Ong Ye Kung

Education

Ong attended Maris Stella High School and Raffles Junior College before graduating from the London School of Economics in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics.

In 1999, he completed a Master of Business Administration degree at the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Career

Civil Service career

Ong started his career working in the Ministry of Communications between 1993 and 1999. He served as Director of Trade in the Ministry of Trade and Industry between 2000 and 2003 and was the Deputy Chief Negotiator for the Singapore–United States Free Trade Agreement signed in May 2003. He was Principal Private Secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong between 2002 and 2004. Ong also served as the chief executive officer of the Workforce Development Agency between 2005 and 2008. Following that, he joined the National Trades Union Congress as Assistant Secretary-General.

Political career

In the 2011 general election, Ong contested in Aljunied GRC as part of a five-member People's Action Party (PAP) team. The PAP team lost to the Workers' Party's (WP) team of Low Thia Khiang, Pritam Singh, Sylvia Lim, Muhamad Faisal Manap and Chen Show Mao. This was the first time in Singapore's history when the PAP lost a GRC in an election. Ong was subsequently regulated into branch chair duties as unelected Kaki Bukit Branch Chair. Ong would later leave his branch chair post in 2014.

Following the 2011 general election, Ong continued to work at the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and became Deputy Secretary-General in June 2011. He was also elected into the NTUC's Central Committee later that year. In 2013, he left the NTUC and became Director of Group Strategy at Keppel Corporation.

In the 2015 general election, Ong joined as part of the five-member PAP team contesting in Sembawang GRC, The PAP team won with 72% of the vote and Ong was elected as the Member of Parliament representing the Gambas ward of Sembawang GRC.

On 1 October 2015, Ong was appointed Senior Minister of State for Defence and Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills). On 1 November 2016, he was promoted to Second Minister for Defence while concurrently holding the portfolio of Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) alongside Ng Chee Meng, who was Minister for Education (Schools). In 2017, Ong moved a bill in Parliament to confer the Singapore University of Social Sciences autonomous status.

On 1 May 2018, the two Education portfolios were merged into a single one; Ong took over the single portfolio as Minister for Education while simultaneously relinquishing his Second Minister of Defence portfolio.

On 27 July 2020, Ong relinquished his portfolio as Minister for Education and succeeded Khaw Boon Wan as Minister for Transport.

In the lead-up to the 2020 general election, Ong was widely seen as one of the three leading candidates (alongside Heng Swee Keat and Chan Chun Sing) to succeed Lee Hsien Loong as Prime Minister of Singapore. Ong led the PAP team in Sembawang GRC and they won with about 67% of the vote. Ong's former Gambas ward was merged with part of Khaw Boon Wan's former Sembawang ward, forming the new Sembawang Central ward which Ong has since represented.

On 23 April 2021, Ong was appointed co-chair of the multi-ministerial committee formed on 22 January 2020 to manage the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore. Following a Cabinet reshuffle on 15 May 2021, Ong relinquished his portfolio as Minister for Transport and succeeded Gan Kim Yong as Minister for Health.

Ong was considered by many to be one of the most likely candidates to succeed Heng Swee Keat as leader of the fourth-generation (4G) team, however it was ultimately revealed that Finance Minister Lawrence Wong had the most support compared to the other candidates.

On 23 April 2025, Ong stood for re-election in Sembawang GRC, and was successfully nominated. He led the PAP team, which also consisted of incumbent MPs Mariam Jaafar and Vikram Nair, and new faces Gabriel Lam and Ng Shi Xuan. His team won in a three-cornered fight with the National Solidarity Party (NSP) and Singapore Democratic Party (SDP).

On 6 May 2025, 3 days after the general election, Ong, alongside fellow ministers Chee Hong Tat and Ng Chee Meng (who later requested to be excluded from the Cabinet), was caught in a publicised scandal of the three dining with convicted money launderer Su Haijin.

Other appointments

• Board Member, Monetary Authority of Singapore (29 Aug 2016 – 31 May 2019)
• Board Member, SMRT Corporation (2006–2014) As an independent director, he was appointed to head an internal investigation into the major train disruptions between 15 and 17 December 2011.
• Chairman, Employment and Employability Institute
• Adviser, National Transport Workers' Union (NTWU), Singapore Industrial and Services Employees’ Union (SISEU), and Attractions, Resorts & Entertainment Union (AREU)
• Executive Secretary, National Transport Workers' Union and the Singapore Manual and Mercantile Workers' Union.

Personal life

Ong's father, Ong Lian Teng, was a Barisan Sosialis politician who served as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Bukit Panjang between 1963 and 1965 and later MP between 1965 and 1966, when he resigned to protest the "undemocratic acts" of the PAP government. In an interview with The Straits Times in 2011, Ong Ye Kung said that his father, who died in 2009, had been fully supportive of his son's entry into PAP politics despite his own involvement in opposition politics.

Ong is married to Diana Kuik Sin Leng, the daughter of real estate magnate Kuik Ah Han. They have two daughters. In 2012, Straits Times correspondent Susan Long described him as a "free thinker" and a "Confucius-quoting unionist".

Ong's older brother, Howard, is an Australian political candidate and businessman. He contested and lost in the Division of Tangney under the Liberal Party ticket in the 2025 federal election.

Ong's maternal cousin, Xie Yao Quan, is the PAP MP for Jurong Central Single Member Constituency (SMC).

Notes

References

References

1. "MP | Parliament Of Singapore".
2. "About Ong Ye Kung".
3. [http://www.pap.org.sg/uploads/ap/7972/documents/ong_ye_kung_cv.pdf Ong Ye Kung's page on the PAP website] {{Webarchive. link. (12 August 2011 says he was 42 in 2011, so it is deduced that he was born around 1969 or 1970.)
4. "ONG YE KUNG".
5. "Aljunied GRC: The battle for 143,148 votes". [[AsiaOne]].
6. "2011 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION RESULTS". Singapore Elections Department.
7. (12 May 2011). "Low expectations". The Economist.
8. "Ex-Aljunied GRC PAP candidate Ong Ye Kung explains why he is making the rounds in Sembawang".
9. "Desmond Choo, Ong Ye Kung leave Aljunied, Hougang wards".
10. [http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC120927-0000054/Its-confirmed--Ong-Ye-Kung-is-leaving-NTUC It's confirmed: Ong Ye Kung is leaving NTUC] {{Webarchive. link. (28 September 2012 , ''Today'', 27 September 2012.)
11. "Nurse Diana Chia is NTUC's first woman president". [[The Straits Times]].
12. "Ong Ye Kung joins Keppel Corp".
13. Ying, Foo Jie. (15 August 2015). "PAP's Ong Ye Kung makes comeback in Sembawang GRC".
14. [https://web.archive.org/web/20150817044129/http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/ong-ye-kung-amrin-amin/2048620.html Ong Ye Kung, Amrin Amin join PAP's Sembawang GRC team], channelnewsasia.com, 14 August 2015.
15. "Singapore University of Social Sciences Bill Second Reading Speech by Mr Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills)". [[Ministry of Education]].
16. Mahmud, Aqil Haziq. (2020-07-25). "PM Lee announces new Cabinet; 6 office holders promoted, 3 retirements".
17. Yahya, Yasmine. (2018-01-26). "Singapore's 4G leaders need more time to gain exposure and experience: Analysts". The Straits Times.
18. "ELD | 2020 Parliamentary General Election Results".
19. (18 April 2022). "Strong party support for Lawrence Wong as 4G leader even without unanimous vote: Political analysts". CNA.
20. "ELD {{!}} 2025 Parliamentary General Election Results".
21. "Labour chief Ng Chee Meng left out of new Cabinet in ‘temporary arrangement’, says PM Wong".
22. (2025-05-06). "Singapore ministers deny dealings with ‘Fujian gang’ money launderer".
23. Yong, Jun Yuan. (2025-05-06). "Singapore ministers, lawmaker under scrutiny over dinners attended by convicted money launderer". Reuters.
24. "Changes to the MAS Board of Directors".
25. (21 July 2014). "Ong Ye Kung retires as SMRT director".
26. "Ong Ye Kung to head SMRT probe". [[Channel NewsAsia]].
27. [http://www.straitstimes.com/GeneralElection/News/Story/STIStory_648800.html Their dads were once PAP adversaries] {{Webarchive. link. (24 July 2011 , ''[[The Straits Times]]'', 22 March 2011.)
28. "Change Announcement of Cessation::Resignation of Executive Director". Sim Lian Group.
29. (2017-01-15). "Lunch With Sumiko: Ong Ye Kung on new ministers' 'collective ambition' for Singapore". The Straits Times.
30. Justin Ong. (5 April 2022). "See things from a woman's point of view, stop mansplaining: Ong Ye Kung". [[The Straits Times]].
31. (June 2012). "The one who got away". [[The Straits Times]].
32. Johnathan Pearlman. (13 April 2025). "Parties bank on Asian-Australian candidates at May election Down Under". [[The Straits Times]].
33. Lay, Belmont. (2020-06-30). "Ong Ye Kung is cousin of newest PAP candidate Xie Yao Quan".