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SINGAPORE: On-line and messaging discussion groups are abuzz with questions on whether or not Singaporeans can see former Chief Defence Pressure (CDF) Melvyn On Su Kiat be a part of the ruling social gathering, as he retired from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) on Friday (24 Mar).
MINDEF mentioned earlier that the previous SAF heavyweight will proceed to serve in public service after retirement, though the precise particulars of what this can contain stay unclear. Rumours, nevertheless, are swirling on-line that politics could also be within the 47-year-old’s future as lots of his predecessors jumped into politics after retiring from the navy.
The subsequent election should be held no later than 23 November 2025 however analysts have predicted that it’ll happen earlier, maybe as early as June subsequent 12 months. Whatsapp and Telegram chatgroups are spreading rumours that Mr Ong will determine within the Folks’s Motion Get together’s (PAP) slate for the election.
Hypothesis can also be rife that, within the interim interval between his retirement from the SAF and the following election, Mr Ong might discover a submit for himself inside a government-linked entity.
It’s noteworthy that each single one out of the 9 former CDFs that precede LG Ong had key roles in authorities ministries, statutory boards, and corporations which might be identified to have shut ties to the institution, after they left the SAF.
If Mr Ong is unveiled as a PAP candidate, he could also be joined by one other former CDF, unseated ex-MP Ng Chee Meng.
Mr Ng was fielded as a recent face within the 2015 basic election, which occurred lower than a month after he retired from the military. He was put in a six-member crew beneath the management of the then-Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and coasted to victory and into Parliament.
He then grew to become one of many uncommon few in Singapore’s historical past to be appointed as cupboard minister as quickly as he joined Parliament. As a part of the PAP’s fourth-generation (4G) cohort of leaders, Mr Ng was made Minister of Schooling (Faculties) and Second Minister for Transport shortly after the election in 2015.
In 2015, he was appointed a Minister within the Prime Minister’s Workplace and was elected Secretary-Normal of the Authorities-linked labour motion, NTUC.
In his second election, Mr Ng was recognized because the chief of the PAP crew contesting the newly-carved out Sengkang GRC. In a surprising upset, Mr Ng and his crew misplaced to the Staff’ Get together (WP).
Though he was voted out of political workplace and misplaced his ministerial place, Mr Ng stays energetic as a PAP department chairman in Sengkang and has discretion over how taxpayer funds are disbursed within the opposition-held ward.
He was additionally appointed to proceed as labour chief, regardless of shedding the election, in a transfer that was opposite to the norm – a transfer that alerts that he shall be a part of the PAP’s slate within the subsequent election.
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