Khaw Boon Wan takes on demanding role of Transport Minister in new cabinet reshuffle

The question of who will replace the vacant (and very tough) post of transport minister has been answered, and it’s the person whom everyone suspected it would be — Khaw Boon Wan. 

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong revealed it all earlier today when he unveiled Singapore’s new cabinet in a press conference. 

Structural changes were made, with an introduction of three Coordinating Ministers, who will each supervise several different Ministries. Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam are still Deputy Prime Ministers, but are leaving behind their past ministry portfolios and will be Coordinating Minister for National Security and Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies respectively. 

Khaw Boon Wan — previously Minister for Social Development — is now taking over Lui Tuck Yew’s old role as Minister for Transport and is also a Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure. 

The Ministry of Education and Ministry of Trade and Industry are further split up into four distinct parts. Now, there’s a Minister for Schools (Ng Chee Meng), a Minister for Higher Education and Skills (Ong Ye Kung) under the Ministry of Education. Lim Hng Kiang is now Minister of Trade, while S Iswaran takes on the role of Minister of Industry. 

Other big changes include the likes of Dr Vivian Balakrishnan (now Minister of Foreign Affairs), K Shanmugam (now Minister of Home Affairs), Heng Swee Keat (now Minister of Finance), Lawrence Wong (now Minister of National Development) and Masagos Zulkifli (now Minister of Environment and Water Resources). You can check out the whole reshuffled cabinet in Channel NewsAsia’s comprehensive report

All eyes will be on Khaw Boon Wan however, who will be the person everyone points their finger every time their commute is disrupted by MRT and bus breakdowns. Lui Tuck Yew learnt this the hard way during years of worsening public transport service disruptions and he stepped down before the recent General Election. 

Politicos seem to have confidence in Khaw, who’s done well in fixing prevailing issues in health (reforming MediShield, and restoring confidence in the National Kidney Foundation) and housing (stabilising runaway costs of private and public houses, making HDB flat-buying easier) when he was put in charge of them. 

Now that he’s in charge of transportation, surely he’ll be able to work his magic on its many problems. Godspeed you, Khaw Boon Wan, godspeed. 

Photo: Khaw Boon Wan Facebook page



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