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The HonourableDesmond Lee
李智陞
Lee in 2017
Minister for National Development
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 July 2020
Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong Lawrence Wong
Second Minister	Indranee Rajah
Preceded by	Lawrence Wong
Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 July 2020
Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong Lawrence Wong
Preceded by	Office established
Minister for Social and Family Development
In office 11 September 2017 – 26 July 2020
Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong
Preceded by	Tan Chuan-Jin
Succeeded by	Masagos Zulkifli
Cabinet-level offices Minister in the Prime Minister's Office In office 1 May 2017 – 10 September 2017Serving with Josephine Teo and Chan Chun Sing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Second Minister for National Development In office 1 May 2017 – 26 July 2020 Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Minister Lawrence Wong Preceded by Lim Swee Say Succeeded by Indranee Rajah Second Minister for Home Affairs In office 1 May 2017 – 10 September 2017 Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Minister K. Shanmugam Preceded by S. Iswaran (2015) Masagos Zulkifli (2015) Succeeded by Josephine Teo
Junior ministerial offices Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs In office 1 October 2015 – 30 April 2017 Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Minister K. Shanmugam Senior Minister of State for National Development In office 1 October 2015 – 30 April 2017 Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Minister Lawrence Wong Minister of State for National Development In office 1 September 2013 – 30 September 2015 Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Minister Khaw Boon Wan
Parliamentary offices Member of Parliament for West Coast GRC (Boon Lay) Incumbent Assumed office 10 July 2020 Preceded by Patrick Tay (PAP) Majority 4,662 (3.36%) Deputy Leader of the House In office 1 October 2015 – 23 June 2020 Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Leader Grace Fu Preceded by Heng Chee How Succeeded by Zaqy Mohamad Member of Parliament for Jurong GRC (Jurong Spring) In office 7 May 2011 – 23 June 2020 Preceded by Constituency established Succeeded by Shawn Huang Wei Zhong (PAP)
Personal details
Born	(1976-07-15) 15 July 1976 (age 48) Singapore
Political party	People's Action Party
Children	3
Parent	Lee Yock Suan (father)
Alma mater	National University of Singapore (LLB) University of Oxford (BCL)
Occupation	Politician

Desmond Lee Ti-Seng (Chinese: 李智陞; pinyin: Lǐ Zhìshēng; born 15 July 1976) is a Singaporean politician and lawyer who has been serving as Minister for National Development and Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration since 2020. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Boon Lay division of West Coast GRC since 2020.

A lawyer by profession, Lee had worked at various public-sector institutions, including the Supreme Court, Attorney-General's Chambers and Temasek Holdings before entering politics. He made his political debut in the 2011 general election as part of a five-member PAP team contesting in Jurong GRC and won with 66.96% of the vote. He had held various political positions in the Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Home Affairs before he was made full member of the Cabinet on 1 May 2017. He forms part of the new Cabinet selected by Lawrence Wong announced in May 2024.

Early life and education

Lee's father is Lee Yock Suan, a former Member of Parliament and Cabinet minister. Of Hokkien (Han-Chinese language group) ancestry from his father's side, Lee also has Peranakan ancestry from his mother's side.

Lee was educated at Anglo-Chinese School (Junior), Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College before graduating from the National University of Singapore in 2001 with a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours degree. He subsequently went on to complete a Bachelor of Civil Law degree (a Masters-equivalent degree) at the University of Oxford.

Legal career

Upon his graduation from the NUS Faculty of Law in 2001, Lee served as Justices' Law Clerk at the Supreme Court before serving as a deputy public prosecutor in the Criminal Justice Division of the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC).

Lee then served as deputy director of the Legal Branch of the Ministry of Health (MOH) between 2005 and 2009 before being transferred to the Ministry of Law (MinLaw), where he served as deputy director of the Legal Policy Division until 2011.

In March 2011, Lee joined Temasek Holdings as an associate director in the Legal and Regulations Department.

Political career

Lee made his political debut in the 2011 general election as part of a five-member People's Action Party (PAP) team contesting in Jurong GRC and won 66.96% of the vote. Lee was subsequently elected as the Member of Parliament representing the Jurong Spring division of Jurong GRC.

Following the 2011 general election, Lee served as a member of the Government Parliamentary Committees for Culture, Community and Youth, Home Affairs, Law, and Social and Family Development.

On 1 September 2013, Lee was appointed Minister of State for National Development and left Temasek Holdings to take on this role.

At the 2015 general election, Lee was re-elected as a Member of Parliament for Jurong GRC. The PAP team contesting in Jurong GRC won 79.3% of the vote. In October 2015, Lee was promoted to Senior Minister of State for National Development, and was appointed Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs. On 1 May 2017, he was appointed full minister and took up the portfolio of Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for Home Affairs and Second Minister for National Development. He was also Deputy Leader of the House from October 2015 to June 2020.

On 11 September 2017, Lee relinquished his portfolio in the Prime Minister's Office and Ministry of Home Affairs, and became Minister for Social and Family Development while retaining his portfolio as Second Minister for National Development.

At the 2020 general election, Lee was part of the five-member PAP team contested in West Coast GRC and won with 51.69% of the vote. He was subsequently elected as the Member of Parliament representing the Boon Lay division of West Coast GRC. He

Following a Cabinet reshuffle on 27 July 2020, Lee succeeded Lawrence Wong as Minister for National Development and took on an additional newly created role of Minister-in-charge of Social Services Integration under the Ministry of Social and Family Development.

On 8 November 2020, Lee, along with Lawrence Wong, were both elected into the PAP's Central Executive Committee for the first time. He presently co-chairs the Singapore-Tianjin Economic and Trade Council, and the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city Joint Working Committee.

Personal life

Lee is married with three children.

References

1. "Changes to Cabinet and Other Appointments (July 2020)". Prime Minister's Office, 25 July 2020.
2. anthony_chia (2024-05-14). "PMO | Changes to Cabinet and Other Appointments (May 2024)". Prime Minister's Office Singapore. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
3. Yes to evolution, no to revolution Archived 2015-08-06 at the Wayback Machine, My Paper, 24 March 2011.
4. "Digging up the past, in search of a deeper sense of self: Desmond Lee on the Bicentennial and its lessons". CNA.
5. "Parliament of Singapore, Desmond Lee". Archived from the original on 13 October 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
6. MP Profile – Desmond Lee Ti-Seng Archived 2013-01-14 at the Wayback Machine, pap.org.sg, retrieved 4 August 2013.
7. PM Lee reinforces team as governance becomes "more complicated" Archived 2013-10-04 at the Wayback Machine, channelnewsasia.com, 28 August 2013.
8. katherine_chen (2022-05-30). "PMO | Mr Desmond LEE". Prime Minister's Office Singapore. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
9. "Desmond Lee: Youngest minister in current Cabinet to helm his first ministry". Archived from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
10. "GE2020: PAP wins West Coast GRC with 51.69% of votes against Tan Cheng Bock's team". CNA.
11. "PM Lee announces new Cabinet; 6 office holders promoted, 3 retirements". CNA. Archived from the original on 25 July 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
12. Yuen, Sin; Lim, Min Zhang (8 November 2020). "PAP conference: Lawrence Wong, Desmond Lee elected to party's top committee for first time". The Straits Times. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
13. jeline_chia (2024-06-06). "PMO | Mr Desmond LEE". Prime Minister's Office Singapore. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
14. "Mr Desmond Lee" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 September 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2019.

External links

• Desmond Lee on Prime Minister's Office
• Desmond Lee on Parliament of Singapore

v t e Current members of the Cabinet of Singapore
Prime Minister	Lawrence Wong Finance
Deputy Prime Minister(s)	Gan Kim Yong Trade and Industry Heng Swee Keat
Senior Minister(s)	Lee Hsien Loong Teo Chee Hean National Security
Cabinet Minister(s)	Ng Eng Hen Defence Vivian Balakrishnan Foreign Affairs K. Shanmugam Home Affairs/Law Chee Hong Tat Transport Grace Fu Sustainability and the Environment/Trade Relations Chan Chun Sing Education Masagos Zulkifli Social and Family Development/Muslim Affairs Ong Ye Kung Health Josephine Teo Communications and Information/Smart Nation/Cybersecurity Desmond Lee National Development/Social Services Integration Edwin Tong Culture, Community and Youth Tan See Leng Manpower Indranee Rajah Prime Minister's Office Maliki Osman Prime Minister's Office
Effective from 15 May 2024

Member of multiple Parliaments of Singapore

v t e Members of the 14th Parliament of Singapore Speaker: Tan, C J→Seah, K P Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) Aljunied Giam, Y S Lim, S L Faisal Perera Singh Ang Mo Kio David Gan, T P Lee, H L Nadia Ng, L L Bishan–Toa Payoh Chee, H T Chong, K H Ng, E H Saktiandi Chua Chu Kang Gan, K Y Low, Y L Wee, B H Zhulkarnain East Coast Chan, W L Heng, S K Maliki Tan, K H Tan, S N Holland–Bukit Timah Chia, B H de Souza Sim, A Vivian Jalan Besar Heng, C H Phua, L P Teo, L M Wan Rizal Jurong Huang, W Z Rahayu Tan, W M Tharman Xie, Y Q Marine Parade Fahmi Seah, K P Tan, C J Tan, S L Tong, C F Marsiling–Yew Tee Soh, H B Wong, S T Yam, Z M Zaqy Nee Soon Goh, S H Shanmugam Faishal Ng, K K Tan, H M Pasir Ris–Punggol Puthucheary Sharael Tan, K M Teo, C H Yeo, W L Sembawang Lim, W K Mariam Ong, Y K Poh, L S Nair Sengkang Chua, K W He, T R Lim, C W Raeesah Tampines Baey, Y K Cheng, L H Choo, P C Koh, P K Masagos Tanjong Pagar Chan, C S Chua, S L Indranee Pereira Tan, S H West Coast Ang, W N Foo, M H Lee, T S Ong, S Y Iswaran Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) Bukit Batok Pillai Bukit Panjang Liang, E H Hong Kah North Khor, L S Hougang Tan, L F Kebun Baru Kwek, H C MacPherson Tin, P L Marymount Gan, S H Mountbatten Lim, B C Pioneer Tay, T G Potong Pasir Sitoh, Y P Punggol West Sun, X L Radin Mas Yong, Y C Yio Chu Kang Yip, H W Yuhua Fu, H Y Non-elected members NCMP Leong, M W Poa, K K NMPs Samad Ang, G H Chay, J J Cheng, H Y Hoon, H T Koh, L P Raj Shahira Tan, Y S The party affiliation of each member is indicated right after the constituency/seat he or she represents. PAP: People's Action Party; WP: The Workers' Party; PSP: Progress Singapore Party All of the leaders of the respective GRCs are in underline. MP(s) who is go on a leave of absence is in italic. NMPs do not belong to any party. Other Current/Former MPs Nav Boxes 14 13 12 11 10 v t e Members of the 13th Parliament of Singapore (2015–2020) Speaker: Halimah Yacob→Tan, C J Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) Aljunied Chen, S M Lim, S L Low, T K Faisal Singh Ang Mo Kio Ang, H K David Gan, T P Intan Koh, P K Lee, H L Bishan–Toa Payoh Chee, H T Chong, K H Ng, E H Saktiandi Teo, L M Chua Chu Kang Gan, K Y Low, Y L Yee, C H Zaqy East Coast Lee, Y S Lim, S S Maliki Tan, S N Holland–Bukit Timah de Souza Liang, E H Sim, A Vivian Jalan Besar Heng, C H Neo, L Phua, L P Yaacob Jurong Ang, W N Lee, T S Rahayu Tharman Tan, W M Marine Parade Fatimah Goh, C T Seah, K P Tan, C J Tong, C F Marsiling–Yew Tee Ong, T K Wong, S T Yam, Z M Halimah Nee Soon Faishal Kwek, H C Lee, B W Ng, K K Shanmugam Pasir Ris–Punggol Ng, C M Puthucheary Sun, X L Teo, C H Teo, S L Zainal Sembawang Amrin Khaw, B W Lim, W K Ong, Y K Nair Tampines Baey, Y K Cheng, L H Choo, P C Heng, S K Masagos Tanjong Pagar Chan, C S Chia, S L Indranee Pereira Yong, Y C West Coast Foo, M H Iswaran Lim, H K Tay, T G Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) Bukit Batok Ong, K H→Pillai Bukit Panjang Teo, H P Fengshan Chan, W L Hong Kah North Khor, L S Hougang Png, E H MacPherson Tin, P L Mountbatten Lim, B C Pioneer Foo, C K Potong Pasir Sitoh, Y P Punggol East Chong, Y F Radin Mas Tan, C S Sengkang West Lam, P M Yuhua Fu, H Y Non-elected members NCMP Perera Tan, L F Goh, P S NMPs Azmoon Chia, Y Y Chua, K S Ganesh Kok, H L Kuik, S Y Mohan Tan, G K Thanaletchimi Arasu Foo, P Y Ho, W S Lim, S S Irshad Quay, S C Ong, L T Theseira Yip, P X The party affiliation of each member is indicated right after the constituency he or she represents. PAP: People's Action Party; WP: The Workers' Party NMPs do not belong to any party. There were two terms of NMPs in this parliament, with nine NMPs in each term. Other Current/Former MPs Nav Boxes 14 13 12 11 10 v t e Members of the 12th Parliament of Singapore (2011–2015) Speaker: Halimah Yacob Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) Aljunied Chen, S M Lim, S L Low, T K Faisal Singh Ang Mo Kio Ang, H K Singh Intan Lee, H L Seng, H T Yeo, G K Bishan-Toa Payoh Nair Ng, E H Teo, L M Wong, K S Zainudin Chua Chu Kang Gan, K Y Low, Y L Yam, Z M Yeo, K H Zaqy East Coast Lee Y S Lim S K Lim, S S Maliki Tan, S N Holland-Bukit Timah de Souza Liang, E H Sim, Ann Vivian Jurong Ang, W N Halimah Lee, T S Ong, K H Tharman Marine Parade Fatimah Goh, C T Seah, K P Tan, C J Tin, P L Moulmein-Kallang Lui, T Y Phua, L P Tong, C F Yaacob Nee Soon Lee, B W Lim, W K Faishal Shanmugam Tay, T G Pasir Ris-Punggol Gan, T P Puthucheary Low, Penny Teo, C H Teo, S L Zainal Sembawang Hawazi Khaw, B W Lee, G H Ong, T K Nair Tampines Baey, Y K Heng, S K Mah, B T Masagos Ng, P H Tanjong Pagar Chan, C S Chia, S L Indranee Neo, Lily West Coast Fong, Jen Foo, M H Iswaran Lim, H K Wong, S T Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) Bukit Panjang Teo, H P Hong Kah North Khor, L S Hougang Png, E H Joo Chiat Chong, Y F Mountbatten Lim, B C Pioneer Foo, C K Potong Pasir Sitoh, Y P Punggol East Lee, L L Radin Mas Tan, C S Sengkang West Lam, P M Whampoa Heng, C H Yuhua Fu, H Y Non-elected members NCMP Giam, Y S Loh, W L Yee, J J NMPs Dhinakaran Faizah Fang, K W Koh, Y M Lien, T C Liew, K E Tan, K B Tan, S S Teo, S S Chia, Y Y Chua, K S Karthikeyan Kuik, S Y Ismail Soh, S L Tan, C L Tan, G K Tan, T Y The party affiliation of each member is indicated right after the constituency he or she represents. PAP: People's Action Party; SPP: Singapore People's Party; WP: The Workers' Party For NCMPs, Gerald Giam and Yee Jenn Jong are from the WP, while Lina Loh is from the SPP. NMPs do not belong to any party. There were two terms of NMPs in this parliament, with nine NMPs in each term. Other Current/Former MPs Nav Boxes 13 12 11

• Members of the Parliament of Singapore
• People's Action Party politicians
• Raffles Junior College alumni
• Anglo-Chinese School alumni
• National University of Singapore alumni
• Singaporean people of Hokkien descent
• 1976 births
• Living people
• Members of the Cabinet of Singapore