Singapore prime minister Lawrence Wong unveiled his new cabinet on Wednesday, retaining experienced ministers in trade, economic and sustainability portfolios while creating a new role to oversee energy issues. The announcement follows his party’s electoral victory last month.
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Dr Tan See Leng, who is currently manpower minister and second minister at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, will be appointed minister-in-charge of energy, science and technology.
Grace Fu, who has helmed the sustainability and environment ministry since July 2020, will continue in the same role; she will also concurrently be minister-in-charge of trade relations. The new cabinet will be sworn in tomorrow.
Wong, at a press conference to announce the new cabinet line-up, said that energy, especially clean renewables, will be an important focus for the government in its next term. “We will consider how we can better organise ourselves to accelerate our transition to cleaner energy.”
He also highlighted how sustainability as part of the national agenda would also focus on security and adapting to climate change.
“We are operating in a changed world, with rising trade barriers, sharper competition, and greater uncertainty. We need experienced hands at the helm. So I’m keeping most of the ministers in their current roles during this critical period,” he added.
Wong is Singapore’s first new prime minister in two decades after succeeding Lee Hsien Loong last year. At the nation’s general elections held last month, his party, the People’s Action Party – in government since 1959 – won 87 out of 97 seats in Parliament.
Pre-polls, Wong also spoke about how climate and clean energy initiatives will be key to Singapore’s response to geopolitical turbulence. For example, the nation wants to accelerate the development of a cross-border power grid that will allow for multilateral power trading across Southeast Asia.
Wong is expected to attend the Asean summit next week in Kuala Lumpur, where energy transition will be on the agenda for the region’s political leaders. As chair of the 10-nation Asean grouping, Malaysia will be hosting the high-level summit; its Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry said earlier this month that Asean countries will be examining the prospects of nuclear energy as a “clean and stable” source of electricity.
