Ong Ye Kung

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The Honourable Ong Ye Kung
王乙康
Minister for Health
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 May 2021
Preceded by	Gan Kim Yong
Constituency	Sembawang GRC
Minister for Transport
In office 27 July 2020 – 14 May 2021
Preceded by	Khaw Boon Wan
Succeeded by	S. Iswaran
Constituency	Sembawang GRC
Minister for Education
In office 1 May 2018 – 26 July 2020
Preceded by	Ng Chee Meng
Succeeded by	Lawrence Wong
Constituency	Sembawang GRC
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)
Preceded by	Heng Swee Keat
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Constituency	Sembawang GRC
Second Minister for Defence
In office 1 November 2016 – 30 April 2018
Minister	Ng Eng Hen
Constituency	Sembawang GRC
Senior Minister of State Ministry of Defence
In office 1 October 2015 – 31 October 2016
Minister	Ng Eng Hen
Constituency	Sembawang GRC
Member of the Singapore Parliament for Sembawang GRC (Sembawang Central)
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 September 2015
Majority	48,341 (34.58%)
Personal details
Born	Ong Ye Kung (1969-11-15) 15 November 1969 (age 51) Singapore
Political party	People's Action Party
Spouse(s)	Diana Kuik Sin Leng
Relations	Cousin - Xie Yao Quan
Children	2
Education	Maris Stella High School Raffles Junior College
Alma mater	London School of Economics International Institute for Management Development

Ong Ye Kung (born 15 November 1969)^[1][2] is a Singaporean politician. As a member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he is a Member of Parliament (MP) of Sembawang GRC for Sembawang Central since 11 September 2015 and was appointed as the Minister for Health by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

He is the co-chair of the multi-ministry task force in charge of the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore alongside Lawrence Wong and Gan Kim Yong. He was elected as the People's Action Party Central Executive Committee Assistant Treasurer.

Career[]

From 1993 to 1999, he served in the Ministry of Communications, during the late Ong Teng Cheong's presidential term. Ong then served in the Ministry of Trade and Industry from 2000 to 2003 as Director of Trade and Deputy Chief Negotiator for the Singapore-US Free Trade Agreement, which was signed in May 2003.

From 2002 to 2004, he was the Principal Private Secretary to Singapore's then Deputy Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, who was then Finance Minister and later became PM.^{[citation needed]}

He was the Chief Executive of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency from 2005 to 2008.^{[citation needed]} Following that, he joined the NTUC as Assistant Secretary-General.^{[citation needed]}

In 2011, he contested as part of the 5-member PAP team led by George Yeo in the Aljuined GRC.^[3] His team was defeated by the Worker's Party team led by the party's Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang,^[4] marking the first occasion in Singapore's history in which the PAP lost an election in a GRC.^[5] Therefore he suffered a political setback at the beginning of his political career.

Following the general election, Ong continued to work at the NTUC.^{[citation needed]} He became the NTUC's Deputy Secretary-General in June 2011^{[citation needed]} and was elected into the NTUC's Central Committee later that year.^[6] He then left NTUC to move to the private sector from 2013-2015.

In 2015, he contested as a PAP candidate in the Sembawang Group Representation Constituency at the 2015 general election.^[7] Sembawang GRC was considered a 'safer' ward for his election.^[8] His team was elected and he became a Member of the Parliament.

He also served as the Minister of Education from 1 October 2015 to 26 July 2020, as well as the Minister of Transport from 27 July 2020 to 14 May 2021. From 1 October 2015 to 30 April 2018, he served alongside Ng Chee Meng.

He was in charge of Higher Education and Skills while Ng Chee Meng was in charge of Schools. On 1 May 2018, the position was merged again into a single ministerial portfolio.

He has also been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sembawang Central ward in the Sembawang GRC since 11 September 2015 and is leading Sembawang GRC. ^[7]

In 2017, he moved a Bill in Parliament to confer Singapore University of Social Sciences autonomous status.^[9]

He is widely seen as one of the three leading contestants to be the fourth generation Prime Minister for Singapore.^[10] Ong will step down after for almost 5 years from Monetary Authority of Singapore board as a member since 29 August 2016.

During a cabinet reshuffle on 15 May 2021, he will succeed Gan Kim Yong as the Minister of Health.

Previous appointments[]

• Director of Group Strategy at Keppel Corporation (2013–2015)^[11]
• Deputy Secretary General of the National Trades Union Congress (2008–2012)^[12]
• Chief Executive of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (2005–2008)
• Principal Private Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong (2002–2004)
• Director of Trade at the Ministry of Trade & Industry (2000–2003)
• Deputy Chief Negotiator of Singapore-US Free Trade Agreement (2000–2003)
• Director/Deputy Director at the Ministry of Communications (1993–1999)

Other appointments[]

• Board member of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (29 Aug 2016 to 31 May 2019)^[13]
• Former Board member of the SMRT Corporation (2006–2014)^[14] As an independent director, he was appointed to head an internal investigation into the major train disruptions between 15 and 17 December 2011.^[15]
• Chairman of the Employment and Employability Institute^{[citation needed]}
• Advisers to the National Transport Workers' Union (NTWU), Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Union (SISEU), and Attractions, Resorts & Entertainment Union (AREU)^{[citation needed]}
• Executive Secretary for the National Transport Workers' Union and the Singapore Manual and Mercantile Workers' Union.^{[citation needed]}

Education[]

Ong was educated at Maris Stella High School and Raffles Junior College, before going on to the London School of Economics where he completed a BSc (Econ) degree in 1991. In 1999, he completed a Master of Business Administration degree at the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland.

Family[]

A Hokkien Singaporean, Ong is married to Diana Kuik Sin Leng, daughter of real estate magnate Kuik Ah Han.^[16][17] The couple has two daughters.

Ong's father, Ong Lian Teng, was a Barisan Sosialis politician who was a Member of the Legislative Assembly for from 22 October 1963 to 8 August 1965 and then as Member of Parliament from 9 August 1965 till 5 December 1966, when he 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.^[18]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ong Ye Kung.

• Ong Ye Kung on Prime Minister's Office
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