In a slew of Cabinet promotions, Senior Ministers of State Josephine Teo and Desmond Lee will be made full Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) of Singapore from May 1.
In a press statement, the PMO said that Teo will also be appointed Second Minister in the Ministry of Manpower. While she will stay on as Second Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and continue to oversee population matters, she will relinquish her appointment in the Transport Ministry.
Besides being Minister in PMO, Desmond Lee will also be Second Minister in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of National Development, where he is currently serving as Senior Minister of State.
In other changes, Dr Lam Pin Min, Dr Janil Puthucheary, Dr Koh Poh Koon, and Chee Hong Tat will be promoted to Senior Ministers of State in their current ministries. Dr Lam will take on an additional role as Senior Minister of State for Transport.
Minister of State (Manpower and PMO) Sam Tan will also be appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Parliamentary Secretary (Home Affairs) Amrin Amin will take on an additional role as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Health.
In addition to this, the PMO also announced that Minister of State (Manpower) Teo Ser Luck – who was a general manager at DHL before joining politics in 2006 – will retire from office on June 30 to return to the private sector. He will step down as Mayor of the North East Community Development Council after his term concludes on May 26, but will remain as Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.
In a Facebook post, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that he had accepted Mr Teo’s request to step down from public office and return to the private sector. “Ser Luck has contributed much in the ministries he served in – Transport, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Manpower – and worked with his fellow mayors on many meaningful projects. I thank him for his contributions and wish him all the best in his future endeavours,” said Lee.
Meanwhile, Josephene Teo was quite elated on her promotion. In a thanskgiving message to her well wishers, she wrote on her Facebook page-" I am grateful for all your well wishes, kind encouragement and blessings. Many have asked if I’m “happy”- it’s not quite the word for me right now. I feel grateful and humbled. Grateful to the people who have stood by me – colleagues in all the ministries I work with, my grassroots volunteers, friends and most of all, my family. Humbled by the enormity of the task."