Janil Arusha Puthucheary ( ta, ஜனில் புதுச்சேரி; born 1972) is a Malaysian-born Singaporean politician and

paediatrician Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

who has been serving as Minister of State for Communications and Information since 2018 and

Minister of State for Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate Minister of Mental Health, ministers ...

since 2020. He has also been serving as

Party Whip of the People's Action Party The party whip of the People's Action Party is responsible for ensuring that the People's Action Party (PAP) Members of Parliament (MPs) attend and vote according to the party's line. The party whip also assists the Parliament in completing its ...

since 2019. A member of the governing

People's Action Party The People's Action Party (abbreviation: PAP) is a major conservative centre-right political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and ...

(PAP), he has been the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) representing the Punggol Coast division of

Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC Pasil ( fa, پسيل, also Romanized as Pasīl; also known as Pasīr) is a village in Sepiddasht Rural District, Papi District, Khorramabad County, Lorestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 469, in 92 families. References

since 2015. Born in Malaysia, Puthucheary had worked as a

at hospitals in the United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore before he became a Singapore citizen in 2008. He made his political debut in the 2011 general election as part of a six-member PAP team contesting in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC, and won 64.79% of the vote. Puthucheary was elected as the Member of Parliament representing the Punggol West ward of Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC. Since then, he had retained his parliamentary seat in the subsequent general elections and had switched to representing the Punggol Coast ward of Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC after the 2015 general election. He had since been serving as Minister of State and later Senior Minister of State at the Ministries of Communication and Information (2016–2017, 2020–present),

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

(2016–2018),

Transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...

(2018–2020), and Health (2020–present). He has also been the

Government Whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology o ...

since June 2019 and chairman of the PAP's youth wing.

Education

Puthucheary attended primary school in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

before going to

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. The school has been governed by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

for his secondary education. He completed his training as a

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

and the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

Career

Puthucheary worked at hospitals in Belfast, London and Sydney before he moved to Singapore in 2001 to work at

KK Women's and Children's Hospital KK Women's and Children's Hospital ( abbreviation: KKH) is the largest public hospital specialising in healthcare for women and children in Singapore, located at 100 Bukit Timah Road. From its humble beginnings as a small general hospital in ...

as a Senior Consultant at the children's

intensive care unit 220px, Intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensiv ...

. In 2007, he became an Assistant Professor and Medical Director for Faculty Development at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School.

Political career

Puthucheary made his political debut in the 2011 general election when he joined a six-member PAP team contesting in

. After his candidacy was announced, he attracted attention as he had not served

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

as new citizens are not required to. He was also compared with

Chen Show Mao Chen Show Mao ( zh, s=陈硕茂, p=Chén Shuòmào; born 6 February 1961) is a Singaporean politician. A graduate of Harvard, Oxford and Stanford, Chen was formerly a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell. He is a member of the oppositio ...

, a foreign-born Workers' Party candidate who had served national service as a second generation Singapore Permanent Resident. In response, Puthucheary said that he had spent the past ten years saving children's lives.

Low Thia Khiang Low Thia Khiang (; born 5 September 1956) is a Singaporean former politician who served as Secretary-General of the Workers' Party (WP) between 2001 and 2018. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hougang SMC between 1991 and 2011 and Aljun ...

, the Workers' Party chief, called for an amendment to the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

to allow only male candidates who have served national service to run for elections. The PAP team in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC won with 64.79% of the vote against the

Singapore Democratic Alliance The Singapore Democratic Alliance (abbreviation: SDA) is a political coalition between the National Solidarity Party (NSP) and Singapore Justice Party (SJP) in Singapore. History Prior to the founding in 2001, then-opposition Member of Parli ...

. Puthucheary thus became a Member of Parliament representing the Punggol West ward of Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC. Puthucheary contested as part of a six-member PAP team in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC in the 2015 general election and they won with 72.89% of the vote against the

. On 1 January 2016, he was appointed

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

at the

Ministry of Communications and Information The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI; ms, Kementerian Perhubungan dan Penerangan; zh, 通讯及新闻部; ta, தொடர்பு, தகவல் அமைச்சு) is a ministry of the Government of Singapore respo ...

and

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

. On 1 May 2017, he was promoted to Senior Minister of State and continued serving at the Ministry of Education only. On 1 May 2018, his appointments were changed to Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Communications and Information and the

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government age ...

. On 6 June 2019, he was appointed

. During the 2020 general election, Puthucheary contested as part of a five-member PAP team in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC and they won with 64.16% of the vote against the

. After the election, Puthucheary switched to representing the Punggol Coast ward of Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC. On 27 July 2020, he dropped his appointment as Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Transport while continuing to serve as Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Communications and Information. In addition, he was appointed Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Health.

Personal life

Puthucheary's father is Dominic Puthucheary, a trade unionist and founding member of the

(MP) who later left the party to join

Barisan Sosialis Barisan Sosialis ( eng, Socialist Front) was a political party in Singapore. It was formed on 29 July 1961 and officially registered on 13 August 1961 by left-wing members of the People's Action Party (PAP) who had been expelled from the PAP. ...

, a party formed by expelled left-wing PAP members. Dominic Puthucheary was detained in February 1963 during

Operation Coldstore Operation Coldstore was the code name for a covert security operation executed in Singapore on 2 February 1963 which led to the arrest of 113 people, who were detained without trial pursuant to the Preservation of Public Service Security Ordinan ...

but was released ten months later and barred from entering Singapore until 1990, when he was elected MP for Nibong Tebal in Penang, Malaysia. Puthucheary was born in Malaysia when his parents were living there. Puthucheary became a Singapore citizen in 2008. He was also in the first batch of the Singapore Armed Forces Volunteer Corps, which was established on 13 October 2014. Puthucheary is married with three sons.

References

External links

Janil Puthucheary
on

Parliament of Singapore The Parliament of Singapore is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Singapore, which governs the country alongside the president of Singapore. Largely based upon the Westminster system, the Parliament is made up of Members of Parliam ...

Janil Puthucheary
at pap.org.sg {{DEFAULTSORT:Puthucheary, Janil Members of the Parliament of Singapore People's Action Party politicians Singaporean paediatricians 1972 births Living people Malaysian people of Indian descent Singaporean people of Indian descent Malaysian emigrants to Singapore People who lost Malaysian citizenship Naturalised citizens of Singapore