10 Facts About the Major Cabinet Reshuffle Whereby Ong Ye Kung & Lawrence Wong Will be the Faces Against COVID-19

It appears that Lawrence Wong has lost, and gained, a powerful ally in his ongoing fight against the pandemic.

Lest you’re unaware, a major Cabinet reshuffle has been announced, with a multitude of positions affected by the development.

And amongst those is the Minister for Health position, a placement that is automatically involved in the local Covid-19 task force.

1. Major Reshuffle

On Friday (23 April 2021), Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that there has been a major cabinet reshuffle, nine months after the previous iteration.

In total, seven ministers will be exchanging positions.

These include the likes of the current Finance and Health ministers.

Lest you’re not aware, a cabinet reshuffle is common, but a major one that involves a change in so many ministries isn’t.

2. First Reason

Apparently, PM Lee has two primary reasons behind such an extensive reshuffle.

Unsurprisingly, the first one has to do with Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat’s abrupt announcement two weeks ago.

Formerly expected to succeed the Prime Minister role, Minister Heng had removed himself from the race on account of age.

“Today I am announcing my new line-up. It will be a more extensive reshuffle than is usual this early in the term of government,” said PM Lee.

“Two reasons: One, the Minister for Finance is changing. Following Budget 2021, DPM Heng is relinquishing the Finance portfolio. Finance is a key ministry, so when the Finance Minister changes, it has many repercussions.”

3. Second Reason

As for the second, it’s attributable to several major moves made to the health, manpower and trade and industry.

Apparently, PM Lee had contemplated making the changes after 2020’s General Election, but hesitated because of the pandemic.

Now that the pandemic era has somewhat come to a standstill (at least on local shores), however, the moves have been made. And other positions have also been subsequently affected.

“With these major moves, inevitably there are other consequential adjustments to appointments,” said PM Lee.

“I am therefore taking this opportunity to redeploy some of the other ministers, to give them fresh responsibilities, and gain different exposure and experience.”

To simplify things, just think of it this way: if the election had been held just last month instead, then this would’ve been the new cabinet, and our dear Lawerence Wong would’ve never been the Education Minister.

4. New Face

As mentioned above, there will be a new face alongside the pandemic Avenger Lawrence Wong:

Mr Ong Ye Kung, aka Daniel Dae Kim lookalike.

Mr Gan Kim Yong will be stepping down from the Health Minister position after nearly a decade, and will be transitioning to the Trade and Industry Ministry (MTI).

Meanwhile, Mr Ong Ye Kung will be vacating his current position, Transport Minister, for the Health Minister designation.

Mr Ong will also succeed Mr Gan as the new face of the Covid-19 task force, alongside the ever-present Mr Wong, since the Health Minister is always involved in the fight against COVID-19.

PM Lee has also announced that Mr Ong will be continuing the good work done by his predecessor.

“At MOH, he will build on the strong foundation that Gan Kim Yong laid in healthcare,” PM Lee said. “Issues like ageing, healthcare infrastructure and healthcare finance need our unremitting efforts spanning many health ministers.”

5. The Seven Appointments

But you’re here for this, aren’t you?

Here are the seven appointments that will be made:

• Mr Chan Chun Sing will become the new Minister for Education, after a stint as Minister for Trade and Industry.
• Mr Lawrence Wong will become the new Minister for Finance, following his appointment as Minister for Education.
• Mr Ong Ye Kung will assume the role of Minister for Health, relinquishing his role as Minister for Transport in the process.
• Mr Gan Kim Yong will be the new Minister for Trade and Industry, after a previous role as Minister for Health.
• Mr S Iswaran will assume the role of Minister for Transport, and leave his previous role as Minister for Communications and Information behind. He will, however, continue as Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations in the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
• Mrs Josephine Teo will be the new Minister for Communications and Information, and relinquish her appointment as Minister for Manpower.
• Dr Tan See Leng will become the new Minister for Manpower. He will also continue as the Second Minister for Trade and Industry.

Here’s the new line-up:

6. Other Appointments

Meanwhile, over in the Ministers of State position (i.e. junior ministers), Ms Sim Ann, Mr Chee Hong Tat, Dr Koh Poh Koon, Mr Tan Kiat How and Ms Rahayu Mahzam will all be facing changes as well.

Ms Sim Ann will be the new Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and will forgo her role as Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications and Information. She will also continue with her role as the Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of National Development.

Mr Chee Hong Tat will continue his appointment as the Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Transport, and will forgo his role as Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Dr Koh Poh Koon will be the new Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Manpower, and will also continue as the Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Health.

Mr Tan Kiat How will be the new Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications and Information, and will forgo his role as Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s office. He will also continue as the Minister of State in the Ministry of National Development.

Ms Rahayu Mahzam will be the new Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Communications and Information, and will also continue as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Health.

7. More Responsibilities

In addition, Mrs Josephine Teo will undertake the role of Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative and Minister-in-charge of the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore as well. Previously, this position was taken by Dr Vivian Balakrishnan and Mr S Iswaran.

Mr Edwin Tong will be the new Deputy Chairman of the People’s Association.

Mr Chee Hong Tat will also become a part of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).

8. Taking Effect

Before you start to complain to Mr Iswaran about any train fault, hold your horses: The appointments are set to come into place on 15 May 2021, which is almost three weeks from now.

They will occur after the next Parliamentary sitting, which happens on 10 May.

9. Expectations

When asked about the new task force, Mr Lee responded: “I expect all of them to work closely together and cooperate, to make sure that policies are well-coordinated and nothing slips through the cracks.”

He also added that this is the ideal process for the whole Cabinet.

“You’re doing your part, but at the same time you’re covering for one another, so that when a problem comes up, we deal with the problem holistically – not just each person tackling his piece and leaving gaps in between, or overlaps and conflicts between the different ministries.”

Well, for us, it’d be nice to see two 4G frontrunners holding a press conference…for COVID-19, of course.

10. Major Reshuffle

PM Lee has also reiterated that the reshuffle is a big, but not unexpected development.

“The appointments which I made immediately after the elections, in a sense, were an interim set of changes, and now I’m making the full set of changes,” he said.

However, he did admit that there may be possible disruptions, having shifted two relatively short-term ministers from their current posts.

“And therefore I’ve had to move two ministers who have only been in their appointments quite a short time, which are Lawrence in MOE and Ong Ye Kung in MOT, but unfortunately it can’t be helped.

“It’s a bit disruptive for the ministries; they have made contributions, they are getting into their stride, and now I have to disrupt them. But I hope that after this adjustment, the new ministers in those two posts will be able to settle down for some time.”

For more information about what a cabinet reshuffle is, check out this article.

Featured Image: PAP