Masagos Zulkifli bin Masagos Mohamad ( Jawi: ماسڬوس ذوالكفل; born 16 April 1963) is a Singaporean politician. A member of the

People's Action Party The People's Action Party (PAP) is a major Conservatism, conservative political party in Singapore and is the governing contemporary political party represented in the Parliament of Singapore, followed by the opposition Workers' Party of Singap ...

(PAP), he has been serving as Minister for Social and Family Development since 2020. He also serves as the Vice Chairman in the party Central Executive Committee (CEC) since 2018 and had been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Tampines West division of

Tampines Group Representation Constituency The Tampines Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the eastern region of Singapore. The GRC encompasses Tampines and is managed by the Tampines Town Council, with five divisions: Tampines ...

(GRC) since 2006. Before joining politics, Masagos was an

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

and had held key positions in

Singtel Singapore Telecommunications Limited, trading as Singtel, is a Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate, the country's principal fixed-line operator and one of the four major mobile network operators operating in the country. Overview T ...

. He made his debut in the political scene after winning the 2006 general election as part of a five-member PAP team contesting in Tampines GRC. Since then, he has won three subsequent elections and has held various positions in the ministries of

Home Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a Ministry (government department), government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law e ...

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...

and

Health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

. On 9 April 2015, Masagos was appointed

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office A Minister in the Prime Minister's Office (, ''Sar BeMisrad Rosh HaMemshala'') is a minister and member of the Cabinet of Israel appointed by the Prime Minister of Israel to handle various issues on behalf of the Prime Minister. Current and form ...

. His appointment marked the first time in Singaporean history when there were two Malay ministers in the Cabinet. On 1 October 2015, Masagos took up the portfolio of

Minister for Environment and Water Resources The Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE; ; zh, 永续发展与环境部; ) is a ministry of the Government of Singapore responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies related to the environment, water and food ...

Early life

Masagos was educated at

Bukit Panjang Government High School Bukit Panjang Government High School (BPGHS) is a co-educational government autonomous secondary school in Choa Chu Kang, Singapore. History BPGHS was formed in the 1960's with the merging of Bukit Panjang Secondary School and Chua Chu Kang G ...

and

National Junior College National Junior College (NJC) is a government Junior college (Singapore), junior college located in Bukit Timah, Singapore. Established in 1969, it was the first government junior college in Singapore. NJC offers a two-year course for pre-universit ...

before he went to

Nanyang Technological University Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1981, it is also the second oldest autonomous university in the country. The university is organised across numerous colleges and schools, includi ...

, where he graduated in 1988 with a

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded to a college graduate majoring in an engineering discipline at a higher education institution. In the United Kingdom, a Ba ...

(First Class Honours), majoring in

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

and

electronic engineering Electronic engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering that emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control electric current flo ...

. In 1994, he obtained a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

in electrical engineering from the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

. His first job was with

in 1988. In 1995, he completed a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

on a postgraduate scholarship awarded by Singtel. He was later appointed Chief Executive Officer of SingTel Global Offices..

Political career

Masagos made his debut in politics in the 2006 general election when he contested as part of a five-member

team in Tampines Group Representation Constituency (GRC). The PAP team won about 68% of the vote, and Masagos became a Member of Parliament representing the Tampines West ward of Tampines GRC. He was subsequently appointed Senior Parliamentary Secretary in the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

on 2 June 2006, and concurrently Senior Parliamentary Secretary in the

Ministry of Home Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...

on 1 April 2008. On 1 November 2010, he was promoted to

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

in these two ministries. Defense

Masagos was re-elected in Tampines GRC in the 2011 general election. On 21 May 2011, he was appointed Minister of State for Home Affairs and

. On 1 August 2012, he was promoted to Senior Minister of State in these two ministries. On 9 April 2015, Masagos was promoted to a full Minister as a

. The position was without

portfolio Portfolio may refer to: Objects * Portfolio (briefcase), a type of briefcase Collections * Portfolio (finance), a collection of assets held by an institution or a private individual * Artist's portfolio, a sample of an artist's work or a ...

. This was the first time in Singaporean history when there were two Malay ministers in the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

, the other being

Yaacob Ibrahim Yaacob bin Ibrahim ( Jawi: ; born 3 October 1955) is a Singaporean former People's Action Party politician who served as minister-in-charge of Muslim affairs between 2002 and 2018, minister for community development, youth and sports between ...

. Masagos was also promoted to Second Minister for Home Affairs and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, and was put in charge of leading the PAP team in Tampines GRC. On the same day,

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Lee Hsien Loong Lee Hsien Loong (born 10 February 1952) is a Singaporean politician and former military officer who served as the third Prime Minister of Singapore, prime minister of Singapore from 2004 to 2024, thereafter serving as a Senior Minister of S ...

said that Masagos's elevation to full Minister reflected the "progress of the Malay community" in Singapore. Masagos also said that he was honoured to have been appointed and that " ving two Malay full ministers in the Cabinet for the first time in our nation's history reflects the overnment'strust and recognition of the good progress made by the Malay-Muslim community". On 1 October 2015, Masagos took up the portfolio of

. From 1 May 2018, he was given an additional appointment as

Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs The Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs is a special appointment in the Cabinet of Singapore that oversees policies and issues related to the Malay–Muslim community in Singapore. Established in 1977, all officeholders has been a part of said c ...

, taking over from

. On 27 July 2020, he changed his portfolio to Minister for Social and Family Development and took up an additional portfolio as Second Minister for Health, while concurrently holding the position of Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs. From July 2023, Masagos took over Cheng Li Hui’s formal duties at Tampines East Division in Tampines GRC after her resignation following an extramarital affair.

Controversies

Hijab in healthcare services

In March 2021,

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

Faisal Manap Muhamad Faisal bin Abdul Manap ( Jawi: ; born 6 June 1975) is a Singaporean politician who has been serving as Vice-Chairman of the Workers' Party (WP) since 2016 and an advisor for Sengkang GRC from 2021 to 2025. A member of the opposition Work ...

advocated for the use of the

tudung The tudong ( Malay: ''tudung'', Jawi: تودوڠ) is a style of headscarf, worn as interpretation of the Islamic hijab, prevalent amongst many Muslim women in the Malay-speaking world; Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore. Today, the tudo ...

as part of the nurse's uniform for Muslim women in medical institutions. Masagos responded that "allowing tudungs will raise a very visible religious marker that identifies every tudung-wearing female nurse or uniform officer as a Muslim. This has significant implications… We don't want patients to prefer or not prefer to be served by a Muslim nurse, nor do we want people to think that public security is being enforced by a Muslim or non-Muslim officer." Additionally, Masagos urged such discussion on religious matters to be done "behind closed doors". Masagos' statement was criticised by opposition politicians who viewed it as disallowing the hijab for certain vocations, such as those in healthcare, despite the fact that the Muslim community advocated for a more open workplace. In a survey by Rice Media, 93% of respondents indicated that they were not bothered if "people in uniformed services are visibly wearing religious markers like hijabs, turbans and crosses." In response to Masagos' point on "closed-door discussions", Faisal rebuked that he was not privy to them and felt that "all elected Malay MPs should be part of this closed-door discussion" rather than only PAP MPs, as it was at that moment. Faisal added that he "would like to offer imselfto the PAP ministers to be part of this closed-door discussion."

References

External links

Masagos Zulkifli
on Prime Minister's Office
Masagos Zulkifli
on

Parliament of Singapore The Parliament of Singapore is the unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Singapore, Republic of Singapore, which governs the country alongside the President of Singapore. Largely based upon the Westminster system, the Parliament is made ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masagos Zulkifli 1963 births Living people Marshall School of Business alumni Members of the Cabinet of Singapore Members of the Parliament of Singapore Nanyang Technological University alumni National Junior College alumni National University of Singapore alumni People's Action Party politicians Singaporean Muslims Singaporean politicians of Malay descent Environment ministers Environment ministers of Singapore Singaporean engineers