Desmond Lee (Singaporean politician)

The Honourable
Desmond Lee
李智陞
Lee in 2017
Minister for National Development
Incumbent
Assumed office
27 July 2020
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
Lawrence Wong
Second MinisterIndranee Rajah
Preceded byLawrence Wong
Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration
Incumbent
Assumed office
27 July 2020
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
Lawrence Wong
Preceded byOffice established
Minister for Social and Family Development
In office
11 September 2017 – 26 July 2020
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
Preceded byTan Chuan-Jin
Succeeded byMasagos Zulkifli
Cabinet-level offices
Minister in the Prime Minister's Office
In office
1 May 2017 – 10 September 2017
Serving with Josephine Teo and Chan Chun Sing
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
Second Minister for National Development
In office
1 May 2017 – 26 July 2020
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
MinisterLawrence Wong
Preceded byLim Swee Say
Succeeded byIndranee Rajah
Second Minister for Home Affairs
In office
1 May 2017 – 10 September 2017
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
MinisterK. Shanmugam
Preceded byS. Iswaran (2015)
Masagos Zulkifli (2015)
Succeeded byJosephine Teo
Junior ministerial offices
Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs
In office
1 October 2015 – 30 April 2017
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
MinisterK. Shanmugam
Senior Minister of State for National Development
In office
1 October 2015 – 30 April 2017
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
MinisterLawrence Wong
Minister of State for National Development
In office
1 September 2013 – 30 September 2015
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
MinisterKhaw Boon Wan
Parliamentary offices
Member of Parliament
for West Coast GRC
(Boon Lay)
Incumbent
Assumed office
10 July 2020
Preceded byPatrick Tay (PAP)
Majority4,662 (3.36%)
Deputy Leader of the House
In office
1 October 2015 – 23 June 2020
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
LeaderGrace Fu
Preceded byHeng Chee How
Succeeded byZaqy Mohamad
Member of Parliament
for Jurong GRC
(Jurong Spring)
In office
7 May 2011 – 23 June 2020
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byShawn Huang Wei Zhong (PAP)
Personal details
Born (1976-07-15) 15 July 1976 (age 48)
Singapore
Political partyPeople's Action Party
Children3
ParentLee Yock Suan (father)
Alma materNational University of Singapore (LLB)
University of Oxford (BCL)
OccupationPolitician
In this Chinese name, the family name is Lee.

Desmond Lee Ti-Seng (Chinese: 李智陞; pinyin: Lǐ Zhìshēng; born 15 July 1976) is a Singaporean politician and lawyer who has been serving as Minister for National Development and Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration[1] since 2020. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Boon Lay division of West Coast GRC since 2020.

A lawyer by profession, Lee had worked at various public-sector institutions, including the Supreme Court, Attorney-General's Chambers and Temasek Holdings before entering politics. He made his political debut in the 2011 general election as part of a five-member PAP team contesting in Jurong GRC and won with 66.96% of the vote. He had held various political positions in the Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Home Affairs before he was made full member of the Cabinet on 1 May 2017. He forms part of the new Cabinet selected by Lawrence Wong announced in May 2024.[2]

Early life and education

Lee's father is Lee Yock Suan,[3] a former Member of Parliament and Cabinet minister. Of Hokkien (Han-Chinese language group) ancestry from his father's side, Lee also has Peranakan ancestry from his mother's side.[4]

Lee was educated at Anglo-Chinese School (Junior), Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College before graduating from the National University of Singapore in 2001 with a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours degree. He subsequently went on to complete a Bachelor of Civil Law degree (a Masters-equivalent degree) at the University of Oxford.[5]

Upon his graduation from the NUS Faculty of Law in 2001, Lee served as Justices' Law Clerk at the Supreme Court before serving as a deputy public prosecutor in the Criminal Justice Division of the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC).

Lee then served as deputy director of the Legal Branch of the Ministry of Health (MOH) between 2005 and 2009 before being transferred to the Ministry of Law (MinLaw), where he served as deputy director of the Legal Policy Division until 2011.

In March 2011, Lee joined Temasek Holdings as an associate director in the Legal and Regulations Department.[6]

Political career

Lee made his political debut in the 2011 general election as part of a five-member People's Action Party (PAP) team contesting in Jurong GRC and won 66.96% of the vote. Lee was subsequently elected as the Member of Parliament representing the Jurong Spring division of Jurong GRC.

Following the 2011 general election, Lee served as a member of the Government Parliamentary Committees for Culture, Community and Youth, Home Affairs, Law, and Social and Family Development.

On 1 September 2013, Lee was appointed Minister of State for National Development[7] and left Temasek Holdings to take on this role.[8]

At the 2015 general election, Lee was re-elected as a Member of Parliament for Jurong GRC. The PAP team contesting in Jurong GRC won 79.3% of the vote. In October 2015, Lee was promoted to Senior Minister of State for National Development, and was appointed Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs. On 1 May 2017, he was appointed full minister and took up the portfolio of Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for Home Affairs and Second Minister for National Development. He was also Deputy Leader of the House from October 2015 to June 2020.

On 11 September 2017, Lee relinquished his portfolio in the Prime Minister's Office and Ministry of Home Affairs, and became Minister for Social and Family Development while retaining his portfolio as Second Minister for National Development.

At the 2020 general election, Lee was part of the five-member PAP team contested in West Coast GRC and won with 51.69% of the vote. He was subsequently elected as the Member of Parliament representing the Boon Lay division of West Coast GRC. He

Following a Cabinet reshuffle on 27 July 2020, Lee succeeded Lawrence Wong as Minister for National Development and took on an additional newly created role of Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration under the Ministry of Social and Family Development.[9][10][11]

On 8 November 2020, Lee, along with Lawrence Wong, were both elected into the PAP's Central Executive Committee for the first time.[12] He presently co-chairs the Singapore-Tianjin Economic and Trade Council, and the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city Joint Working Committee.[13]

Personal life

Lee is married with three children.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Changes to Cabinet and Other Appointments (July 2020)". Prime Minister's Office, 25 July 2020.
  2. ^ anthony_chia (2024-05-14). "PMO | Changes to Cabinet and Other Appointments (May 2024)". Prime Minister's Office Singapore. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
  3. ^ Yes to evolution, no to revolution Archived 2015-08-06 at the Wayback Machine, My Paper, 24 March 2011.
  4. ^ "Digging up the past, in search of a deeper sense of self: Desmond Lee on the Bicentennial and its lessons". CNA.
  5. ^ "Parliament of Singapore, Desmond Lee". Archived from the original on 13 October 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  6. ^ MP Profile – Desmond Lee Ti-Seng Archived 2013-01-14 at the Wayback Machine, pap.org.sg, retrieved 4 August 2013.
  7. ^ PM Lee reinforces team as governance becomes "more complicated" Archived 2013-10-04 at the Wayback Machine, channelnewsasia.com, 28 August 2013.
  8. ^ katherine_chen (2022-05-30). "PMO | Mr Desmond LEE". Prime Minister's Office Singapore. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
  9. ^ "Desmond Lee: Youngest minister in current Cabinet to helm his first ministry". Archived from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  10. ^ "GE2020: PAP wins West Coast GRC with 51.69% of votes against Tan Cheng Bock's team". CNA.
  11. ^ "PM Lee announces new Cabinet; 6 office holders promoted, 3 retirements". CNA. Archived from the original on 25 July 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  12. ^ Yuen, Sin; Lim, Min Zhang (8 November 2020). "PAP conference: Lawrence Wong, Desmond Lee elected to party's top committee for first time". The Straits Times. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  13. ^ jeline_chia (2024-06-06). "PMO | Mr Desmond LEE". Prime Minister's Office Singapore. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
  14. ^ "Mr Desmond Lee" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Desmond Lee.
Political offices
Preceded by Minister for Social and Family Development
2017 – 2020 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister for National Development
2020 – present 		Incumbent
Parliament of Singapore
New constituency Member of Parliament for
Jurong GRC (Jurong Spring)
2011 – 2020 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for
West Coast GRC (Boon Lay)
2020 – present 		Incumbent