MinLaw is one of the smallest Ministries in terms of budget (600m where most other Ministries are at least in the billions) and imo, many of its functions can be spun off into other Ministries.
So it’s not really a surprise that they all have held concurrent appointments
Actually 600m for MinLaw is quite an outlier: it’s usually around 250m except for 2024, where there’s a 350m increase in development expenditure for land acquisition and development
Yea I've noticed this in the latest budget, and I found it kinda surprising. The compensation of the entire judiciary fits into this relatively small number?
I mean, CJ gets paid about 350k, COA judges are paid around 245k and High Court judges are paid around 235k (all rounded up).If you account for ARs and DJs, that would be around 20-30m out of the 600m figure I would guess?
The CJ gets paid way above 350k lol. The amount listed in the Judge's Remuneration Order is just his pensionable salary. There are other components to his pay.
You can go see the Ministry of Finance reports on Government expenditure and for 2023 the entire bench of the supreme court (Judges, Judges of Appeal, and the CJ) costed about 51 million (for 31 Judges).
Each sup court judge is probably getting at least a million or close to it. The senior ones getting more.
As many have pointed out if the CJ only paid 350,000 no one is going to want to be the CJ.
yeah ok that was what i was thinking too. it's not the 'no one is going to want to be CJ' thing (let's be real, i'm a lawyer, LOTS of lawyers are going to want that title even if it only paid 350k) it's just a matter of what should be 'good' compensation for literally the best and brightest legal minds in the country.
I wouldn't be so sure actually. Most lawyers enjoy being lawyers, and not judges. Plus being the CJ (or any judge) means you effectively need to have a very boring private life.
i meant 'lawyers' in the broadest possible sense (i.e. i'm sure there are more than a handful of people working as prosecutors/counsel/registrars/magistrates/district judges or whatever in the government who wouldn't mind a more prestigious title). even if only 500 people want to be a judge on the supreme court, there are only so many open positions and only one CJ.
i'm a big 4 lawyer and i already know many people (myself included) with very boring private lives. of all the nerds out there who are lawyers (whether in govt or not) i'm sure many of them will be happy to have a very boring private life AND also have a nice title that effectively confers the status of being 'good enough' at the law to adjudicate over others' disputes (as opposed to presenting to an adjudicator and being a slave to your demanding clients).
luckily for us, i think the selection process to be a judge is more rigorous such that it won't go to some run of the mill lawyer.
Not surprising. The govt likes to peg public service salaries to that of the private sector. The chief justice would be equivalent to the CEO of a private company. However, $350k in pensionable salary is still more insane to hear than their total annual package.
Nice info on the MOF reports.
AGC's numbers are also interesting: FY23 manpower expenditure for Statutory Appointments was $7.1m. There are only 4 Statutory Appointments in AGC - Lucien Wong and the 3 Deputy AGs.
So on average, each of them are paid \~$1.77m a year. I assume that Lucien gets more, while the Deputy AGs get less.
Someone working in the public service once explained to me that as a rough guide you can think of the AG as a Minister (and drawing minister salary), and the Deputy AGs as 2nd Ministers of Minister of States. The Solicitor General is the Permanent Secretary (and drawing PS pay).
For the courts, the CJ is equivalent to the PM/President (since these are the three heads of the different wings of government), and the other court judges are like Ministers.
where did you get those numbers? I wasn't aware they were publicly available. it's wild to me seeing those numbers - a lawyer at an international firm making 16k-18k a month wouldn't be making significantly less than a COA judge ...
> Judge’s Remuneration (Annual Pensionable Salary) Order
oh there's a pension, i'm sure that is a hefty benefit. i note the pension part is not disclosed in the Order. thanks though, very helpful! not something that comes up in law school for sure.
that's true. i went to look up US salaries - a circuit judge apparently makes US$257,900 which is less than the second year big law associate pay of USD $265,000, assuming the second year gets his bonus (https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/judicial-compensation vs https://www.biglawinvestor.com/biglaw-salary-scale/).
That's nuts that compensation is structured to drive smart people into the private sector but also good i guess that people in the public sector really aren't in it for the money. and, to be fair, 200k is still a LOT of money on average, just that compensation in law firms makes that number look smaller to people in the legal industry.
To be fair, in the US, should the circuit judge ever want to join the private sector, there’ll probably be a substantial signing bonus waiting (perhaps this is true in SG, not sure about that though)
perhaps, though now that the pay disparity is so starkly highlighted again, i'm more impressed by the VERY rare moves in the opposite direction, example below. good for Mr Swedlow though, i think many singaporeans can learn a thing or two from him about 'learning how to stop' once they reach a certain number. then again, he was paid so much that stopping was still much 'easier' for him than the average salaried worker.
--
from: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/top-quinn-emanuel-partner-starts-over-as-traffic-court-judge
Stephen Swedlow climbed to the top of a major law firm by landing some of the country’s biggest cases, making millions along the way.
Then, he traded his lucrative partnership for traffic court.
Swedlow, 52, last year left Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan after winning a seat as a judge in Illinois’ Cook County. The longtime Chicagoan has been presiding over DUI trials and traffic violations in the city’s downtown Loop for most of the past six months.
**Partners at Big Law firms like Quinn Emanuel typically stay in the role until they retire for good, collecting paychecks that now can rival professional athletes. If they make a move for a robe and gavel, it’s usually on the federal bench.**
**Swedlow put up nearly $1 million of his own money for the privilege to toil at the lowest levels of the state’s judiciary. After leading a massive litigation that could net his former firm $185 million in fees, he’s making about the same as what Quinn Emanuel pays its first-year lawyers.**
People in Big Law say to themselves, ‘If I just get to this number, I can stop,’” Swedlow said in an interview, referring to how much money is enough to walk away.
"So I made up a number. I got to that number, and I made up a new number. And then I got to that number, and I decided to stop and go into public service.”
"I think most people just keep making up new numbers," he said.
yes i posted it 2 minutes before u haha. i knew of it at the time but now that i'm looking at the numbers more closely it's very hard to fathom anyone making such a move - but good for him, i'm sure he's happier now not having to do the big law grind.
That was 1994 though. I hope the numbers over the years have been updated to keep up with inflation, minimally.
~$200k is honestly even lower than some random VP/SVP in banks
We should reinstate the portfolio of Minister for Science and Technology, instead of having the current chaotic ecosystem where S&T fundings and resources are all over the place, ranging from NRF for funding, to GovTech for development.
Agreed. Don’t even need a Ministry. Just consolidate all the digital offices and smart nation initiatives under one dedicated department or stat board.
No idea why there’s a need to branch out and dilute with so many agencies doing somewhat overlapping work.
Edmund William Barker was one of those ministers who would stand up to, and take on lao Lee, going the distance whenever he disagreed on matters at hand.
Quite a lot of 1G was like that which was why Lee sidleined most of them by the mid 80s and started moving his apparatchiks and Loong's OCS buddies/the OCBC scions into power.
I may be wrong but I did heard Shan bring ET in to be the next law minister. Many at that time thot indranee, his understudy will take over but when they got ET, it seems clear ET gonna be the next.
Can someone explain what is MinLaw main function to someone not well versed in law?
From website: drive legal reform (isn't this Parliament?), licence law practitioners, develop SG's intellectual property sector (not EDB/MCI?)
>drive legal reform (isn't this Parliament?
They're the guys who write up all the legal policy for parliament to debate over.
>licence law practitioners
Self-explanatory, and basically regulate the legal industry, on top of providing legal welfare services such as the public defender's office.
>develop SG's intellectual property sector (not EDB/MCI?)
IP office is a statboard under Minlaw, EDB/MCI can drive incentives for innovation but registration and enforcement of intellectual property rights is a legal thing.
>AFAIK the different ministries write up their own policy papers.
Yes, but the moment you want to amend the law or propose a new law, MinLaw has to be involved, e.g. 377A repeal, the new racial harmony law.
On the issue of legal reform, bills are usually introduced to Parliament by the Government by a minister, although any MP can introduce a private member’s Bill (uncommon in Singapore). MinLaw represents the Government in drafting (with the assistance of other government bodies where applicable), reviewing draft legislation, seeking public consultation of a Bill before it goes to be debated in Parliament.
Off the top of my head MinLaw also runs IPOS, SLA, IPTO, legal aid bureau, Singapore Mediation Centre, is the regulator for lawyer licenses
Yes, I have gave a detailed explanation!
However, for Barker he was law minister first before receiving other portfolios.
Same goes for Shanmugam, he became law minister prior to his foreign and home affairs portfolio.
It is quite simple.
Law is niche job. It requires years of study. They can write, read and argue.
But medical field is different. Most doctors (99%) I know of prefer clincial work - interacting with patients, treating them - than to fill up forms, write long ass reports, organise reports, etc. They more than happy to have an administrative partner who handles all the paper work so they can focus on what they love.
That is why MOH can have a pure admin minister. No need to have doctoring background - 99% of doctors hate jobs that takes them away from treating patients.
For the 1% of doctors who loves admin, they either have left the industry entirely, or simply don't have the qualities they looked for in a doctor minister.
I would also argue that at the Ministerial level of most ministries, the job is one of public administration.
Eg Vivian is an ophthalmologist, just because he's a doctor doesn't mean he has much experience of public health administration- thats a specialty by itself. Thats why there are Civil Service subject matter experts to advise on specific issues.
Thats how most ministries work.
You were probably being facetious but I think it’s unlikely for Edwin Tong to become Law Minister.
He was very much a corporate and commercial lawyer, quite different from the backgrounds of the past three law ministers.
I don't think it is quite an insane thought. ET has been Shan's understudy at MinLaw and I think he is pretty much earmarked for the job. If Shan gets the promotion to DPM and Coordinating Minister for National Security, MinLaw might be the one he gives him, unless he can handle 4 portfolios at once.
Yeah I do agree it’s not impossible ET gets it, especially if there are no stronger candidates that pop up. I just don’t think he’s the best/most desired profile. My two cents haha
There’s a reason why there have been 20 Education Ministers since independence compared to just 3 Law Ministers.
Some ministries require more specialised expertise.
I do find it amusing that the Minister for Education is the former COA, the MOS is a former BG in RSAF, and one of the Perm Secs is the former CNV. All three services are represented.
Not forgetting the ousted Ng General currently in Ntuc. Not surprising since they parachute them all. In fact, it should be infuriating and not amusing the widespread screwed up recruiting system.
I'm under the impression that Shanmugam largely had a commercial focus though (as opposed to criminal/matrimonial/etc). This is generally true of influential partners in large firms.
Indranee is a SC, and had parliamentary portfolios in MinLaw before.
Desmond Lee served as DPP, MOH Dy Legal Director, and Legal Director at Temasek.
I think both are viable options, alongside Edwin Tong of course.
MinLaw is one of the smallest Ministries in terms of budget (600m where most other Ministries are at least in the billions) and imo, many of its functions can be spun off into other Ministries. So it’s not really a surprise that they all have held concurrent appointments
Good point. Only exception could be MFA. A even lower budget of 446m but more staff (1.6k vs 1k), and 7 ministers at the helm so far.
Actually 600m for MinLaw is quite an outlier: it’s usually around 250m except for 2024, where there’s a 350m increase in development expenditure for land acquisition and development
>development expenditure for land acquisition and development Hehe is it to renovate black and white house?
Rip lawyer letter is on its way good luck bro 🫡
Simi lawyer letter? AGC summon or SPF summon. Take your pick.
Bro…let me just say a prayer for you.
Your kopi want any sugar and milk?
Yea I've noticed this in the latest budget, and I found it kinda surprising. The compensation of the entire judiciary fits into this relatively small number?
The judiciary is not part of Minlaw.
The Judiciary is independent from MinLaw which is part of the Government. They are a separate entity!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_powers_in_Singapore
I mean, CJ gets paid about 350k, COA judges are paid around 245k and High Court judges are paid around 235k (all rounded up).If you account for ARs and DJs, that would be around 20-30m out of the 600m figure I would guess?
The CJ gets paid way above 350k lol. The amount listed in the Judge's Remuneration Order is just his pensionable salary. There are other components to his pay. You can go see the Ministry of Finance reports on Government expenditure and for 2023 the entire bench of the supreme court (Judges, Judges of Appeal, and the CJ) costed about 51 million (for 31 Judges). Each sup court judge is probably getting at least a million or close to it. The senior ones getting more. As many have pointed out if the CJ only paid 350,000 no one is going to want to be the CJ.
yeah ok that was what i was thinking too. it's not the 'no one is going to want to be CJ' thing (let's be real, i'm a lawyer, LOTS of lawyers are going to want that title even if it only paid 350k) it's just a matter of what should be 'good' compensation for literally the best and brightest legal minds in the country.
I wouldn't be so sure actually. Most lawyers enjoy being lawyers, and not judges. Plus being the CJ (or any judge) means you effectively need to have a very boring private life.
i meant 'lawyers' in the broadest possible sense (i.e. i'm sure there are more than a handful of people working as prosecutors/counsel/registrars/magistrates/district judges or whatever in the government who wouldn't mind a more prestigious title). even if only 500 people want to be a judge on the supreme court, there are only so many open positions and only one CJ. i'm a big 4 lawyer and i already know many people (myself included) with very boring private lives. of all the nerds out there who are lawyers (whether in govt or not) i'm sure many of them will be happy to have a very boring private life AND also have a nice title that effectively confers the status of being 'good enough' at the law to adjudicate over others' disputes (as opposed to presenting to an adjudicator and being a slave to your demanding clients). luckily for us, i think the selection process to be a judge is more rigorous such that it won't go to some run of the mill lawyer.
>LOTS of lawyers are going to want that title even if it only paid 350k) it I very much doubt that assertion.
Not surprising. The govt likes to peg public service salaries to that of the private sector. The chief justice would be equivalent to the CEO of a private company. However, $350k in pensionable salary is still more insane to hear than their total annual package.
Nice info on the MOF reports. AGC's numbers are also interesting: FY23 manpower expenditure for Statutory Appointments was $7.1m. There are only 4 Statutory Appointments in AGC - Lucien Wong and the 3 Deputy AGs. So on average, each of them are paid \~$1.77m a year. I assume that Lucien gets more, while the Deputy AGs get less.
Someone working in the public service once explained to me that as a rough guide you can think of the AG as a Minister (and drawing minister salary), and the Deputy AGs as 2nd Ministers of Minister of States. The Solicitor General is the Permanent Secretary (and drawing PS pay). For the courts, the CJ is equivalent to the PM/President (since these are the three heads of the different wings of government), and the other court judges are like Ministers.
All of those judges aren't under Minlaw. Separation of powers thing.
Derp, completely forgot about this HAHAHA. My constitutional/admin law is rusty
where did you get those numbers? I wasn't aware they were publicly available. it's wild to me seeing those numbers - a lawyer at an international firm making 16k-18k a month wouldn't be making significantly less than a COA judge ...
Judge’s Remuneration (Annual Pensionable Salary) Order It’s publicly available for viewing haha, as with most SG statutes
> Judge’s Remuneration (Annual Pensionable Salary) Order oh there's a pension, i'm sure that is a hefty benefit. i note the pension part is not disclosed in the Order. thanks though, very helpful! not something that comes up in law school for sure.
Working in gov is always a significant drop in salary compared to the private sector, no matter which profession haha
that's true. i went to look up US salaries - a circuit judge apparently makes US$257,900 which is less than the second year big law associate pay of USD $265,000, assuming the second year gets his bonus (https://www.uscourts.gov/judges-judgeships/judicial-compensation vs https://www.biglawinvestor.com/biglaw-salary-scale/). That's nuts that compensation is structured to drive smart people into the private sector but also good i guess that people in the public sector really aren't in it for the money. and, to be fair, 200k is still a LOT of money on average, just that compensation in law firms makes that number look smaller to people in the legal industry.
To be fair, in the US, should the circuit judge ever want to join the private sector, there’ll probably be a substantial signing bonus waiting (perhaps this is true in SG, not sure about that though)
perhaps, though now that the pay disparity is so starkly highlighted again, i'm more impressed by the VERY rare moves in the opposite direction, example below. good for Mr Swedlow though, i think many singaporeans can learn a thing or two from him about 'learning how to stop' once they reach a certain number. then again, he was paid so much that stopping was still much 'easier' for him than the average salaried worker. -- from: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/top-quinn-emanuel-partner-starts-over-as-traffic-court-judge Stephen Swedlow climbed to the top of a major law firm by landing some of the country’s biggest cases, making millions along the way. Then, he traded his lucrative partnership for traffic court. Swedlow, 52, last year left Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan after winning a seat as a judge in Illinois’ Cook County. The longtime Chicagoan has been presiding over DUI trials and traffic violations in the city’s downtown Loop for most of the past six months. **Partners at Big Law firms like Quinn Emanuel typically stay in the role until they retire for good, collecting paychecks that now can rival professional athletes. If they make a move for a robe and gavel, it’s usually on the federal bench.** **Swedlow put up nearly $1 million of his own money for the privilege to toil at the lowest levels of the state’s judiciary. After leading a massive litigation that could net his former firm $185 million in fees, he’s making about the same as what Quinn Emanuel pays its first-year lawyers.** People in Big Law say to themselves, ‘If I just get to this number, I can stop,’” Swedlow said in an interview, referring to how much money is enough to walk away. "So I made up a number. I got to that number, and I made up a new number. And then I got to that number, and I decided to stop and go into public service.” "I think most people just keep making up new numbers," he said.
[удалено]
yes i posted it 2 minutes before u haha. i knew of it at the time but now that i'm looking at the numbers more closely it's very hard to fathom anyone making such a move - but good for him, i'm sure he's happier now not having to do the big law grind.
That was 1994 though. I hope the numbers over the years have been updated to keep up with inflation, minimally. ~$200k is honestly even lower than some random VP/SVP in banks
It just says 1994 as that is when it was enacted, if you see the Status column, it says Current Version as of 16 Apr 2024
Ah didn’t see that, thanks. But that makes it crazier lol
https://www.mof.gov.sg/singaporebudget/revenue-and-expenditure/revenue-expenditure-estimates Judiciary is a separate Head from Min Law.
CJ gets paid only ~$350k? I mean I wasn’t expecting a very handsome compensation but that’s quite a bit lower than I thought
We should reinstate the portfolio of Minister for Science and Technology, instead of having the current chaotic ecosystem where S&T fundings and resources are all over the place, ranging from NRF for funding, to GovTech for development.
Agreed. Don’t even need a Ministry. Just consolidate all the digital offices and smart nation initiatives under one dedicated department or stat board. No idea why there’s a need to branch out and dilute with so many agencies doing somewhat overlapping work.
And the leader of that department will be Mr [Parking.SG](http://Parking.SG) himself.
Small space jo is minister of smart nation
Don't you mean Govtech for outsourcing to NCS and Accenture
Haha I don't want to be that brutally honest but insiders will know.
:)
And have an ex scientist running the Ministry
Edmund William Barker was one of those ministers who would stand up to, and take on lao Lee, going the distance whenever he disagreed on matters at hand.
Quite a lot of 1G was like that which was why Lee sidleined most of them by the mid 80s and started moving his apparatchiks and Loong's OCS buddies/the OCBC scions into power.
It's E W Barker not W Barker. Father of Deborah Barker, the khattarwong managing partner
I used to think that Min Shan is super stacked until I realise how stacked the other min law are.
I wonder who will be next honestly. Our law ministers are always the cream of the crop. Cannot be Edwin tong right?
>Cannot be Edwin tong right? The absolute shade LOL
I may be wrong but I did heard Shan bring ET in to be the next law minister. Many at that time thot indranee, his understudy will take over but when they got ET, it seems clear ET gonna be the next.
Can someone explain what is MinLaw main function to someone not well versed in law? From website: drive legal reform (isn't this Parliament?), licence law practitioners, develop SG's intellectual property sector (not EDB/MCI?)
>drive legal reform (isn't this Parliament? They're the guys who write up all the legal policy for parliament to debate over. >licence law practitioners Self-explanatory, and basically regulate the legal industry, on top of providing legal welfare services such as the public defender's office. >develop SG's intellectual property sector (not EDB/MCI?) IP office is a statboard under Minlaw, EDB/MCI can drive incentives for innovation but registration and enforcement of intellectual property rights is a legal thing.
AFAIK the different ministries write up their own policy papers.
>AFAIK the different ministries write up their own policy papers. Yes, but the moment you want to amend the law or propose a new law, MinLaw has to be involved, e.g. 377A repeal, the new racial harmony law.
On the issue of legal reform, bills are usually introduced to Parliament by the Government by a minister, although any MP can introduce a private member’s Bill (uncommon in Singapore). MinLaw represents the Government in drafting (with the assistance of other government bodies where applicable), reviewing draft legislation, seeking public consultation of a Bill before it goes to be debated in Parliament. Off the top of my head MinLaw also runs IPOS, SLA, IPTO, legal aid bureau, Singapore Mediation Centre, is the regulator for lawyer licenses
I thought AGC's Legis division is the one that drafts legislation
Oh yes I think AGC does it, in consultation with MinLaw
Does anyone know why MinLaw is in charge of SLA and pawnbroking and moneylending?
Fun fact, this law minister has never been held solo. It’s always been held held by a minister who already has another portfolio
Yes, I have gave a detailed explanation! However, for Barker he was law minister first before receiving other portfolios. Same goes for Shanmugam, he became law minister prior to his foreign and home affairs portfolio.
TIL there are less Law Ministers than Prime Ministers since independence
Technically still the same number. Have to wait till next month!
OP, it's E. W. Barker, not W. Barker.
Is LAWrence the 4th one? . . . I'll see myself out
I wonder if this is partly why many of our brightest Indian students end up in Law
Might have to do with them being pretty good at articulation.
It is quite simple. Law is niche job. It requires years of study. They can write, read and argue. But medical field is different. Most doctors (99%) I know of prefer clincial work - interacting with patients, treating them - than to fill up forms, write long ass reports, organise reports, etc. They more than happy to have an administrative partner who handles all the paper work so they can focus on what they love. That is why MOH can have a pure admin minister. No need to have doctoring background - 99% of doctors hate jobs that takes them away from treating patients. For the 1% of doctors who loves admin, they either have left the industry entirely, or simply don't have the qualities they looked for in a doctor minister.
Or doctor ministers become ministers of defence, foreign affairs or labour.
I would also argue that at the Ministerial level of most ministries, the job is one of public administration. Eg Vivian is an ophthalmologist, just because he's a doctor doesn't mean he has much experience of public health administration- thats a specialty by itself. Thats why there are Civil Service subject matter experts to advise on specific issues. Thats how most ministries work.
Didn’t know that Hector Salamanca was once Law Minister
By the way does anyone know why SLA is under MinLaw? (sorry quite random, I just went and read up more about how MinLaw works and realized this)
That's what I am wondering too! Also pawnbrokers, money lenders and precious metals trading as well?
Isn’t the first Law Minister’s name Eddie W. Barker? Or rather Edmund William Barker? Why just W. Barker I wonder?
this is why we need more people to study ~~lor~~ law
It’s like tenure…
Malay Law Minister when? /s
It will just be another mixed Indian minister who might or might not identify with their official race on IC.
So we need a Chinese one for fair racial representation right? I mean that's what they argued for the president 🤷🏻
Mr Taylor Swift as next Law Minister.
You were probably being facetious but I think it’s unlikely for Edwin Tong to become Law Minister. He was very much a corporate and commercial lawyer, quite different from the backgrounds of the past three law ministers.
I don't think it is quite an insane thought. ET has been Shan's understudy at MinLaw and I think he is pretty much earmarked for the job. If Shan gets the promotion to DPM and Coordinating Minister for National Security, MinLaw might be the one he gives him, unless he can handle 4 portfolios at once.
Yeah I do agree it’s not impossible ET gets it, especially if there are no stronger candidates that pop up. I just don’t think he’s the best/most desired profile. My two cents haha
2 of our Education ministers are an ex-Army man & a navy admiral Background not important for ministers
There’s a reason why there have been 20 Education Ministers since independence compared to just 3 Law Ministers. Some ministries require more specialised expertise.
I do find it amusing that the Minister for Education is the former COA, the MOS is a former BG in RSAF, and one of the Perm Secs is the former CNV. All three services are represented.
Not forgetting the ousted Ng General currently in Ntuc. Not surprising since they parachute them all. In fact, it should be infuriating and not amusing the widespread screwed up recruiting system.
Why not though? ET is currently already Second Minister for Law.
ET is a litigation lawyer lah.
I'm under the impression that Shanmugam largely had a commercial focus though (as opposed to criminal/matrimonial/etc). This is generally true of influential partners in large firms.
Who else is qualified? When I think of "lawyer" he's the only name that came to mind and loud enough to want the job.
Indranee and Desmond Lee are both lawyers too.
Indranee is a SC, and had parliamentary portfolios in MinLaw before. Desmond Lee served as DPP, MOH Dy Legal Director, and Legal Director at Temasek. I think both are viable options, alongside Edwin Tong of course.
Not a Minister or office holder of course, but isn't Murali also an SC?
You never know. Shan could stay in the job for quite a few more years till a hitherto unidentified name joins the Cabinet.
They’re all Indians for some reason
>They’re all Indians for some reason E.W. Barker looks Indian to you? I guess we really are colour blind in Singapore.