.

New faces who became political office holders

Speaking from history, it is not uncommon for new faces to become political office holders.

In 2020, six new faces were appointed roles such as parliamentary secretary (e.g. Eric Chua), minister of state (e.g. Gan Siow Huang and Desmond Tan), and even a full minister (Tan See Leng).

In 2015, five new faces became political office holders.

Two of them, Ong Ye Kung and Ng Chee Meng, co-led the Education portfolio while Chee Hong Tat and Koh Poh Koon became ministers of state.  The last newcomer, Amrin Amin, was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Home Affairs and Health.

In 2011, five new faces became political office holders.

Newly-elected MPs Heng Swee Keat and Chan Chun Sing were appointed roles in then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's cabinet; Heng became Minister for Education while Chan became Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports.

Meanwhile, the other three new faces were appointed ministers of state (Lawrence Wong and Tan Chuan-jin) and senior parliamentary secretary (Sim Ann).