Minister Lim Hwee Hua will not contest GE 2016
Singapore's first woman Cabinet minister Lim Hwee Hua has announced that she will not be contesting in the next 2016 General Election, after losing her seat in Parliament in this year's polls.
The Minister in the Prime Minister's Office described her 15 years in politics as a "reasonable stretch" and said she will leave it for someone younger to contest in the next GE as she will be 57 then, reported Channel NewsAsia.
She plans to take a break and is not ruling out the possibility of returning to the finance sector.
She will continue contributing to women's issues and is optimistic that there will be another full female Cabinet minister soon, reported The Straits Times.
Minister Lim, who is also the second Minister for Finance and Transport, was part of the losing Aljunied GRC team. The People's Action Party (PAP) team only garnered about 45 per cent of the votes against the Workers' Party.
Her announcement comes a day after Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo declared that he will be leaving politics.
During her press conference on Wednesday morning, Minister Lim revealed, she was surprised to discover the depth of resentment against the government during the nine days of campaigning in this GE.
While she expected a close fight, she was also surprised by the outcome, she said.
Yet, the Minister said she does not believe that doing anything differently in her Serangoon Gardens division would have changed the outcome of the election by too much since it was a battle over national issues.
She said, people feel they have not been listened to enough and that the PAP makes polices based on their intellect and without listening to the people.