Cabinet 2001



Singapore Infopedia

by Pak, Peter Yew Guan

Background

The Cabinet 2001 (as of 23 November 2001) was announced by Goh, Chok Tong, the Prime Minister of Singapore, on Saturday, 17 November 2001. The swearing-in ceremony was held in the presence of Nathan, S. R., the President of Singapore, on 23 November 2001 at the State Room, Istana.

The 2001 cabinet line-up also saw the appointment of five new first-term Members of Parliament as Ministers of State. They included Vivian Balakrishnan (Dr), Cedric Foo, Ng Eng Hen (Dr), Raymond Lim and Balaji Sadasivan (Dr). Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Khaw Boon Wan were the other two "recruits" appointed to Senior Minister of State ranking.

The announcement of the new cabinet by Goh, also saw the retirement of several past officials. They included: Richard Hu Tsu Tau (Dr), Aline Wong (Dr), Sidek Saniff, Peter Chen, Ow Chin Hock (Dr), Harun Abdul Ghani and Zulkifli Mohamad. John Chen (Dr) (former Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology & Ministry of National Development) declined his appointment citing that he will be returning to the private sector.

The line-up released by the Prime Minister's office in a press statement were as follows:

Goh Chok Tong, Prime Minister.
Lee Kuan Yew Senior Minister, Prime Minister's Office.
Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Finance.
Tony Tan Keng Yam (Dr), Deputy Prime Minister & Minister for Defence.
S. Jayakumar (Prof), Minister for Law & Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Lee Yock Suan, Minister Prime Minister's Office & Second Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Wong Kan Seng, Minister for Home Affairs.
Yeo Cheow Tong, Minister for Transport.
George Yong-Boon Yeo,  Minister for Trade and Industry.
Lee Boon Yang (Dr), Minister for Manpower.

Mah Bow Tan, Minister for National Development.
Lim Boon Heng, Minister Prime Minister's Office.
Lim Hng Kiang, Minister for Health & Second Minister for Finance.

Abdullah Tarmugi, Minister for Community Development and Sports & Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs.
Teo Chee Hean ,Minister for Education & Second Minister for Defence.
Lim Swee Say, Minister for the Environment.
David Lim, Ag Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts & Senior Minister of State Ministry of Defence.

Ministers of State
Matthias Yao, Senior Minister of State Prime Minister's Office.
Ho Peng Kee (Assoc. Prof), Senior Minister of State Ministry of Law & Ministry of Home Affairs.
Khaw Boon Wan, Senior Minister of State Ministry of Transport & Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts.
Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Senior Minister of State Ministry of Trade and Industry & Ministry of Education.
Chan Soo Sen, Minister of State Prime Minister's Office & Ministry of Community Development and Sports.
Yaacob Ibrahim (Assoc. Prof), Minister of State Ministry of Community Development and Sports.
Balaji Sadasivan, Minister of State Ministry of Health & Ministry of the Environment.
Raymond Lim, Minister of State Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Ministry of Trade and Industry (wef 1 December 2001).
Ng Eng Hen, Minister of State Ministry of Education & Ministry of Manpower (wef 1 January 2002).
Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister of State Ministry of National Development (wef 1 January 2002).
Cedric Foo, Minister of State Ministry of Defence (wef 1 April 2002).

Parliamentary Secretaries
Yatiman Yusof, Senior Parliamentary Secretary Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts.
Koo Tsai Kee (Assoc. Prof), Senior Parliamentary Secretary Ministry of National Development & Ministry of Defence.
Mohamad Maidin Packer Mohamed, Senior Parliamentary Secretary Ministry of Home Affairs.
Hawazi Daipi Parliamentary, Secretary Ministry of Education.

Additional Information
Lee Boon Yang and David Lim will exchange their Ministerial portfolios after a year.

Abdullah Tarmugi will be elected Speaker of Parliament on 25 March 2002. He will relinquish his appointment on 24 March 2002. Yaacob Ibrahim will succeed him as Ag Minister on 25 March 2002 and will also be Minister-in-charge of  Muslim Affairs.

David Lim will relinquish his appointment as Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Defence, after Cedric Foo has settled down in his appointment as Minister of State, Ministry of Defence. (No timeframe was given at the time of writing).  



Author
Peter Pak



References
PM gives 7 newcomers top jobs. (2001, November 18). The Straits Times, p. 1.

Prime Minister's Office press statement on cabinet & other appointments. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2001, from www.gov.sg/singov/annouce/171101pmo.htm

Speech by President S R Nathan at the swearing-in of the new cabinet on Friday 23 November 2001 at 5.30 pm at the Istana State Room. (2001). Retrieved October 6, 2003, from www.gov.sg/istana/sp-011123.html
 



The information in this article is valid as at 2001 and correct as far as we can ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for reading materials on the topic.

Rights Statement

The information on this page and any images that appear here may be used for private research and study purposes only. They may not be copied, altered or amended in any way without first gaining the permission of the copyright holder.