SINGAPORE – Five ministries will see changes to their senior leadership ranks next month in appointments announced by the Public Service Division on Tuesday (March 5).

The Ministry of Education (MOE) will get a new permanent secretary and second permanent secretary from April 1.

The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI), the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as well as two agencies in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) – the Public Service Division (PSD) and National Research Foundation (NRF) – will also get new permanent secretaries.

Mr Lai Chung Han will be appointed Permanent Secretary for Education while Ms Lai Wei Lin will be appointed Second Permanent Secretary at the ministry.

Mr Lai, 46, will relinquish his appointments as Second Permanent Secretary (Education) and Second Permanent Secretary (Home Affairs), both of which he has held since 2017. He was Chief of Navy from 2014 to 2017.

Ms Lai, 43, is the only new permanent secretary to be appointed in this round of changes.

She is currently Deputy Secretary (Policy) at the Education Ministry, a post she has held since 2017. She previously held various appointments at the ministries of Trade and Industry, and National Development, at the Civil Service College and the Health Ministry before being appointed Deputy Secretary (Policy) at the Ministry of Health in 2015.

Meanwhile, the outgoing Permanent Secretary for Education, Ms Chan Lai Fung, 55, will be appointed Permanent Secretary (National Research & Development), the top civil servant at the NRF.

Ms Chan has been Permanent Secretary for Education since 2012.

She will also be appointed the chairman of A*Star, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, on April 1.

MCI’s new permanent secretary is Ms Yong Ying-I, 55.

She will relinquish her appointments as Permanent Secretary (National Research & Development) and Permanent Secretary (PSD), posts she has held since 2011 and 2012 respectively. Ms Yong was appointed Permanent Secretary for Manpower in 2002, and Health in 2005.

Mr Loh Khum Yean, 54, Permanent Secretary at MTI since 2016, will move to be Permanent Secretary (PSD). He was appointed Permanent Secretary for Manpower in 2009.

Mr Gabriel Lim, 43, Permanent Secretary at MCI since 2017, will move to be Permanent Secretary at MTI.

Meanwhile Mr Lee Chuan Teck, 54, who has been Second Permanent Secretary at MTI since June 2018, will be re-designated as Permanent Secretary (Development) at MTI.

Mr Chew Hock Yong, 51, Permanent Secretary (Social and Family Development) since 2016, will take up a concurrent appointment as Permanent Secretary (Home Affairs Development) at MHA.

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