Third Lee Hsien Loong Cabinet
The Third Cabinet of Lee Hsien Loong of the Government of Singapore came into existence on 21 May 2011 following the 2011 general election. While many of its members were retained from the previous government, Heng Swee Keat and Chan Chun Sing, who had both just been elected, were given ministerial appointments.
With effect from 1 August 2012, Grace Fu became only the second woman in Singapore's history to be made a full minister by being appointed a Minister in the Prime Minister's Office. From 1 November, Chan Chun Sing assumed the designation of Acting Minister for Social and Family Development, while Lawrence Wong was brought into the Cabinet for the first time as Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth.
Initial composition
Cabinet
At the 2011 general election, Senior Minister Shunmugam Jayakumar did not contest his seat as part of the East Coast Group Representation Constituency and thus retired from the Cabinet. Foreign Minister George Yeo and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Hwee Hua contested Aljunied GRC unsuccessfully, and were defeated by a team from the Workers' Party of Singapore.Following the election, on 14 May 2011, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong tendered their resignations from the Cabinet, stating that they wished to give the Prime Minister a "fresh clean slate" in forming the Government and enable him to "have a completely younger team of ministers to connect to and engage with this young generation". Goh was given the honorary title of Emeritus Senior Minister; the same title was offered to Lee but he declined. Lee and Goh were appointed as senior advisers to the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation and the Monetary Authority of Singapore respectively.
Four days later, on 18 May, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced a new Cabinet line-up. In addition to Lee Kuan Yew, Goh Chok Tong, George Yeo and Lim Hwee Hua, four other ministers retired: Wong Kan Seng, Mah Bow Tan, Lim Boon Heng and Raymond Lim. Two ministers, Lim Hng Kiang and Lim Swee Say, retained their respective [Ministry of Ministry of Trade and Industry (Singapore)|Trade and Industry (Singapore)|Trade and Industry] and Prime Minister's Office portfolios, while existing ministers were appointed to new positions in the remaining 11 ministries. Tharman Shanmugaratnam was promoted to Deputy Prime Minister and appointed Minister for Manpower in addition to his portfolio of Minister for Finance, replacing Wong Kan Seng. S. Iswaran, formerly Senior Minister of State for Education and for Trade and Industry, was elevated to the Cabinet as Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, and [Ministry of Ministry of Home Affairs (Singapore)|Home Affairs (Singapore)|Second Minister for Home Affairs] and for Trade and Industry. Heng Swee Keat and Chan Chun Sing, both elected to Parliament for the first time, were respectively assigned the posts of Minister for Education, and Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports and Minister of State for the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts. Heng was the first new MP directly appointed a full minister since 1984.
With effect from 2011 general election:
| Minister | Prior to 2011 | Appointment |
| Lee Kuan Yew | Minister Mentor | Post removed, retaining as "Lee Kuan Yew" title until the death in 2015. |
| Goh Chok Tong | Senior Minister | Renamed the remaining post to 'Emeritus Senior Minister'. |
| Shunmugam Jayakumar | Senior Minister | Retired. |
| George Yeo | [Minister for Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Singapore)|Foreign Affairs (Singapore)|Minister for Foreign Affairs] | Lost parliamentary seat and retired. |
| K Shanmugam | Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law | Relinquished Minister for Home Affairs, replaced by Minister for Foreign Affairs. |
| Teo Chee Hean | Deputy Prime Minister and [Ministry of Ministry of Defence (Singapore)|Defence (Singapore)|Minister for Defence] | Relinquished Minister for Defence, replaced by Minister for Home Affairs, and Coordinating Minister for National Security. |
| Ng Eng Hen | Minister for Education | Relinquished Minister for Education, replaced by Minister for Defence. |
| Heng Swee Keat | New position for Minister for Education. | |
| Tharman Shanmugaratnam | Minister for Finance | Assumed two new positions for Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Manpower respectively. |
| Lim Hwee Hua | Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for Transport | Lost parliamentary seat and retired. |
| Josephine Teo | Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport | Assumed new position as Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport respectively, and as a new minister. |
| Lim Boon Heng | Minister in the Prime Minister's Office | Retired. |
| Wong Kan Seng | Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security | Initially planned to retire, but returned to backbenches instead, only after the death of Lee Kuan Yew in 2015, he is allowed to retire. |
| Mah Bow Tan | Minister for National Development | Initially planned to retire, but returned to backbenches instead, only after the death of Lee Kuan Yew in 2015, he is allowed to retire. |
| Khaw Boon Wan | Minister for Health | Relinquished Minister for Health, replaced by Minister for National Development. |
| Gan Kim Yong | Minister for Manpower | Relinquished Minister for Manpower, replaced by Minister for Health. |
| Raymond Lim | Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs | Returned to backbenches instead. |
| Lui Tuck Yew | Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts | Relinquished Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, replaced by Minister for Transport. |
| Yaacob Ibrahim | Minister for the Environment and Water Resources | Relinquished Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, replaced by Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts. |
| Vivian Balakrishnan | Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports | Relinquished Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, replaced by Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. |
| Chan Chun Sing | New position for Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports. |
With effect from 21 May 2011, the Cabinet of Singapore consisted of the following persons:
Reshuffles
As of 1 August and 1 November 2012
On 31 July 2012, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced several changes to his Cabinet and other appointments. With effect from 1 August, Grace Fu was promoted to Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, the second woman to be appointed a full minister in Singapore. Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Lui Tuck Yew relinquished their respective appointments as Minister for Manpower and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs to Tan Chuan-Jin and Grace Fu, while Yaacob Ibrahim became Minister for Communications and Information. With effect from 1 November, Chan Chun Sing was redesignated Acting Minister for Social and Family Development, while Lawrence Wong was brought into the Cabinet for the first time as Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth.The changes to the cabinet do involves:
| Minister | Prior to 2012 | Appointment |
| Lawrence Wong | - | Appointed as Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth |
As of 1 September 2013
On 28 August 2013, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced several changes to his Cabinet and other appointments. With effect from 1 September, Chan Chun Sing was promoted to the full Minister and will continue to helm the Ministry of Social and Family Development. Mr. Chan was also appointed the second minister for the Ministry of Defence.Thus, as of 1 September 2013, the composition of the Cabinet was as follows:
As of 1 May 2014
Changes to the Cabinet and other appointments were announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 29 April 2014. With effect from 1 May, Tan Chuan-Jin and Lawrence Wong were promoted to full ministers of the Ministry of Manpower and Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth respectively. Tan relinquished his appointment as Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of National Development.Source:.
As of 9 April and 4 May 2015
Changes to the Cabinet and other appointments were announced on 8 April 2015. With effect from 9 April, Chan Chun Sing relinquished his posts of Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister for Defence to become a Minister in the Prime Minister's Office. Tan Chuan-Jin became Minister for Social and Family Development and will relinquish his post of Minister for Manpower on 4 May. Lim Swee Say will take over as Manpower Minister on that date. Lui Tuck Yew, currently Minister for Transport, took on the additional post of Second Minister for Defence as of 9 April. Masagos Zulkifli was promoted to full minister as a Minister in the Prime Minister's Office. This is the first time there are two Malay full ministers in the Cabinet, the other being Yaacob Ibrahim.Source:.