The People’s Action Party (PAP) announced on yesterday (6 Jan) that 4 more members have been co-opted into its Central Executive Committee (CEC), bringing the total number of CEC members to 18.
The CEC is the highest decision-making body of the party currently governing Singapore. By extension, it controls the government.
The 4 co-opted members are:
Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong
Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs Masagos Zulkifli
MP Zaqy Mohamad
MP Liang Eng Hwa.
The decision was made when the CEC met on Monday (5 Jan), according to the press release issued yesterday (6 Jan).
Last month (7 Dec), at its party conference, some 2,000 PAP cadres elected their top 12 CEC members from a shortlist of 19:
Lee Hsien Loong
Khaw Boon Wan
Teo Chee Hean
Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Yaacob Ibrahim
Lim Swee Say
K Shanmugam
Chan Chun Sing
Grace Fu
Gan Kim Yong
Heng Swee Keat
Tan Chuan-Jin
These 12 members received the highest number of votes. Members of the PAP CEC are elected every 2 years.
Mdm Halimah Yacob and Dr Ng Eng Hen, who received the 13th and 14th highest number of votes, were co-opted into the CEC automatically, according to party tradition. And going by the party constitution, other members outside the 12 can be co-opted to form a maximum of an 18-member CEC.
Apart from the 14 above, the other nominees in the shortlist of 19 for last month’s election were:
Lawrence Wong
Lui Tuck Yew
Vivian Balakrishnan
Indranee Rajah
Denise Phua
As it turns out, except for Lawrence Wong, the rest of the “leftover” nominees from the shortlist were not co-opted into the CEC at all. They included Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew and, Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
Comparing with the list of 18-member PAP CEC in its previous 2012 election:
Lee Hsien Loong
Khaw Boon Wan
Teo Chee Hean
Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Yaacob Ibrahim
Lim Swee Say
K Shanmugam
Chan Chun Sing
Grace Fu
Gan Kim Yong
Heng Swee Keat
Ng Eng Hen
Tan Chuan-Jin (auto co-opted)
Lawrence Wong (auto co-opted)
Halimah Yacob (co-opted)
Vivian Balakrishnan (co-opted)
Denise Phua (co-opted)
Seah Kian Peng (co-opted)
We can see that Vivian Balakrishnan, Denise Phua and Seah Kian Peng have been replaced by Masagos Zulkifli, Zaqy Mohamad and Liang Eng Hwa in the new CEC.
In other words, Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has been kicked out of the current CEC. Minister Lui Tuck Yew never made it to the last as well as current CEC.
In the press release, PAP also announced the following office bearers for the new CEC:
Mr Khaw Boon Wan – Chairman
Dr Yaacob Ibrahim – Vice Chairman
Mr Lee Hsien Loong – Secretary-General
Mr Teo Chee Hean – 1st Assistant Secretary-General
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam – 2nd Assistant Secretary-General
Mr Lim Swee Say – Treasurer
Mr K Shanmugam – Assistant Treasurer
Mr Gan Kim Yong – Organising Secretary
Dr Ng Eng Hen – Organising Secretary
Mr Chan Chun Sing – Organising Secretary
Besides these appointments, the PAP CEC also appointed Mr Masagos, Mr Teo Ser Luck and Mr Sam Tan as 2nd Organising Secretaries. Mr Teo and Mr Tan are not in the CEC. But the PAP press release said an organising secretary needs not have to be a CEC member.
Additionally, Ms Grace Fu was appointed Chair of the PAP Women’s Wing, while Mr Chan Chun Sing is Chair of Young PAP. Mdm Halimah Yacob was appointed Chair of PAP.SG.
Mr Zaqy, the youngest CEC member, said he hoped to contribute by connecting with younger Singaporeans and reflecting their aspirations, while Mr Liang said, “I will do my best to reflect issues from the ground, and also to represent other backbench MPs.”
http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/01/07/minister-vivian-kicked-out-of-new-pap-cec/
The CEC is the highest decision-making body of the party currently governing Singapore. By extension, it controls the government.
The 4 co-opted members are:
Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong
Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs Masagos Zulkifli
MP Zaqy Mohamad
MP Liang Eng Hwa.
The decision was made when the CEC met on Monday (5 Jan), according to the press release issued yesterday (6 Jan).
Last month (7 Dec), at its party conference, some 2,000 PAP cadres elected their top 12 CEC members from a shortlist of 19:
Lee Hsien Loong
Khaw Boon Wan
Teo Chee Hean
Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Yaacob Ibrahim
Lim Swee Say
K Shanmugam
Chan Chun Sing
Grace Fu
Gan Kim Yong
Heng Swee Keat
Tan Chuan-Jin
These 12 members received the highest number of votes. Members of the PAP CEC are elected every 2 years.
Mdm Halimah Yacob and Dr Ng Eng Hen, who received the 13th and 14th highest number of votes, were co-opted into the CEC automatically, according to party tradition. And going by the party constitution, other members outside the 12 can be co-opted to form a maximum of an 18-member CEC.
Apart from the 14 above, the other nominees in the shortlist of 19 for last month’s election were:
Lawrence Wong
Lui Tuck Yew
Vivian Balakrishnan
Indranee Rajah
Denise Phua
As it turns out, except for Lawrence Wong, the rest of the “leftover” nominees from the shortlist were not co-opted into the CEC at all. They included Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew and, Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
Comparing with the list of 18-member PAP CEC in its previous 2012 election:
Lee Hsien Loong
Khaw Boon Wan
Teo Chee Hean
Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Yaacob Ibrahim
Lim Swee Say
K Shanmugam
Chan Chun Sing
Grace Fu
Gan Kim Yong
Heng Swee Keat
Ng Eng Hen
Tan Chuan-Jin (auto co-opted)
Lawrence Wong (auto co-opted)
Halimah Yacob (co-opted)
Vivian Balakrishnan (co-opted)
Denise Phua (co-opted)
Seah Kian Peng (co-opted)
We can see that Vivian Balakrishnan, Denise Phua and Seah Kian Peng have been replaced by Masagos Zulkifli, Zaqy Mohamad and Liang Eng Hwa in the new CEC.
In other words, Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has been kicked out of the current CEC. Minister Lui Tuck Yew never made it to the last as well as current CEC.
In the press release, PAP also announced the following office bearers for the new CEC:
Mr Khaw Boon Wan – Chairman
Dr Yaacob Ibrahim – Vice Chairman
Mr Lee Hsien Loong – Secretary-General
Mr Teo Chee Hean – 1st Assistant Secretary-General
Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam – 2nd Assistant Secretary-General
Mr Lim Swee Say – Treasurer
Mr K Shanmugam – Assistant Treasurer
Mr Gan Kim Yong – Organising Secretary
Dr Ng Eng Hen – Organising Secretary
Mr Chan Chun Sing – Organising Secretary
Besides these appointments, the PAP CEC also appointed Mr Masagos, Mr Teo Ser Luck and Mr Sam Tan as 2nd Organising Secretaries. Mr Teo and Mr Tan are not in the CEC. But the PAP press release said an organising secretary needs not have to be a CEC member.
Additionally, Ms Grace Fu was appointed Chair of the PAP Women’s Wing, while Mr Chan Chun Sing is Chair of Young PAP. Mdm Halimah Yacob was appointed Chair of PAP.SG.
Mr Zaqy, the youngest CEC member, said he hoped to contribute by connecting with younger Singaporeans and reflecting their aspirations, while Mr Liang said, “I will do my best to reflect issues from the ground, and also to represent other backbench MPs.”
http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/01/07/minister-vivian-kicked-out-of-new-pap-cec/
