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Ong Ye Kung

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The Honourable
Ong Ye Kung
王乙康
Ong in 2018
Minister for Health
Incumbent
Assumed office
15 May 2021
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
Lawrence Wong
Second MinisterMasagos Zulkifli
Preceded byGan Kim Yong
Minister for Transport
In office
27 July 2020 – 14 May 2021
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
Preceded byKhaw Boon Wan
Succeeded byS. Iswaran
Minister for Education
In office
1 May 2018 – 26 July 2020
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
Second MinisterIndranee Rajah
Preceded byNg Chee Meng
(Minister of Education)
(Schools)
Succeeded byLawrence Wong
Minister for Education
(Higher Education and Skills)
In office
1 October 2015 – 30 April 2018
Acting: 1 October 2015 – 31 October 2016
Serving with Ng Chee Meng (2015–2018)
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
Preceded byHeng Swee Keat
(as Minister for Education)
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Second Minister for Defence
In office
1 November 2016 – 30 April 2018
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
MinisterNg Eng Hen
Preceded byLui Tuck Yew
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Senior Minister of State for Defence
In office
1 October 2015 – 31 October 2016
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
MinisterNg Eng Hen
Succeeded byHeng Chee How
Member of Parliament
for Sembawang GRC
(Sembawang Central)
Incumbent
Assumed office
10 July 2020
Preceded byConstituency established
Majority48,341 (34.58%)
Member of Parliament
for Sembawang GRC
(Gambas)
In office
11 September 2015 – 23 June 2020
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Majority59,572 (44.5%)
Personal details
Born (1969-11-15) 15 November 1969 (age 55)[1]
Singapore
Political partyPeople's Action Party
SpouseDiana Kuik Sin Leng
RelationsXie Yao Quan (maternal cousin)[2]
Children2
Parent(s)Ong Lian Teng (father)
Ng Soo Lung (mother)
Alma materLondon School of Economics (BS)
International Institute for Management Development (MBA)
Occupation
  • Politician
  • civil servant
In this Chinese name, the family name is Ong.

Ong Ye Kung (Chinese: 王乙康; pinyin: Wáng Yǐkāng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ông It-khong; born 15 November 1969)[1] is a Singaporean politician and former civil servant who has been serving as Minister for Health since 2021. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Sembawang Central division of Sembawang GRC since 2015.[3][4]

Prior to entering politics, Ong worked in the Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore Workforce Development Agency, National Trades Union Congress and Keppel Corporation. He was also the principal private secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong between 2002 and 2004.

He made his political debut in the 2011 general election as part of a five-member PAP team contesting in Aljunied GRC but lost to the Worker's Party where the PAP team obtained 45.28% of the valid votes. He contested again in the 2015 general election as part of a five-member PAP team contesting in Sembawang GRC and won where the PAP team obtained 72.28% of the valid votes.

Before becoming Minister for Health, he was Minister for Education between 2015 and 2020, serving alongside Ng Chee Meng between 2015 and 2018, and Minister for Transport between 2020 and 2021. From 2020 to 2021, he is also a co-chair of the Multi-Ministry Taskforce set up by the government to manage Singapore's handling response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Education

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Ong attended Maris Stella High School and Raffles Junior College before graduating from the London School of Economics in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics.

In 1999, he completed a Master of Business Administration degree at the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Career

[edit]

Civil Service career

[edit]

Ong started his career working in the Ministry of Communications between 1993 and 1999. He served as Director of Trade in the Ministry of Trade and Industry between 2000 and 2003 and was the Deputy Chief Negotiator for the Singapore–United States Free Trade Agreement signed in May 2003. He was Principal Private Secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong between 2002 and 2004. Ong also served as the chief executive officer of the Workforce Development Agency between 2005 and 2008. Following that, he joined the National Trades Union Congress as Assistant Secretary-General.[5]

Political career

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In the 2011 general election, Ong contested in Aljunied GRC as part of a five-member People's Action Party (PAP) team. [6] The PAP team lost to the Workers' Party team consists of Low Thia Khiang, Pritam Singh, Sylvia Lim, Muhamad Faisal Manap and Chen Show Mao. [7] This was the first time in Singapore's history when the PAP lost a GRC in an election.[8]

Following the 2011 general election, Ong continued to work at the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and became Deputy Secretary-General in June 2011. [9] He was also elected into the NTUC's Central Committee later that year.[10] In 2013, he left the NTUC and became Director of Group Strategy at Keppel Corporation.[11]

In the 2015 general election, Ong joined as part of the five-member PAP team contesting in Sembawang GRC,[12] which was considered 'safer' for him.[13] The PAP team won with 72% of the vote and Ong was elected as the Member of Parliament representing the Gambas ward of Sembawang GRC.[12]

On 1 October 2015, Ong was appointed Senior Minister of State for Defence and Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills). On 1 November 2016, he was promoted to Second Minister for Defence while concurrently holding the portfolio of Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) alongside Ng Chee Meng, who was Minister for Education (Schools). In 2017, Ong moved a Bill in Parliament to confer the Singapore University of Social Sciences autonomous status.[14]

On 1 May 2018, the two Education portfolios were merged into a single one; Ong took over the single portfolio as Minister for Education, Ong had also relinquished his Second Minister of Defence portfolio at the same time.

On 27 July 2020, Ong relinquished his portfolio as Minister for Education and succeeded Khaw Boon Wan as Minister for Transport, as well as the Anchor Minister of Sembawang GRC.

In the lead-up to the 2020 general election, Ong was widely seen as one of the three leading candidates (alongside Heng Swee Keat and Chan Chun Sing) to succeed Lee Hsien Loong as Prime Minister of Singapore.[15] Ong led the PAP team in Sembawang GRC and they won with about 67% of the vote. Ong's former Gambas ward was merged with part of Khaw Boon Wan's former Sembawang ward, forming the new Sembawang Central ward which is currently helmed by Ong.[16]

On 23 April 2021, Ong was appointed co-chair of the multi-ministerial committee formed on 22 January 2020 to manage the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore. Following a Cabinet reshuffle on 15 May 2021, Ong relinquished his portfolio as Minister for Transport and succeeded Gan Kim Yong as Minister for Health.

Ong was considered by many to be one of the most likely candidates to succeed Heng Swee Keat as leader of the fourth-generation (4G) team, however it was ultimately revealed that Finance Minister Lawrence Wong had the most support compared to the other candidates.[17]

Ong has spoken out on the events of Anti-Indian sentiment at Singapore.[18]

Other appointments

[edit]
  • Board Member, Monetary Authority of Singapore (29 Aug 2016 – 31 May 2019)[19]
  • Board Member, SMRT Corporation (2006–2014)[20] As an independent director, he was appointed to head an internal investigation into the major train disruptions between 15 and 17 December 2011.[21]
  • Chairman, Employment and Employability Institute[citation needed]
  • Adviser, National Transport Workers' Union (NTWU), Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Union (SISEU), and Attractions, Resorts & Entertainment Union (AREU)[citation needed]
  • Executive Secretary, National Transport Workers' Union and the Singapore Manual and Mercantile Workers' Union.[citation needed]

Personal life

[edit]

Ong's father, Ong Lian Teng, was a Barisan Sosialis politician who served as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Bukit Panjang SMC from 1963 to 1965 and later Member of Parliament from 1965 to 1966, who later resigned to protest the "undemocratic acts" of the PAP government. In an interview with The Straits Times in 2011, Ong noted that his father, who died in 2009, had been fully supportive of his decision to become involved in politics as a member of the PAP despite his own past involvement in opposition politics in Singapore.[22]

Ong is married to Diana Kuik Sin Leng, the daughter of real estate magnate Kuik Ah Han.[23][24] They have two daughters.[citation needed] In 2012, Straits Times correspondent Susan Long described him as a "free thinker" and a "Confucius-quoting unionist".[25]

Ong's maternal cousin, Xie Yao Quan, is also a PAP Member of Parliament representing the Jurong Central division of Jurong GRC.[2]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "MP | Parliament Of Singapore". www.parliament.gov.sg.
  2. ^ a b Lay, Belmont (30 June 2020). "Ong Ye Kung is cousin of newest PAP candidate Xie Yao Quan". mothership.sg. Archived from the original on 30 August 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  3. ^ "About Ong Ye Kung". facebook. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  4. ^ Ong Ye Kung's page on the PAP website Archived 12 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine says he was 42 in 2011, so it is deduced that he was born around 1969 or 1970.
  5. ^ "ONG YE KUNG" (PDF). Ministry of Health.
  6. ^ "Aljunied GRC: The battle for 143,148 votes". AsiaOne. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  7. ^ "2011 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION RESULTS". Singapore Elections Department. Archived from the original on 13 May 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  8. ^ "Low expectations". The Economist. 12 May 2011. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  9. ^ It's confirmed: Ong Ye Kung is leaving NTUC Archived 28 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Today, 27 September 2012.
  10. ^ "Nurse Diana Chia is NTUC's first woman president". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 19 December 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  11. ^ "Ong Ye Kung joins Keppel Corp". www.asiaone.com. Archived from the original on 1 January 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  12. ^ a b Ong Ye Kung, Amrin Amin join PAP's Sembawang GRC team[permanent dead link‍], channelnewsasia.com, 14 August 2015.
  13. ^ Ying, Foo Jie (15 August 2015). "PAP's Ong Ye Kung makes comeback in Sembawang GRC". The New Paper. Archived from the original on 8 October 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  14. ^ "Singapore University of Social Sciences Bill Second Reading Speech by Mr Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills)". Ministry of Education. Archived from the original on 4 March 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  15. ^ hermesauto (26 January 2018). "Singapore's 4G leaders need more time to gain exposure and experience: Analysts". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  16. ^ "ELD | 2020 Parliamentary General Election Results".
  17. ^ Tang, See Kit (18 April 2022). "Strong party support for Lawrence Wong as 4G leader even without unanimous vote: Political analysts". CNA. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
  18. ^ https://m.facebook.com/ongyekung/posts/the-recent-two-incidents-of-verbal-and-physical-assaults-on-indians-were-disturb/4691531124194786/ [user-generated source]
  19. ^ "Changes to the MAS Board of Directors". Archived from the original on 30 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  20. ^ "Ong Ye Kung retires as SMRT director". Singapore Business Review. 21 July 2014. Archived from the original on 15 August 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  21. ^ "Ong Ye Kung to head SMRT probe". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  22. ^ Their dads were once PAP adversaries Archived 24 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, The Straits Times, 22 March 2011.
  23. ^ "Change Announcement of Cessation::Resignation of Executive Director" (PDF). Sim Lian Group. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  24. ^ Tan, Sumiko (15 January 2017). "Lunch With Sumiko: Ong Ye Kung on new ministers' 'collective ambition' for Singapore". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 21 July 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  25. ^ "The one who got away". The Straits Times. June 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ong Ye Kung.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister for Education
2018 – 2020
2016 – 2018 (Higher Education and Skills)
Acting: 2015 – 2016
Served alongside: Ng Chee Meng (Schools) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister for Transport
2020 – 2021 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister for Health
2021 – present 		Incumbent
Parliament of Singapore
New constituency Member of Parliament for
Sembawang GRC (Sembawang Central)
2015 – present 		Incumbent
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