Masagos Zulkifli bin Masagos Mohamad ( Jawi: ماسڬوس ذوالكفل; born 1963) is a Singaporean politician who has been serving as Minister for Social and Family Development and Second Minister for Health since 2020, Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs. 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 serves as the Vice Chairman in the party Central Executive Committee (CEC), and had 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 o ...

(MP) representing the Tampines West division of

Tampines GRC The Tampines Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the eastern region of Singapore. The GRC encompasses Tampines with five divisions: Tampines East, Tampines West, Tampines Central, Tampin ...

since 2006. Before joining politics, Masagos was an

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and had held key positions in

Singtel Singapore Telecommunications Limited, commonly known as Singtel, is a Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate and one of the four major telcos operating in the country. The company is the largest mobile network operator in Singapore with ...

. He made his debut in the political scene after winning the 2006 general election as part of a five-member PAP team contesting in Tampines GRC. Since then, he has won three subsequent elections and has held various positions in the ministries of

Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy a ...

and

Health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organ ...

. On 9 April 2015, Masagos was appointed

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office A Minister in the Prime Minister's Office ( he, שר במשרד ראש הממשלה, ''Sar BeMisrad Rosh HaMemshala'') is a minister and member of the Cabinet of Israel appointed by the Prime Minister of Israel to handle various issues on behalf o ...

. His appointment marked the first time in Singaporean history when there were two Malay ministers in the Cabinet. On 1 October 2015, Masagos took up the portfolio of Minister for Environment and Water Resources.

Background

Masagos was educated at Bukit Panjang Government High School and

National Junior College National Junior College (NJC) is a government junior college located in Bukit Timah, Singapore. Established in 1969, it was the first government junior college in Singapore. NJC offers a two-year course for pre-university students and a six-year ...

before he went to

Nanyang Technological University The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a national research university in Singapore. It is the second oldest autonomous university in the country and is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in the world by various in ...

, where he graduated in 1988 with a

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university. In the UK, a Ba ...

(First Class Honours), majoring in

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

and

electronic engineering Electronics engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering which emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control electric current ...

. In 1994, he obtained a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

in electrical engineering from the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in th ...

. His first job was with

in 1988. In 1995, he completed a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

on a postgraduate scholarship awarded by Singtel. He was later appointed Chief Executive Officer of SingTel Global Offices..

Political career

Masagos made his debut in politics in the 2006 general election when he contested as part of a five-member

team in Tampines Group Representation Constituency (GRC). The PAP team won about 68% of the vote, and Masagos became a Member of Parliament representing the Tampines West ward of Tampines GRC. He was subsequently appointed Senior Parliamentary Secretary in the

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 2 June 2006, and concurrently Senior Parliamentary Secretary in the

Ministry of Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

on 1 April 2008. On 1 November 2010, he was promoted to

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. I ...

in these two ministries. Defense

Masagos was re-elected in Tampines GRC in the 2011 general election. On 21 May 2011, he was appointed Minister of State for Home Affairs and

. On 1 August 2012, he was promoted to Senior Minister of State in these two ministries. On 9 April 2015, Masagos was promoted to the rank of full Minister but did not have a portfolio yet, so he was a

. This was the first time in Singaporean history when there were two Malay ministers in the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

, the other being

Yaacob Ibrahim Yaacob bin Ibrahim ( Jawi: ; born 3 October 1955) is a Singaporean former politician who served as Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs between 2002 and 2018, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports between 2002 and 2004, Ministe ...

. Masagos was also promoted to Second Minister for Home Affairs and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, and was put in charge of leading the PAP team in Tampines GRC. On the same day,

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Lee Hsien Loong Lee Hsien Loong (; born 10 February 1952) is a Singaporean politician and former brigadier-general who has been serving as Prime Minister of Singapore and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party since 2004. He has been the Member of Par ...

said that Masagos's elevation to full Minister reflected the "progress of the Malay community" in Singapore. Masagos also said that he was honoured to have been appointed and that " ving two Malay full ministers in the Cabinet for the first time in our nation's history reflects the overnment'strust and recognition of the good progress made by the Malay-Muslim community". On 1 October 2015, Masagos took up the portfolio of Minister for Environment and Water Resources. From 1 May 2018, he was given an additional appointment as Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, taking over from

. On 27 July 2020, he changed his portfolio to Minister for Social and Family Development and took up an additional portfolio as Second Minister for Health, while concurrently holding the position of Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs.

References

External links

Masagos Zulkifli
on Prime Minister's Office
Masagos Zulkifli
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 Parlia ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masagos Zulkifli 1963 births Living people Marshall School of Business alumni Members of the Cabinet of Singapore Members of the Parliament of Singapore Nanyang Technological University alumni National Junior College alumni National University of Singapore alumni People's Action Party politicians Singaporean Muslims Singaporean people of Malay descent Environment ministers Environment ministers of Singapore