Names of final three mayors announced

Heng Chee How, Teo Ho Pin and Zainul Abidin Rasheed complete mayoral appointments for new CDC districts

By CHONG CHEE KIN

THREE more names were announced yesterday as heads of Community Development Councils (CDCs), bringing the number of full-time mayors to five.

Joining Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon and Mr Othman Haron Eusofe will be Mr Heng Chee How, Dr Teo Ho Pin and Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed.

Their appointments will take effect from Nov 24 and they will be sworn in on Jan 5, next year.

Mr Heng, an MP for Jalan Besar GRC, will be the mayor for Central CDC; Dr Teo, an MP for Holland-Bukit Panjang GRC, will head North-west CDC; and Mr Zainul, an MP for Aljunied GRC, will oversee the North-east CDC.

Like Mrs Yu-Foo and Mr Othman, who will relinquish their portfolios as Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Community Development and Sports) and Minister of State (Manpower) respectively, Mr Zainul will relinquish his current portfolio of Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Foreign Affairs).

He told The Sunday Times: "CDCs fascinate me. Working full-time as a mayor will bring me closer to the heartland and the people."

CDCs plan and manage various social and welfare programmes within the community.

Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong announced last Sunday that Mrs Yu-Foo will head South-west CDC, while Mr Othman will oversee South-east CDC.

The position of mayor, said Mr Goh, would be elevated to the level of parliamentary secretary or minister of state.

Contacted by The Sunday Times yesterday, Dr Teo said that his top priority was to help the retrenched and unemployed.

"I'll work with grassroots leaders and MPs to see how we can match jobs for those who need them. We'll also look into how we can help those making adjustments in their family lives as a result of the recession," he said.

In an e-mail to The Sunday Times, Mr Heng, who is deputy secretary-general of the National Trade Unions' Congress, said that he was "greatly honoured" by the appointment.

While the other four newly-appointed mayors have served at least one term in Parliament, with Mr Othman serving at least five terms, Mr Heng was elected last month.

"CDCs link the needs of the individual, his community and the nation. It is the meeting point of national and local concerns, short-term and long-term challenges," said Mr Heng.

Two ministries renamed

THE Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), which was born just two years ago, is being torn apart. Its information technology and telecommunications functions will be transferred to the Ministry of Information and the Arts (Mita).

The ministries will be renamed to reflect the changes.

The MCIT will become the Ministry of Transport and will be headed by Mr Yeo Cheow Tong. Mr David Lim will be Acting Minister of the new Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts.

Newly-elected MP Khaw Boon Wan has been named Senior Minister of State for both ministries.

The changes will take effect on Nov 28.

While the changes were unexpected, political observers say they make sense.

In May 1999, the former Communications Ministry was expanded to further developments in the communications and IT fields. The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, which was set up to spearhead the IT drive here, came under its wing.

Political observers say it is logical that these functions be absorbed by Mita. Dr Kevin Tan , from political discussion group The Roundtable, said: "If you look at the IDA, which has a regulatory role, there are similarities with Mita, which regulates information... It is appropriate for it to come under MITA because of the enforcement mechanism."

Tan Soo Khoon looking forward to new role

By KAREN WONG and PAULINE LEONG

LONG-TIME Speaker of the House Tan Soo Khoon will be sitting on the backbenches from March 25 next year, when Parliament re-opens for business.

Speaker since 1989, he will be making way for Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, who will be moving out of his Community Development and Sports office in Thomson Road into Parliament house.

Mr Tan told The Sunday Times last night that he was relishing the opportunity to speak and debate on issues - something he could not do if he was directing proceedings.

"But I will just observe things for a while and let the newer MPs speak first," he added.

He found the Speaker's job challenging as he had to keep alert all the time to ensure that proceedings were fair and impartial. But it wasn't too tough, he said, as Singapore MPs are generally a well-behaved lot who follow Parliamentary procedures.

For Mr Abdullah, the Speaker's job will not be an unfamiliar one as he served as First Deputy Speaker between 1989 and 1993.

In his statement yesterday, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong thanked retiring office holders for their contributions.

They are: Dr Richard Hu, who was Finance Minister; Dr Aline Wong, former Senior Minister of State (Education); Mr Sidek Saniff, former Senior Minister of State (Environment); Mr Peter Chen, Senior Minister of State (Education and Trade and Industry); Dr Ow Chin Hock, Minister of State (Foreign Affairs); and political secretaries Harun Abdul Ghani and Zulkifli Mohamed.

Except for Mr Zulkifli, the rest were MPs who did not stand for re-election earlier this month.

PM Goh also thanked Dr John Chen, Minister of State

(Communications and Information technology and National Development), who had asked not to be re-appointed as he wished to resume his private-sector career.

Changes in the Government

Who's in

• Khaw Boon Wan (2001) Senior Minister of State (Transport/Information, Communications and the Arts)
• Tharman Shanmugaratnam (2001) Senior Minister of State (Trade and Industry/Education)
• Cedric Foo (2001) Minister of State (Defence)
• Raymond Lim (2001) Minister of State (Foreign Affairs/Trade and Industry)
• Balaji Sadasivan (2001) Minister of State (Health/ENV)
• Ng Eng Hen (2001)Minister of State (Education/Manpower)
• Vivian Balakrishnan (2001) Minister of State (National Development)
• Hawazi Daipi (1997) Parliamentary Secretary (Education)

Who's up

• From Senior Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of State: Yaacob Ibrahim (Community Development and Sports)
• Chan Soo Sen (Prime Minister's Office/Community Development and Sports)
• From Minister of State to Senior Minister of State: Matthias Yao (PMO)
• Ho Peng Kee (Law/Home Affairs)
• David Lim (Defence/Also Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts)
• From Acting to full Minister: Lim Swee Say (ENV)

The newcomers say

I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO THE TWO NEW APPOINTMENTS, MY FIRST PRIORITY IS TO LEARN WHAT THE MINISTIRES HAVE BEEN DOING AND WHAT THE PRIORITIES ARE; HELP TO DEFINE NEW CHALLENGES AND WORK WITH THE TEAM THAT'S THERE.

- Former Monetary Authority of Singapore managing director Tharman Shanmugaratnam, on his priorities when he starts work on his two portfolios, Trade and Industry and Education.

BOTH PORTFOLIOS ARE OF PERSONAL INTEREST TO ME. I USED TO BE ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF PSA AND I CHAIRED SINGAPORE CABLE VISION. SO, I'M NO STRANGER TO BOTH THESE AREAS.

- Former Permanent Secretary (Trade and Industry) Khaw Boon Wan, on his Transport and MITA portfolios.

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IS A BRAND NEW FIELD FOR ME. I WILL HAVE A LOT TO LEARN. I WAS EXPECTING TO HAVE A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF TIME LEFT IN SGH. ALL THIS HAS ONLY TAKEN PLACE THIS WEEK. THERE'S DEFINITELY AN ELEMENT OF SURPRISE. I HAVEN'T TOLD MY KIDS YET.

- Singapore General Hospital chief Vivian Balakrishnan, on his National

Development portfolio. He has three children.

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