The Prime Minister has announced a Cabinet reshuffle. What significance does it hold for government and also for the governing People’s Action Party (PAP) at the half-time of this Parliamentary term?
This is the fourth announcement of change this term. The first was in May 2011 after the general election, which was radical in that very senior members of previous administrations stood down — the founding prime minister, his successor, the housing and transport ministers were no longer part of the ruling Cabinet.
The PM explained then, “I wanted a fresh start and that’s why I’ve gone for radical change.” Since then, there has been a gradual progression of younger leaders into government portfolio, and today we see what has been termed “the fourth generation of PAP leaders” clearly cast.
The PM said in 2011 that his government would provide a “fresh line-up” and take a “fresh approach” in many areas. In the first half of the parliamentary term, we have seen many reviews in public policy and new initiatives being introduced, with new ministers of transport, education, housing and health put in place. Even in social policy, Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing has introduced a new way of implementing social support – think of the Social Service Offices that aim to deliver programmes to the needy and disadvantaged more efficiently and effectively, relieving the Community Development Councils of some of the work.
The confirmation of Tan Chuan-Jin and Lawrence Wong as full ministers in the portfolios that they have held is a vote of confidence that they are able to manage the demands of these posts. The confirmations cannot be just about their ability to manage the existing portfolios, but their potential to manage other portfolios in government.
Having said that, Manpower is a very complex and politicised portfolio to manage in Singapore today as there are many conflicting objectives and stakeholders to pull together. There are no “right” answers, and tensions still exist in the efforts to balance the trimming of foreign workforce growth with increasing labour productivity, ensuring business sustainability, and providing workers for a bourgeoning social and education sector. Like the Transport portfolio, this is one where it is difficult to satisfy all stakeholders. However, there have been important new initiatives emanating from Mr Tan’s ministry, including the imminent Fair Consideration Framework and its attendant National Jobs Bank, as well as the mandatory introduction of the progressive wage model to three sectors characterised by low-waged manual work. Both these initiatives address concerns of Singaporean workers about fair access to work opportunities and wage growth. This is a demanding portfolio for Mr Tan to deliver on.
Since the restructuring of government agencies in 2012, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) now has a very large portfolio stretching from community engagement to sports, the arts and philanthropy. These are areas that have become more important to citizens as they think about the higher-order aspects of nationhood and the finer things in life. They are also areas which are difficult to set meaningful targets or check off performance indicators, save for the sports arena. In fact, even in this area, Singaporeans do not just look at medal tallies but which athletes have secured them.
With no change in their portfolios, the intention must be that the two new ministers have the mandate to deliver on their policy initiatives.
Mr Tan and Mr Wong have also caught up with Chan Chun Sing, one of the “fabulous five” in the last general election of politicians to watch from the PAP —among which the next the prime minister might drawn. Mr Chan was made acting minister right after the election and had a head start on Mr Tan and Mr Wong. While Mr Tan has already been given the mantle of helming Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency (GRC), it is clear that Mr Wong and Mr Chan will anchor GRCs in the next general election.
It is important also to pay attention to the younger backbenchers who have been brought up to a higher level when we think about the fourth generation of PAP leaders. In the first half of this parliamentary term, we saw the promotion of younger MPs such as Desmond Lee, Low Yen Ling and Sim Ann. They have to earn their spurs as junior ministers to cement their place in the public’s mind as being part of this fourth generation of PAP leaders.
And now, we have second-term MP Dr Lam Pin Min given the portfolio of Minister of State for Health. He has been the chairman of the government parliamentary committee on health so this seems like a meaningful progression for Dr Lam. It will be interesting to see if this becomes a settled track in allowing other backbenchers to progress in their political careers.
Low Yen Ling and Denise Phua have been given new portfolios – Ms Low as Minister of State in MCCY to implement the new National Youth Corps programme, and as Mayor. Ms Phua takes over from Sam Tan as the second new mayor.
These changes expand the slate of younger leaders populating the parliamentary secretary, minister of state and senior minister of state roles, without any heavyweight ministers having to stand down to make way for new blood. There will be many more office-holders going into the next election if nothing else changes by the time it is called. This provides more anchor ministers if smaller and more GRCs are formed.
Finally, what we have yet to see is a woman who is considered ready and willing to helm a ministry. That would be important to watch as the PAP’s fourth generation leadership team shapes up. That said, there are more women office-holders today than we can remember and this portends a bright future for young women in Singapore who might see their careers in public service and political life.
Dr Gillian Koh is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies. She contributes to the work in the Institute’s Politics and Governance cluster.
Photo credits: Tan Chuan-Jin Facebook and Lawrence Wong Facebook