Indranee Thurai Rajah ( ta, இந்திராணி ராஜா; born 1963) is a Singaporean politician who has been serving as

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office A Minister in the Prime Minister's Office ( he, שר במשרד ראש הממשלה, ''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 o ...

and Second Minister for Finance since 2018, Second Minister for National Development and Leader of the House since 2020. A member of the governing

People's Action Party The People's Action Party (abbreviation: PAP) is a major conservative centre-right political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and ...

(PAP), she has been the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) representing the Tanjong Pagar–Tiong Bahru division of

Tanjong Pagar GRC The Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in Central and Western Singapore. The five divisions consists: Buona Vista, Queenstown, Moulmein-Cairnhill, Tanjong Pagar- Tiong Bahr ...

since 2015. Prior to entering politics, Indranee was a lawyer at

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (informally Freshfields, or FBD) is an international law firm headquartered in London, and a member of the Magic Circle. The firm has 28 offices in 17 jurisdictions across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Nor ...

and Drew & Napier. She was appointed

Senior Counsel The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel (post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictio ...

in January 2003. Indranee made her political debut in the 2001 general election as part of a six-member PAP team contesting in

and won. She was subsequently elected as the

(MP) representing the Tanglin–Cairnhill ward of Tanjong Pagar GRC. After the death of

Minister Mentor Minister Mentor was a position in the Cabinet of Singapore created in 2004 as part of a transition in political leadership. The only person to hold the post, between 2004 and 2011, was Lee Kuan Yew. Background On 12 August 2004, when Lee Hsien L ...

Lee Kuan Yew Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean lawyer and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990, and Secretary-General o ...

on 23 March 2015, Indranee served as the MP for the Tanjong Pagar–Tiong Bahru ward concurrently until the 2015 general election as no by-elections were called due to it being a group representation constituency (GRC). Since then, Indranee has been representing the Tanjong Pagar–Tiong Bahru ward of Tanjong Pagar GRC.

Education

Indranee attended Marymount Convent Primary School, Marymount Convent Secondary School and

Raffles Institution Raffles Institution (RI) is an independent educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1823, it is the oldest school in the country. It provides secondary education for boys only from Year 1 to Year 4, and pre-university education for both ...

before graduating from the National University of Singapore with a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

with honours degree in 1986.

Law career

Indranee began her legal career in 1987 with

. She joined Drew & Napier in 1988 and became a director of the firm in 1991. She was a litigator and had an active court practice as an advocate and solicitor, specialising in cross-border dispute resolution. She was appointed

by Chief Justice

Yong Pung How Yong Pung How (11 April 1926 – 9 January 2020) was a Malayan-born Singaporean judge, lawyer and banker who served as the second chief justice of Singapore between 1990 and 2006, appointed by President Wee Kim Wee. He also served as the cha ...

in January 2003.

Political career

Indranee served as Deputy Speaker of Parliament between 2006 and 2011. On 31 July 2012, Indranee was designated as Senior Minister of State for Law and Senior Minister of State for Education before being appointed on 1 November 2012. Indranee led a 12-member committee in 2013 to provide a strategic direction for the planned third law school in Singapore, including its admissions criteria, curriculum development and educational philosophy. On 16 February 2016, the committee which includes the Ministry of Law and

Singapore University of Social Sciences Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borderin ...

, held a joint press conference to announce the opening of the SUSS School of Law. Indranee relinquished her position as Senior Minister of State for Education, before being appointed as Senior Minister of State for Finance on 1 October 2015. On 9 March 2018, Indranee criticised Workers' Party Member of Parliament Sylvia Lim on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

after the latter voiced her suspicion on the government's intention to raise the

GST GST may refer to: Taxes * General sales tax * Goods and Services Tax, the name for the value-added tax in several jurisdictions: ** Goods and services tax (Australia) ** Goods and Services Tax (Canada) ** Goods and Services Tax (Hong Kong) **G ...

in order to extract an apology. The public criticised Indranee and other PAP members for hounding Lim and being narrow-minded, and supported Lim for asking a legitimate question on behalf of her constituents. On 1 May 2018, Indranee was appointed as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for Education. She was succeeded by

Edwin Tong Edwin Tong Chun Fai ( zh, s=唐振辉, p=Táng Zhènhuī; born 1969) is a Singaporean politician and lawyer who has been serving as Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law concurrently since 2020. A member of the ...

as Second Minister for Law on 30 June 2018. On 20 August 2020, Indranee was appointed as Leader of the House for the 14th Parliament.

Personal life

Indranee is the daughter of A. T. Rajah, a former Deputy Commissioner of Police and former President of the

Singapore National Olympic Council The Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) is the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the Republic of Singapore. It was founded in 1947 as the Singapore Olympic and Sports Council (SOSC) before renaming to its curr ...

. Her father was

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

and her mother, an ethnic Chinese, was Anglican, and she was raised in her mother's faith.

References

External links

Indranee Rajah
on Prime Minister's Office
Indranee Rajah
on Parliament of Singapore {{DEFAULTSORT:Indranee Rajah 1963 births Living people Members of the Parliament of Singapore National University of Singapore alumni People's Action Party politicians Singaporean women lawyers Singaporean Anglicans Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean people of Cantonese descent Singaporean people of Indian descent Singaporean people of Tamil descent Singaporean Senior Counsel Singaporean women in politics Singaporean Tamil politicians Women government ministers of Singapore Members of the Cabinet of Singapore Women legislative deputy speakers 20th-century Singaporean lawyers