By Massita Ahmad
SINGAPORE, July 28 (NNN-BERNAMA) — People’s Action Party (PAP) secretary-general Lee Hsien Loong was sworn in as Singapore’s Prime Minister at a ceremony at the Istana here Monday.
The swearing-in was before Singapore President, Halimah Yacob.
Lee, 68, had on July 25 announced his new Cabinet line-up following his party, the PAP retaining power in the republic’s general election on July 10.
The just-concluded election was the fourth general election for Lee.
Heng Swee Keat continues as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister and takes on additional responsibilities as Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies.
Two senior ministers, Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam, remain as Coordinating Minister for National Security and Social Policies respectively.
For the new Cabinet, there are 37 office-holders in all, the same as the previous 2015 line-up that included Ministers of State and Parliamentary Secretaries.
Besides the Prime Minister’s Office, there are 15 other ministries.
Masagos Zulkifly, Indranee Rajah, Grace Fu, Lawrence Wong, Ong Ye Kung and Desmond Lee each get a new portfolio while Dr Maliki Osman and Edwin Tong have been promoted as ministers.
The rest of the comrades, Chan Chun Sing, S. Iswaran, Ng Eng Hen, Vivian Balakrishnan, K. Shanmugam, Gan Kim Yong and Josephine Teo remain as ministers in their respective ministries.
The PAP led by Lee won 83 of the 93 parliamentary seats at stake.
— NNN-BERNAMA