Chee Hong Tat | |
|---|---|
徐芳达 | |
 Chee in 2023 | |
| Minister for National Development | |
| Assumed office 23 May 2025 | |
| Prime Minister | Lawrence Wong |
| Second Minister | Indranee Rajah |
| Preceded by | Desmond Lee |
| Minister for Transport | |
| In office 18 January 2024 – 23 May 2025 Acting: 12 July 2023 – 17 January 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Lee Hsien Loong Lawrence Wong |
| Preceded by | S. Iswaran |
| Succeeded by | Jeffrey Siow (Acting) |
| Second Minister for Finance | |
| In office 18 January 2024 – 23 May 2025 Serving with Indranee Rajah | |
| Prime Minister | Lee Hsien Loong Lawrence Wong |
| Minister | Lawrence Wong |
| Preceded by | Lawrence Wong (2021) |
| Succeeded by | Indranee Rajah |
| Deputy Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress | |
| In office 15 May 2021 – 12 June 2022 | |
| Secretary-General | Ng Chee Meng |
| Preceded by | Koh Poh Koon |
| Succeeded by | Desmond Tan |
| Member of theSingapore Parliament forBishan–Toa Payoh GRC | |
| Assumed office 11 September 2015 | |
| Preceded by | PAP held |
| Majority |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | Chee Hong Tat (1973-11-04)4 November 1973 (age 52) |
| Political party | People's Action Party |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley (BS,BA) University of Adelaide (MBA) |
Chee Hong Tat[a] (born 4 November 1973)[1] is a Singaporean politician and former civil servant who has been appointed asMinister for National Development in 2025. A member of the governingPeople's Action Party (PAP), he has been theMember of Parliament (MP) representing the Toa Payoh West–Thomson division ofBishan–Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency (GRC) since 2015.
Prior to entering politics, Chee worked at theMinistry of Home Affairs (MHA), theMinistry of Finance (MOF), theMinistry of Transport (MOT), and theMinistry of Education (MOE), and wasPrincipal Private Secretary to Minister MentorLee Kuan Yew from 2008 to 2011. He subsequently served as Chief Executive Officer of theEnergy Market Authority (EMA) between 2011 and 2015.
Chee made his political debut in the2015 general election as part of a five-member PAP team contesting in Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC which won 73.59% of the vote. Chee was elected as the Member of Parliament representing the Toa Payoh West–Balestier division of Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC. Since then, he has retained his parliamentary seat in the2020 general election and had been appointed Minister of State and subsequently Senior Minister of State. At the2025 general election, Chee led PAP's team in Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC, as its new anchor minister.
Chee was educated atThe Chinese High School andRaffles Junior College before graduating from theUniversity of California, Berkeley in 1996 with aBachelor of Science with highest honours degree inelectrical engineering andcomputer science, as well as aBachelor of Arts with highest honours degree ineconomics, under the Overseas Merit Scholarship awarded by the Singapore Government.[2]
He subsequently went on to complete aMaster of Business Administration degree at theUniversity of Adelaide in 2006,[3] and was awarded the Newmont Australia Prize for being the Most Outstanding MBA Graduate.[4]
Chee joined the Singapore Administrative Service in 1998 and worked at various Ministries, includingHome Affairs,Finance,Transport andEducation.[5]
From 9 May 2011 to 1 April 2014, Chee served as the Chief Executive Officer of theEnergy Market Authority.[6][7] He also wasSecond Permanent Secretary at theMinistry of Trade and Industry from 1 December 2014 to 11 August 2015.[8]
On 2 May 2024, Chee was appointed as a Director at theMonetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Board of Directors with his term lasting from 1 June to 31 May 2027.[9][10] On 29 July, it was announced that Chee would be appointed as Deputy Chairman of the MAS Board of Directors, taking over the role fromGan Kim Yong who went on to become Chairman. Chee's term as Deputy Chairman would last from 23 August in the same term as his tenure as Director on the Board of Directors to 31 May 2027.[11]
Before his political debut at the2015 general election, Chee was personally close toLee Kuan Yew in the latter's later years, having served as hisPrincipal Private Secretary during Lee's tenure asMinister Mentor from 2008 to 2011. A proponent of theSpeak Mandarin Campaign, he attracted public attention in during this period by writing a letter to theThe Straits Times forum on 7 March 2009. The letter was written in response to an appeal byNanyang Technological University (NTU)'s Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies, then headed by Ng Bee Chin, which called for the reinstatement of Chinese dialects.
In the letter, he wrote that "it would be stupid for any Singapore agency or NTU to advocate the learning of dialects, which must be at the expense of English and Mandarin".[12] Lee later mentioned Chee's letter in his bookMy Lifelong Challenge: Singapore's Bilingual Journey and said that the call to return to the use of Chinese dialects was a "daft call".[13] DuringLee's state funeral in 2015, Chee was one of the eight pallbearers.[14]
Chee resigned from the Singapore Administrative Service on 11 August 2015 to run for election in the2015 general election as part of a five-memberPeople's Action Party (PAP) team contesting inBishan–Toa Payoh GRC afterWong Kan Seng,Hri Kumar andZainudin Nordin stepped down from their respective wards and politics.[15] Two years before that, he had been attending grassroots events in Bishan–Toa Payoh[16] andMarine Parade GRCs.[17] On 1 September 2015 (Nomination Day), Chee's fist-clenching and chest-thumping action in response to hecklers[18] shocked a few observers and amused others. When he was asked about that, Chee replied, "I'm new to this, so there's much for me to learn. I'll certainly try to improve."[18] On Polling Day, the PAP team won with 73.59% of the vote against theSingapore People's Party.[19] Chee was elected Member of Parliament representing theToa Payoh West–Balestier ward of Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC.
On 1 October 2015, Chee was appointedMinister of State at the Ministries ofHealth andCommunications and Information.
Chee was promoted toSenior Minister of State on 1 May 2017[3] and served at the Ministries ofCommunications and Information andHealth from May 2017 to April 2018. On 9 November 2017, he alleged in aFacebook post thatLeon Perera, aNon-constituency Member of Parliament, had made false accusations aboutMediacorp making partisan edits on the video of a parliamentary debate on Presidential Elections (Amendment) Bill in February 2017.[20] In response, Perera refuted Chee's allegation and stated that his questions were about the ownership of the copyright to parliamentary video footage and why parliamentary video live feed cannot be made publicly available, as is the case in many other countries. Perera later apologised in Parliament.[21]
On 10 March 2018, Chee was one of the PAP Members of Parliament who responded toWorkers' Party Member of ParliamentSylvia Lim over her remark that the government had intended to raise thegoods and services tax in the current term but backtracked due to negative public reaction. He chided the Workers' Party for using this issue to discredit the PAP government, saying that it was an attack on its integrity and not responding as strongly as they did would imply that the government is dishonest.[22] Lim acknowledged that she "may have been wrong".[23]
On 24 April 2018, Chee was redesignated as Senior Minister of State at the Ministries ofTrade and Industry andEducation.[24]
In the2020 general election, Chee contested in Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC as part of a four-member PAP team and they won with 67.26% of the vote against theSingapore People's Party.[25] He thus retained his parliamentary seat, representing the Toa Payoh West–Thomson ward of Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC. He is also a member of the Bishan–Toa Payoh Town Council and an advisor to the Bishan–Toa Payoh grassroots organisations. On 27 July 2020, he was appointed Senior Minister of State at the Ministries ofTransport andForeign Affairs. Following aCabinet reshuffle, on 15 May 2021, his portfolio as Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs was dropped, but he remained Senior Minister of State for Transport as he was shifted to the Labour Movement following a request by PM Lee to send him in return forKoh Poh Koon. Chee was however appointed Senior Minister of State at theMinistry of Finance on 13 June 2022, he was replaced byDesmond Tan at NTUC.[26]
During the2025 general election, incumbent MPsNg Eng Hen andChong Kee Hiong announced their retirement from politics.[27][28] Chee became the new leader of the PAP team,Saktiandi Supaat and two new candidatesCai Yinzhou andElysa Chen, to contest the GRC against a SPP team led bySteve Chia.[27][29] The PAP team won the contest with 75 percent of the vote.[30]
On 29 May, Chee was promoted to Assistant Treasurer in the Party's Central Executive Committee, replacingOng Ye Kung who took over as Party Treasurer fromK. Shanmugam.[31]
On 12 July 2023, Chee was appointed Acting Minister for Transport afterS. Iswaran was put on a leave of absence while he is under an investigation launched by theCorrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB).[32]
On 18 January 2024, Chee was promoted as full Minister for Transport after resignation of S. Iswaran after the latter was charged for 27 counts related to bribery and corruption. He was also appointed Second Minister for Finance.[33]
On 21 May 2025, Prime MinisterLawrence Wong announced that Chee would be taking over asMinister for National Development fromDesmond Lee who moved to the Education Ministry and relinquished his Transport Portfolio to newly-elected MPJeffrey Siow.[34] He also stepped down from Second Minister for Finance.[34] Chee assumed office as Minister for National Development on 23 May.[35]
Chee is married with four children.[36]
On 6 May 2025, 3 days after the general elections Chee along with fellow ministerOng Ye Kung andNg Chee Meng were caught in a publicized scandal that caught the three dining with convicted money laundererSu Haijin.[37][38]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister for Transport 2024–2025 | Succeeded by Jeffrey Siow (Acting) |
| Preceded by | Minister for National Development 2025–present | Incumbent |
| Parliament of Singapore | ||
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC 2015–present Served alongside: (2015–2020):Chong Kee Hiong,Josephine Teo,Ng Eng Hen,Saktiandi Supaat (2020–2025): Chong Kee Hiong, Ng Eng Hen, Saktiandi Supaat (2025–present):Cai Yinzhou,Elysa Chen, Saktiandi Supaat | Incumbent |
 Current members of theCabinet of Singapore | |
|---|---|
| Prime Minister | |
| Deputy Prime Minister(s) | |
| Senior Minister(s) | |
| Cabinet Minister(s) | |
Effective from 23 May 2025 | |
