Singapore has its second minister of transport in nine months after the country’s prime minister announced a major cabinet reshuffle on Friday.
S Iswaran has been appointed to the role and will take over from Ong Ye Kung, who has been made Singapore’s new minister for health, on 15 May 2021.
Ong, who said he was a fan of music groups such as Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones and Queen, only took over as Singapore’s minister of transport in July 2020.
In a Facebook posting, Ong said the homecoming at the ministry of transport (MOT) had “been brief”, but that as public servants, “we go where we are needed”.
“When I was moving to MOT, I said that our immediate and critical task is to rebuild and secure Singapore’s status as a maritime and aviation hub,” he said.
Ong added that despite the Covid-19 pandemic the team at the MOT had “conducted crew change safely and kept supply lines flowing”.
He also said that the department was putting sustainability “front and centre in maritime” as demonstrated by the recent plans to establish a decarbonisation centre.
As Singapore’s new health minister, Ong will also co-chair the country’s task force tackling the Covid-19 pandemic.
Global sea hub
Commenting on Iswaran’s appointment, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he would “maintain our status as a global air and sea hub” in the post-Covid-19 world.
Explaining the latest round of changes, Lee said he had wanted to make the changes after Singapore's July 2020 general election, but held off until now.
"We were still in the thick of Covid-19, and so I decided that we needed to concentrate on fighting Covid-19 at that point," he said.
"Now that Covid-19 situation is more stable, although by no means over, I am able now to make the changes."
Transport is a major political office within Singapore given the importance of industries such as shipping and aviation to the country's economy.
The two sectors between them employ over 300,000 people, and combined contribute an estimated 13% of Singapore’s GDP.
Last year, Singapore retained its position as the “world's most important shipping hub” on the Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Centre Development Index.
The index is based on a variety of factors, including port throughput and infrastructure; depth and breadth of professional maritime support services, and the general business environment.
