9 Nominated MPs to be appointed on Jan. 8

The Special Select Committee has nominated nine people to the president to be appointed as Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) for a term of two and a half years.

They were chosen from a total of 57 candidates whose names were submitted for the role by the Nov. 6 deadline.

Introduced in 1990, the NMP scheme is meant to provide alternative, nonpartisan views in the House.

Up to nine NMPs can be appointed in each Parliament, and this time, all nine possible vacancies will be filled, a Jan. 2 press release announced.

These are the NMPs joining the 15th Parliament:

• Azhar Bin Othman, executive chairman of Enercon Asia
• Kenneth Goh Toh Chuan, president of Singapore Aquatics
• Haresh S/O Singaraju, a family physician at National University Polyclinics
• Terence Ho Wai Luen, an academic/university administrator at the National University of Singapore
• Kuah Boon Theng SC, managing director of Legal Clinic LLC
• Mark Lee Kean Phi, CEO of Sing Lun Holdings Pte Ltd
• Neo Kok Beng, founder & CEO of NEO Aeronautics Pte Ltd
• Kenneth Poon Kin Loong, professor at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University
• Sanjeev Kumar Tiwari, general secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Public Employees

All are fresh faces to Parliament except for Lee, who was appointed as an NMP in 2023 and will return to serve a second term.

Jeremy Tan and Darryl Lo, who ran in the 2025 General Election as independent candidates, said they submitted their nominations ahead of the deadline. They are not on the list.

The nomination

Speaker of the Parliament Seah Kian Peng, who chaired the Special Select Committee, said that there was a strong pool of candidates.

"Having to determine the maximum of nine NMPs to nominate is challenging and we deliberated very carefully on all the candidates," he said in the press release.

"We are satisfied that these nine nominees meet the Constitutional requirements, demonstrated by their distinguished contributions to society and in their respective fields," he added.

Indranee Rajah, Leader of the House and a member of the committee, also shared that it was a challenging task to choose from many highly qualified candidates.

On those nominated, she said, "They have made notable contributions in work, community and society, and excelled in their respective fields. I am confident that their diverse expertise and experience will enrich the discussions in Parliament as we chart Singapore’s path forward in an uncertain and disrupted world."

President Tharman Shanmugaratnam will be appointing the new NMPs at the Istana on Jan. 8.

They will then take their oaths and affirmations at the next sitting of Parliament in January.

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