Ong Ye Kung

Ong Ye Kung MP (born 15 November 1969)[1][2] is a Singaporean politician. He was appointed as the Minister for Transport by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. He was elected as the People's Action Party Central Executive Committee Assistant Treasurer.

The Honourable

Ong Ye Kung

MP
王乙康
Minister for Transport
Assumed office
27 July 2020
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
Preceded byKhaw Boon Wan
ConstituencySembawang GRC
Minister for Education
In office
1 May 2018 – 27 July 2020
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
Preceded byNg Chee Meng
Succeeded byLawrence Wong
ConstituencySembawang 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
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
Preceded byHeng Swee Keat
Succeeded bySystem abolished
ConstituencySembawang GRC
Second Minister for Defence
In office
1 November 2016 – 30 April 2018
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
MinisterNg Eng Hen
ConstituencySembawang GRC
Senior Minister of State
Ministry of Defence
In office
1 October 2015 – 31 October 2016
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
MinisterNg Eng Hen
ConstituencySembawang GRC
Member of the Singapore Parliament
for Sembawang GRC
(Sembawang Central)
Assumed office
11 September 2015
Personal details
Born
Ong Ye Kung

(1969-11-15) 15 November 1969
Singapore
CitizenshipSingapore
NationalitySingaporean
Political partyPeople's Action Party
Spouse(s)Diana Kuik Sin Leng
RelationsXie Yao Quan (cousin)
Children2
EducationMaris Stella High School
Raffles Junior College
Alma materLondon School of Economics
International Institute for Management Development
In this Chinese name, the family name is Ong.

He also served as the Minister of Education from 1 October 2015 to 26 July 2020. 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.[3]

Career

From 1993 to 1999, Ong 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, Ong was the Principal Private Secretary to Singapore's then Deputy Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, who was then Finance Minister and later became PM.

Ong was the Chief Executive of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency from 2005 to 2008. Following that, Ong joined the NTUC as Assistant Secretary-General.

In 2011, Ong contested as part of the 5-member PAP team led by Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo in the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC).[4] His team was defeated by the Workers' Party of Singapore team led by the party's Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang,[5] marking the first occasion in Singapore's history in which the PAP lost an election in a GRC.[6] Therefore he suffered a political setback at the beginning of his political career.

Following the general election, Ong continued to work at the NTUC. He became the NTUC's Deputy Secretary-General in June 2011 and was elected into the NTUC's Central Committee later that year.[7] He then left NTUC to move to the private sector from 2013-2015.

In 2015, Ong contested as a PAP candidate in the Sembawang Group Representation Constituency at the 2015 general election.[3] Sembawang GRC was considered a 'safer' ward for his election.[8] His team won, and he became a Member of the Parliament.

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

Ong is widely seen as one of the three leading contestants to be the fourth generation Prime Minister for Singapore.[10]

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, Ong 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
  • Advisers to the National Transport Workers' Union (NTWU), Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Union (SISEU), and Attractions, Resorts & Entertainment Union (AREU)
  • Executive Secretary for the National Transport Workers' Union and the Singapore Manual and Mercantile Workers' Union.

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 Bukit Panjang constituency 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
  1. "About Ong Ye Kung". facebook. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  2. 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.
  3. Ong Ye Kung, Amrin Amin join PAP's Sembawang GRC team, channelnewsasia.com, 14 August 2015.
  4. "Aljunied GRC: The battle for 143,148 votes". AsiaOne. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  5. "2011 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION RESULTS". Singapore Elections Department. Archived from the original on 13 May 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  6. "Low expectations". The Economist. 12 May 2011. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  7. "Nurse Diana Chia is NTUC's first woman president". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 19 December 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  8. 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.
  9. "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.
  10. 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.
  11. "Ong Ye Kung joins Keppel Corp". www.asiaone.com. Archived from the original on 1 January 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  12. It's confirmed: Ong Ye Kung is leaving NTUC Archived 28 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Today, 27 September 2012.
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 30 August 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. "Ong Ye Kung retires as SMRT director". Singapore Business Review. Archived from the original on 15 August 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  15. "Ong Ye Kung to head SMRT probe". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  16. "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.
  17. 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.
  18. Their dads were once PAP adversaries Archived 24 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, The Straits Times, 22 March 2011.
Political offices
Preceded by
Heng Swee Keat		 Minister for Education
2018 – 2020
2016 – 2018 (Higher Education and Skills)
Acting: 2015 – 2016
Served alongside: Ng Chee Meng (Schools)		 Succeeded by
Lawrence Wong
Preceded by
Khaw Boon Wan		 Minister for Transport
2020 – present		 Incumbent
Parliament of Singapore
New constituency Member of Parliament for
Sembawang GRC (Sembawang Central)
2015 – present		 Incumbent
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