Sun Xueling

The Honourable
Sun Xueling
孙雪玲
Sun on a house visit in 2020
Minister of State for Home Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office
13 June 2022
MinisterK. Shanmugam
Preceded byDesmond Tan (politician)
Minister of State for Social and Family Development
Incumbent
Assumed office
27 July 2020
MinisterMasagos Zulkifli
Preceded bySam Tan
Minister of State for Education
In office
27 July 2020 – 12 June 2022
Serving with Gan Siow Huang
MinisterLawrence Wong
Chan Chun Sing
Preceded byChee Hong Tat
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs
In office
1 May 2018 – 26 July 2020
Serving with Amrin Amin
MinisterK. Shanmugam
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for National Development
In office
1 May 2018 – 26 July 2020
MinisterLawrence Wong
Member of Parliament
for Punggol West SMC
Incumbent
Assumed office
10 July 2020
Preceded byConstituency established
Member of Parliament
for Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC
(Punggol West)
In office
11 September 2015 – 23 June 2020
Preceded byJanil Puthucheary (PAP)
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born
Soon Sher Rene[1]

(1979-07-10) 10 July 1979 (age 45)[2]
Singapore
Political partyPeople's Action Party
Children2
Alma materNational University of Singapore (BSS)
London School of Economics (MS)
In this Chinese name, the family name is Sun / Soon.

Sun Xueling (Chinese: 孙雪玲; pinyin: Sūn Xuělíng; born 10 July 1979)[2] is a Singaporean politician who has been serving as Minister of State for Social and Family Development since 2020 and Minister of State for Home Affairs since 2022.[3][4] She previously served as Minister of State for Education between 2020 and 2022. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing Punggol West SMC since 2020.[5]

Prior to entering politics, Sun had worked at the Economic Development Board, DBS Bank, Temasek International, Deutsche Bank AG and Macquarie Securities.[5]

She made her political debut in the 2015 general election as part of a six-member PAP team contesting in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC and won 72.89% of the vote.

She served as Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs and Senior Parliamentary Secretary for National Development concurrently between 2018 and 2020.

During the 2020 general election, she contested as a PAP candidate in Punggol West SMC and won 60.98% of the votes. She was subsequently promoted to Minister of State in 2020.[6][5]

Early life and education

Sun was brought up mostly by her grandmother, who was widowed at the age of 33 with six children as Sun's parents were both busy in their full-time jobs. She grew up in a flat in Clementi with her younger sister before moving to Ang Mo Kio.[7]

She then went on to Ai Tong Primary before continuing her secondary school education at CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School. Having been encouraged by her grandmother to help the needy, she started doing volunteering work in 2001,[8][6][9] while she was studying at the National University of Singapore, from which she graduated with a Bachelor of Social Sciences degree in economics.

She subsequently went on to complete a Master of Science with merit degree in international political economy at the London School of Economics.[6][9]

Career

Sun started her career in the Economic Development Board in 2003 before she joined DBS Bank as an Assistant Vice-president.[10] She was Director of Investment Groups at Temasek Holdings and had spent eight years based in Hong Kong and China working for as a Director for Deutsche Bank AG and as Senior Vice-president for Macquarie Securities. She was also the chief executive officer of Business China from 1 November 2015 to 20 May 2018.[5] [11][12][13]

Political career

Sun was introduced by the People's Action Party (PAP) as a candidate contesting in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC on 1 August 2015 in the lead-up to the 2015 general election. Before her candidacy was announced, she had been very active in grassroots activities in Buona Vista since 2001 and had been advocating women and mothers' rights.[6][9][14][15][16][17][18][excessive citations]

During the campaigning period for the 2015 general election, Sun was the target of xenophobic comments online because her name, which is in hanyu pinyin,[7] misled people into thinking that she was a new Singaporean citizen originally from China.[19]

The PAP team contesting in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC during the 2015 general election won with 72.89% of the vote against the Singapore Democratic Alliance, and Sun thus became a Member of Parliament representing the Punggol West ward of Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC.[20][21] On 1 May 2018, Sun was appointed Senior Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of National Development.[2]

During the 2020 general election, Sun contested as a solo PAP candidate in Punggol West SMC, which was previously part of Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC. She won with 60.98% of the vote against the Workers' Party's Tan Chen Chen, and continued serving as the Member of Parliament for Punggol West.[2] On 27 July 2020, she was promoted to Minister of State and appointed to the Ministry of Social and Family Development and Ministry of Education.[22] On 13 June 2022, Sun was appointed Minister of State at the Ministry of Home Affairs and relinquished the Education portfolio.[4]

Sun was appointed as Vice-Chairperson of Pasir Ris—Punggol Town Council (PRPTC) since 2020.

Personal life

Sun is married to an information technology entrepreneur who was born in Beijing and subsequently became a Singapore citizen in 2009.[7] They have two daughters together.[23]

References

  1. ^ Min, Chew Hui (August 22, 2015). "PAP introduces 2 new faces in Pasir Ris-Punggol team: Ex-defence chief Ng Chee Meng, Sun Xueling". The Straits Times.
  2. ^ a b c d "MP | Parliament of Singapore".
  3. ^ "Changes to Cabinet and Other Appointments (June 2022)". Prime Minister's Office Singapore. 6 June 2022.
  4. ^ a b Lim, Min Zhang (6 June 2022). "Tan Kiat How, Eric Chua and Rahayu Mahzam to be promoted in latest Cabinet changes". The Straits Times. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d "Ms Sun Xueling" (PDF).
  6. ^ a b c d Au-Yong, Rachel (23 August 2015). "A Singaporean born and bred". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  7. ^ a b c Lim, Jessica (9 September 2015). "GE2015: On the campaign trail with PAP's Sun Xueling". The Straits Times.
  8. ^ Chew, Hui Min (17 November 2016). "MP Sun Xueling gives birth to girl". The Straits Times. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  9. ^ a b c Lim, Jessica. "GE2015: On the campaign trail with PAP's Sun Xueling". Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  10. ^ "Sun Xue Ling" (PDF). PAP. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 July 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  11. ^ "Media Centre News Reports Article » Business China".
  12. ^ "Business as usual for CEO and mum of toddler". Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  13. ^ "Asia Briefs: ESM Goh in China for economic forum". Archived from the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  14. ^ "Parliament: Move to extend maintenance payments to some men a 'calibrated' measure". Archived from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  15. ^ "Women MPs to help gather female views on key issues". Straits Times. 8 March 2016. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  16. ^ Teng, Amelia. "PAP's Women Wing to start discussions on women's perspectives and aspirations". Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  17. ^ "Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC: Temasek exec attends her 'first formal event'". Asiaone. 2 August 2016. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  18. ^ "7 Things Spotted On The Campaign Trail, September 2 edition". Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  19. ^ "PAP's Sun Xueling is 100% Singaporean - Five Stars and a Moon". Five Stars and a Moon. 5 September 2015.
  20. ^ Toh, Yong Chuan. "New measures riding on SkillsFuture credits to be introduced". Archived from the original on 4 April 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  21. ^ "Six months on the ground: New MPs on their political journey so far". Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  22. ^ katherine_chen (2020-07-25). "PMO | Changes to Cabinet and Other Appointments (July 2020)". Prime Minister's Office Singapore. Archived from the original on 2020-07-25. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  23. ^ Min, Chew Hui (17 November 2016). "MP Sun Xueling gives birth to girl". The Straits Times.
Parliament of Singapore
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC
(Punggol West)
2015 – 2020 		Constituency redrawn
New constituency Member of Parliament
for Punggol West SMC
2020 – present 		Incumbent