Sweeping changes to Cabinet

PM Lee announced a tide of changes to 11 of the 14 ministries today.

Some significant departures:

• Wong Kan Seng- DPM and National Security
• Mah Bow Tan- National Development
• Raymond Lim- Transport

No surprises here. Theses are Ministers which have performed poorly in their respective areas.
Mah Bow Tan who oversaw the convolution of public housing , which is now incredibly overpriced.
Then there's our rapidly deteriorating transport system- trains breaking down, overcrowding, jams on all major roads and expressways during peak hours, cars costing more than houses in many countries etc. Mr. Lim's only response is to erect more ERP gantries!
And Wong Kan Seng and Mas Selamat.

Not to mention that these three were part of GRCs that performed relatively poorly and could be ripe for the taking next GE- Bishan-Toa Payoh, Tampines and East Coast.

Some curious appointments:

• Heng Swee Keat- Education Minister
• Vivian Balakrishnan- Minister for Environment and Water Resources
• Gan Kim Yong- Health Minister
• Khaw Boon Wan- National Development Minister
• K Shanmugam- Law and Foreign Affairs

I did a search on Heng Swee Keat's background. MAS, Trade Development Board, Singapore Police Force and Singtel Optus- nothing that screams "education" here. Maybe his experience with SPF will make our kids more disciplined.

Vivian Balakrishnan will now be tasked among other things, to stop the frequent floods in Singapore. Seeing how he burst his YOG budget by three times, I wonder if the Marina Barrage will overflow.

Gan Kim Yong presided over possibly what was the biggest influx of immigrants ever in this country. I suppose as new Health Minister, he will have the opportunity serve the healthcare needs of the 1.5 million or so foreigners.

Malaysian-born Khaw Boon Wan once blogged about his $8 bypass surgery. Will Singaporeans have a chance to buy a flat for $8? Tantalising prospect.

Multi-talented K Shanmugam will now helm both Law and Foreign Affairs portfolios. I guess Foreign Affairs is just not important enough to get its stand-alone Minister considering there are only 205 countries and about 2,469,501 cities in this world.

Noteworthy:

Our NTUC Chief and singer Mr. Lim Swee Say gets the Minister in Prime Minister's Office role again. I'm not exactly sure what this type of Minister does for a $2 million salary.

Yet another new title is born: Emeritus Senior Minister- Goh Chok Tong.