Today I handed a valedictory letter to another close comrade, Minister Khaw Boon Wan. He has been in my Cabinets since the beginning, and it is with sadness that I accepted his retirement ahead of this GE.
Boon Wan has made immense contributions to Singapore, and left deep impressions on those he worked with, including me personally as a dear friend. In fact, it was Boon Wan who suggested in 2012 that I venture into social media. But for him you might not even be reading this here on my FB Page!
No task was ever too daunting for Boon Wan. He was in the Ministry of Health when SARS hit us. The hard lessons we learnt from SARS prepared us to deal with COVID-19. Later as the Minister he reformed MediShield and MediSave, and introduced ElderShield, thus keeping healthcare affordable for all Singaporeans.
As Minister of National Development, he ramped up the HDB building programme, reducing BTO waiting times.
As Transport Minister, and later Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure, Boon Wan tackled one of his biggest challenges – the reliability of the MRT system. He succeeded in his own quiet and unassuming way, apparently effortlessly but actually through a prodigious amount of hard work.
Boon Wan had a special knack of explaining nettlesome issues to Singaporeans. His colleagues could always depend on him for generous and sound advice. I am happy that he has agreed to continue sharing his experience and wisdom even after retirement.
On behalf of all Singaporeans, and especially residents in his Sembawang constituency, I thank Boon Wan for all that he has done, and wish him a happy, healthy, and well-deserved rest. We are deeply grateful to him, and his dauntless spirit is an inspiration to us all.
You may read my letter to Boon Wan here: https://go.gov.sg/s8wo4c
– LHL
(MCI Photo by Fyrol)
