Murali Pillai

Kumjan Muralidharan Pillai (Chinese: 穆仁理, pinyin ''Mù Rénlǐ''; ; born 30 October 1967), better known as Murali Pillai, is a Singaporean politician and lawyer who has been serving as Senior Minister of State for Transport, and Senior Minister of State for Law since 2025. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Bukit Batok division of Jurong East–Bukit Batok GRC since 2025, and previously Bukit Batok SMC between 2016 and 2025.

Pillai started his career in the Singapore Police Force (SPF) before becoming a practising lawyer in 1996. Prior to his appointment as Minister of State, Pillai was a partner in the Commercial Litigation practice at Rajah & Tann.

Pillai joined the People's Action Party (PAP) in 2001 and was the branch secretary to Ong Chit Chung, Member of Parliament for Bukit Batok. He was part of a five-member PAP team who contested and narrowly lost to the Workers' Party in Aljunied GRC during the 2015 general election. In 2016, Pillai was once again fielded as a PAP candidate for the Bukit Batok by-election. He won 61.2% of the vote, securing his seat as a Member of Parliament for Bukit Batok SMC.

Early life and education

Pillai is of Indian descent. Pillai's father, P. Kumjan Pillai, was a trade unionist detained and banished to India during Operation Coldstore in 1963. The elder Pillai died in 2007.

Pillai attended Newton Boys School, (now Monk's Hill Primary School), Monk's Hill Secondary School and Hwa Chong Junior College. before graduating from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Laws with honours degree.He subsequently went on to complete a Master of Laws degree and Master of Business Administration degree at the National University of Singapore. He also obtained a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Pillai played hockey as a student and had represented his school. He was also once President of Raffles Hall in NUS.

Police and legal career

While serving his National Service, Pillai was a platoon commander in the 2nd Guards Battalion of the Singapore Army. In 1992, Pillai joined the Singapore Police Force as an Assistant Superintendent of Police, primarily involved in investigations into white-collar crimes. He completed his National Service obligations in 2017 as Deputy Superintendent (NS) upon reaching age of 50.

Pillai was called to the Singapore Bar in 1996. In 2014, he defended Choo Wee Khiang, a former PAP Member of Parliament, against his corruption charges.

Pillai was the head of commercial litigation at Rajah & Tann at the time of the 2016 Bukit Batok by-election. He then stepped down from his post in an effort to better balance his work commitments and political responsibilities. He was appointed Senior Counsel in 2020.

Political career

A member of the PAP since 2001, Pillai served from 2007 to 2011 as the branch secretary at PAP's Bukit Batok branch. Then, Pillai served as the branch chairman of PAP's Paya Lebar branch from May 2012 to 2016.

2015 general election

Pillai contested the 2015 general election in a PAP team for Aljuined GRC. Although the PAP team was ahead by around 300 votes in Pillai's ward of Paya Lebar within Aljunied GRC, the team gathered only 49.05% of the votes and lost to the team from the Workers' Party which consists of Low Thia Kiang, Pritam Singh, Sylvia Lim, Muhamad Faisal Manap and Chen Show Mao which garnered 50.95% of the votes.

2016 Bukit Batok By-election

On 12 March 2016, David Ong, the PAP Member of Parliament for Bukit Batok SMC, resigned, citing a "personal indiscretion". When the PAP announced on 21 March 2016 that Pillai would be their representative for the 2016 Bukit Batok by-election, Pillai was appointed branch chairman of PAP's Bukit Batok branch. Pillai was formally nominated as a candidate on 27 April 2016, the only other nominated candidate being Chee Soon Juan of the SDP.

During his campaign, Pillai chose the Mandarin nickname of "Ah-Mu" ( zh, s=阿穆, labels=no). He pledged that if he won, he would upgrade infrastructure around Blocks 140 to 149 of the SMC, which would cost S$1.9 million. Pillai later clarified that this potential S$1.9 million project is "part of" the S$23.6 million masterplan announced by David Ong during the 2015 general election.

Pillai's campaign manifesto focused on three domains: jobs, social mobility and the elderly.

Pillai defeated the Singapore Democratic Party's candidate Chee Soon Juan and secured 61.21% of the votes to win the Bukit Batok by-election on polling day. He was sworn into parliament on 9 May 2016.

After the 2018 cabinet reshuffle, Pillai was appointed Chairperson of Home Affairs and Law Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) in the 14th Parliament. He continued to serve as Chairman until 1 July 2024 where he relinquished the Chairmanship to Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim after taking office as Minister of State.

In 2019, Pillai, and Tin Pei Ling, asked in Parliament whether MediShield Life provides adequate coverage for citizens.

2020 general election

On 30 June 2020, after submitting his nomination papers for the election, Pillai claimed on social media that there was an online attack against his son, who was convicted of an offence. It was alleged that it was a deliberate attack on his candidacy. Chee, his election opponent from SDP, criticised the attack.

During the campaign period, Pillai was criticised by Chee Soon Juan from the Singapore Democratic Party for the fulfilment, delays, and safety issues in his constituency projects. Pillai was also publicly criticised by one of his constituents on Facebook for being unempathetic to her housing issues, suggesting to her that marriage was the solution to her issues. Pillai still won the election with 54.80% of the valid votes.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Pillai was criticised by Chee for allowing a gathering of seniors to take place. Pillai attended the event in his position as the adviser to Bukit Batok's Grassroots Organisations. Pillai defended against the criticism by saying that precautions were in place for the dinner.

On 13 May 2024, it was announced that Pillai was appointed to minister of state in the Ministry of Law and Ministry of Transport, an appointment that he would only take on from 1 July 2024. He resigned from Rajah & Tann on the effective date of the appointment. He is one of two backbenchers promoted to a full-time political office in that announcement, the other being Shawn Huang.

2025 general election

Pillai contested in the 2025 general election in a PAP team for Jurong East–Bukit Batok GRC. On 3 May 2025, the team were duly elected after securing 76.66 percent of the vote in the area against Red Dot United. In the course of the election campaigning, Pillai warned against populism and polarization in society from politics.

Personal life

Pillai married his educator wife, N. Gowri, in 1996. The couple have twin sons, and two younger daughters.

References

External links

Lawyer Profile - K. Muralidharan Pillai

Murali Pillai
on Parliament of Singapore

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillai, Murali
People's Action Party politicians
Hwa Chong Junior College alumni
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
National University of Singapore alumni
Living people
1967 births
20th-century Singaporean lawyers
Singaporean police officers
Members of the Parliament of Singapore
21st-century Singaporean lawyers
Singaporean politicians of Indian descent