Sun Xueling | |
|---|---|
孙雪玲 | |
 Sun on a house visit in 2020 | |
| Minister of State for Home Affairs | |
| Assumed office 13 June 2022 Serving with Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim | |
| Minister | K. Shanmugam |
| Preceded by | Desmond Tan |
| Minister of State for Social and Family Development | |
| Assumed office 27 July 2020 | |
| Minister | Masagos Zulkifli |
| Preceded by | Sam Tan |
| Minister of State for Education | |
| In office 27 July 2020 – 12 June 2022 Serving with Gan Siow Huang | |
| Minister | Lawrence Wong Chan Chun Sing |
| Preceded by | Chee Hong Tat |
| Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs | |
| In office 1 May 2018 – 26 July 2020 Serving with Amrin Amin | |
| Minister | K. Shanmugam |
| Senior Parliamentary Secretary for National Development | |
| In office 1 May 2018 – 26 July 2020 | |
| Minister | Lawrence Wong |
| Member of Parliament forPunggol West SMC | |
| Assumed office 10 July 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Member of Parliament forPasir Ris–Punggol GRC (Punggol West) | |
| In office 11 September 2015 – 23 June 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Janil Puthucheary (PAP) |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Soon Sher Rene[1] (1979-07-10)10 July 1979 (age 45)[2] Singapore |
| Political party | People's Action Party |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | National University of Singapore (BSS) London School of Economics (MS) |
Sun Xueling (Chinese:孙雪玲;pinyin:Sūn Xuělíng; bornSoon Sher Rene; 10 July 1979)[2] is a Singaporean politician who has been serving asMinister of State for Social and Family Development since 2020 andMinister of State for Home Affairs since 2022.[3][4] She previously served asMinister of State for Education between 2020 and 2022. A member of the governingPeople's Action Party (PAP), she has been theMember of Parliament (MP) representingPunggol West SMC since 2020.[5]
Prior to entering politics, Sun had worked at theEconomic Development Board,DBS Bank,Temasek International,Deutsche Bank AG andMacquarie Securities.[5]
She made her political debut in the2015 general election as part of a six-member PAP team contesting inPasir Ris–Punggol GRC and won 72.89% of the vote.
She served asSenior Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs andSenior Parliamentary Secretary for National Development concurrently between 2018 and 2020.
During the2020 general election, she contested as a PAP candidate in Punggol West SMC and won 60.98% of the votes. She was subsequently promoted to Minister of State in 2020.[6][5]
Sun was brought up mostly by her grandmother, who was widowed at the age of 33 with six children as Sun's parents were both busy in their full-time jobs. She grew up in a flat inClementi with her younger sister before moving toAng Mo Kio.[7]
She then went on to Ai Tong Primary before continuing her secondary school education at CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School. Having been encouraged by her grandmother to help the needy, she started doing volunteering work in 2001,[8][6][9] while she was studying at theNational University of Singapore, from which she graduated with aBachelor of Social Sciences degree ineconomics.
She subsequently went on to complete aMaster of Science with merit degree ininternational political economy at theLondon School of Economics.[6][9]
Sun started her career in theEconomic Development Board (EDB) in 2003 before she joinedDBS Bank as an Assistant Vice President.[10] She was Director of Investment Groups atTemasek Holdings and had spent eight years based in Hong Kong and China working forDeutsche Bank AG as a Director and laterMacquarie Securities as a Senior Vice President. She was also Chief Executive Officer of Business China from 1 November 2015 to 20 May 2018.[5][11][12][13]
Sun was introduced by thePeople's Action Party (PAP) as a candidate contesting inPasir Ris–Punggol GRC on 1 August 2015 in the lead-up to the2015 general election. Before her candidacy was announced, she had been very active in grassroots activities inBuona Vista since 2001 and had been advocating women and mothers' rights.[6][9][14][15][16][17][18][excessive citations]
During the campaigning period for the 2015 general election, Sun was the target of xenophobic comments online because her name, which is inhanyu pinyin,[7] misled people into thinking that she was a new Singaporean citizen originally from China.[19]
The PAP team contesting in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC during the 2015 general election won with 72.89% of the vote against theSingapore Democratic Alliance, and Sun thus became aMember of Parliament representing thePunggol West ward of Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC.[20][21] On 1 May 2018, Sun was appointedSenior Parliamentary Secretary at theMinistry of Home Affairs andMinistry of National Development.[2]
During the2020 general election, Sun contested as a solo PAP candidate inPunggol West SMC, which was previously part of Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC. She won with 60.98% of the vote against theWorkers' Party's Tan Chen Chen, and continued serving as the Member of Parliament for Punggol West.[2] On 27 July 2020, she was promoted toMinister of State and appointed to theMinistry of Social and Family Development andMinistry of Education.[22] On 13 June 2022, Sun was appointed Minister of State at the Ministry of Home Affairs and relinquished the Education portfolio.[4]
Sun was appointed as Vice-Chairperson of Pasir Ris—Punggol Town Council (PRPTC) since 2020.
Sun is married to an information technology entrepreneur who was born in Beijing and subsequently became a Singapore citizen in 2009.[7] They have two daughters together.[23]
| Parliament of Singapore | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forPasir Ris–Punggol GRC (Punggol West) 2015 – 2020 | Constituency redrawn |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament forPunggol West SMC 2020 – present | Incumbent |
