Indranee Rajah

Indranee Thurai இந்திராணி ராஜா
Party Affiliation	PAP
Current Role	• Minister in the PMO • Second Minister for Finance • Second Minister for National Development • MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC • Leader of the House for the 14th Parliament
Past Roles	• Pending •
Others	• Pending • Pending
Background
Education	• Pending • • •
Personal Details
Age	61
Others	Pending

Indranee Thurai Rajah SC, born on 12 April 1963, is a prominent Singaporean lawyer and politician. She currently holds the position of Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, serving as the Second Minister for Finance since 2018 and the Second Minister for National Development and Leader of the House since 2020. As a member of the People's Action Party (PAP), she has represented the Tanjong Pagar–Tiong Bahru division of Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in Parliament since 2015.

For the full list of positions, refer to PARL link.

Early Life and Education

Indranee received early education at Marymount Convent Primary School and Secondary School. She was then educated at the pre-university section of Raffles Institution (RI). This was before Raffles Junior College was spun off from RI in 1982. She obtained her Bachelor of Laws with honors from the National University of Singapore in 1986.

Legal career

Indranee started her legal career in 1987 at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer before joining Drew & Napier in 1988. She later became a director by 1991. She specialized in cross-border dispute resolution and was appointed Senior Counsel in January 2003.

Political career

Indranee started her political debut in the 2001 general election as part of a six-member PAP team contesting in Tanjong Pagar GRC, where she won a seat. Following the death of Lee Kuan Yew in March 2015, she continued to serve as MP for Tanjong Pagar–Tiong Bahru until the next general election.

She held several significant roles within Parliament, including Deputy Speaker from 2006 to 2011. In July 2012, she was appointed Senior Minister of State for Law and Education, later leading initiatives such as the establishment of Singapore's third law school.

In May 2018, Indranee was appointed as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and took on additional responsibilities in finance and education. Notably, she faced public scrutiny in March 2018 for her comments regarding GST increases but continued to play a vital role in government.

Personal life

Indranee is the daughter of A. T. Rajah, a former Deputy Commissioner of Police and President of the Singapore National Olympic Council. Her multicultural background includes Tamil Hindu heritage from her father and ethnic Chinese Anglican roots from her mother.

Controversies

Claim that divorcing couples do not face HDB hurdles

• Indranee Rajah was firmly asserting that "Mr Faisal is unaware" and that HDB already allows individuals undergoing divorce proceedings to apply for rental flats before an interim or final judgment is obtained when WP's Faisal Manap, MP for Aljunied GRC highlighted a recurring issue where divorcing couples struggle to secure rental housing before finalizing their divorce.

• when Pritam Singh showed a letter from HDB dated 1 May 2024 that contradicted her assertion, she then backtracked by claiming that HDB’s case-by-case approach might have caused confusion and offered to review the agency’s procedures to ensure greater clarity.

No further action on Speaker's unparliamentary remarks

• as Leader of the House, she delivered Tan Chuan-Jin’s apology on Wednesday, August 2 2023 and declared no further action necessary as she maintained that all necessary steps had been taken to address the issue and considered the matter closed.
• when NCMP Leong Mun Wai inquired whether the Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin had erred by not demanding a formal apology from Vivian Balakrishnan over a hot-mic incident in Parliament, she reminded that Leong Mun Wai had accepted the apology at the time and it was up to him if he wished to take the matter further.
• in Jul 2023, Indranee Rajah demanded an apology from Leong Mun Wai for a Progress Singapore Party's Facebook post which contains the term "sia suay", made in the context of Ridout Road rentals.

Counter motion to Hazel Poa's to suspend S Iswaran

• NCMP Hazel Poa submitted a motion to suspend then-Transport Minister, S Iswaran, from his parliamentary duties for the remainder of the 14th Parliament and therefore halt his MP allowance, which amounts to S$192,500 annually, during the ongoing investigation by the CPIB.
• Indranee Rajah, as Leader of the House, then submitted a separate motion, calling on the House to resolve to consider the matter concerning S Iswaran once the outcome of the ongoing investigations against him becomes known, thereby allowing the minister to continue drawing a pay while under investigation.
• Lim Tean had questioned why S Iswaran was given "special treatment" when another individual working in a ministry was arrested and charged by the CPIB, leading to his suspension without pay.

Keppel corruption case

• on 6 Feb 2023, Indranee Rajah reported that former senior management staff members of Keppel Offshore & Marine were not prosecuted over a multimillion-dollar bribery case due to insufficient evidence to establish their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt

• she said this was partly because several potential key overseas witnesses would not agree to come to Singapore to testify

• many MPs and the public had earlier questioned why the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) and Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) chose not to prosecute the officers, and the perceived light penalty from the government

• CPIB only gave stern warnings to the six former senior management staff members of Keppel O&M for a US$55 million (S$73 million) bribery case involving Brazilian oil giant Petrobras.

• this was despite Keppel O&M admitting to making the bribes in an agreed statement of facts it signed with the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2017, as part of a deferred prosecution agreement.

• As part of a global resolution involving the DOJ, and authorities in Brazil and Singapore, Keppel O&M paid US$422 million in fines.

• However, the illegal payments purportedly allowed Keppel O&M and its related companies to earn profits of more than US$350 million from business corruptly obtained in Brazil.

Conflict of interest accusations "unfounded" in Oxley Road Saga

• Lee Hsien Yang and sister Lee Wei Ling had singled out Attorney-General Lucien Wong in their online posts about the Oxley Road dispute, highlighting that he was the personal lawyer of their brother, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and had attained his position in January this year (2017)

• K. Shanmugam, whose inclusion in the ministerial committee was a conflict of interest, given that he had been consulted extensively on the process of will-drafting by the late Lee Kuan Yew, the younger Lee children had maintained.

• MP Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC) had also raised a similar query on potential conflict of interest about Deputy Attorney-General Hri Kumar Nair, who was previously a People's Action Party member until his resignation earlier this year.

• Indranee Rajah stated it was too excessive a criteria to suggest that officers from the Attorney-General's Office must not have previous links to ministers or political parties

• therefore she maintained that concerns about conflict of interest involving the Attorney-General's Office were unfounded

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14th Parliament MP  : Ang Wei Neng • Baey Yam Keng • Cheryl Chan Wei Ling • Chan Chun Sing • Chee Hong Tat • Cheng Li Hui • Edward Chia Bing Hui • Chong Kee Hiong • Desmond Choo • Chua Kheng Wee Louis • Eric Chua • Darryl David • Christopher de Souza • Foo Mee Har • Grace Fu Hai Yien • Gan Kim Yong • Gan Siow Huang • Gan Thiam Poh • Derrick Goh • He Ting Ru • Heng Chee How • Heng Swee Keat • Shawn Huang Wei Zhong • Indranee Rajah • S Iswaran • Janil Puthucheary • Amy Khor Lean Suan • Koh Poh Koon • Kwek Hian Chuan Henry • Desmond Lee • Lee Hsien Loong • Liang Eng Hwa • Lim Biow Chuan • Jamus Jerome Lim • Sylvia Lim • Lim Wee Kiak • Low Yen Ling • Mariam Jaafar • Masagos Zulkifli Bin Masagos Mohamad • Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman • Mohd Fahmi Bin Aliman • Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap • Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim • Murali Pillai • Nadia Ahmad Samdin • Ng Eng Hen • Ng Ling Ling • Louis Ng Kok Kwang • Rachel Ong • Ong Ye Kung • Joan Pereira • Leon Perera • Denise Phua Lay Peng • Poh Li San • Pritam Singh • Raeesah Khan • Rahayu Mahzam • Saktiandi Supaat • Seah Kian Peng • K Shanmugam • Sharael Taha • Sim Ann • Sitoh Yih Pin • Hany Soh • Sun Xueling • Alvin Tan • Carrie Tan • Tan Chuan-Jin • Dennis Tan Lip Fong • Desmond Tan • Jessica Tan Soon Neo • Tan Kiat How • Tan See Leng • Tan Wu Meng • Patrick Tay Teck Guan • Teo Chee Hean • Josephine Teo • Tharman Shanmugaratnam • Tin Pei Ling • Edwin Tong Chun Fai • Vikram Nair • Vivian Balakrishnan • Wan Rizal • Don Wee • Lawrence Wong • Xie Yao Quan • Alex Yam Ziming • Yeo Wan Ling • Yip Hon Weng • Melvin Yong Yik Chye • Zaqy Mohamad • Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim NCMP  : Leong Mun Wai • Hazel Poa