Lawrence Wong, Desmond Lee voted into PAP CEC for first time
SINGAPORE – Key fourth-generation Cabinet members Lawrence Wong and Desmond Lee were elected into the ruling People’s Action Party’s (PAP) top decision-making body for the first time at the party’s conference on Sunday (8 November).
Wong, 47, is Minister for Education, Second Minister for Finance, and co-chair of the multi-ministry taskforce tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. Among others, he is a member of both the Future Economy Council, and the Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council.
Meanwhile, Lee, 44, is Minister for National Development and Minister-in-Charge of Social Services Integration. Among others, he co-chairs the Singapore Together Movement, the Emerging Stronger Taskforce and the Future Economy Council Sub-Committee for the Built Environment.
More than 2,000 party cadres voted at the biennial party conference for the top 12 nominees to be elected to the PAP’s central executive committee (CEC) for a two-year term. The conference was attended by more than 3,000 party activists in-person and virtually.
Ten Cabinet members were re-elected to the party’s CEC on Sunday: the PAP’s incumbent secretary-general Lee Hsien Loong, 68; chairman Gan Kim Yong, 61; vice-chairman Masagos Zulkifli, 57; first assistant secretary-general Heng Swee Keat, 59; second assistant secretary-general Chan Chun Sing, 51; treasurer K Shanmugam, 61; assistant treasurer Ong Ye Kung, 50; organising secretary Grace Fu, 56; and 35th CEC members Tan Chuan-Jin, 51; and Vivian Balakrishnan, 59.
Also, co-opted into the 36th CEC were 35th CEC members Indranee Rajah, 57, and Josephine Teo, 52.
Labour chief Ng Chee Meng, 52, who was defeated in Sengkang GRC at this year’s general election, and Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, 61, were not reelected to the CEC, although they could still be co-opted.
The 36th CEC will later meet to elect its new office holders and possibly co-opt other CEC members. The PAP’s constitution allows for 18 CEC members.
At the last party conference in November 2018, five senior PAP members stepped down from the 34th CEC to make way for 4G leaders: then first assistant secretary-general Teo Chee Hean, now 65; second assistant secretary-general Tharman Shanmugaratnam, 63; chairman Khaw Boon Wan, 67; vice-chairman Yaacob Ibrahim, 65; and treasurer Lim Swee Say, 66.
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