Tan Wu Meng
| 陈有明 | |
| |
| Current Role | • MP for Jurong GRC • |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Party | PAP 
|
Tan Wu Meng was Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry when he decided to retire from political office in a letter to the Prime Minister dated 24 Jul 2020. He explained that he wished to return to medical practice for his decision. However, he remained in his role as MP for Jurong GRC after successfully retaining his seat in GE2020 held on 10 Jul 2020.
- May 2018 - appointed as a Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Trade and Industry.
- after stepping down from being Parliamentary Secretaries, he remained as a backbencher MP in Parliament
For the full list of positions, refer to PARL link.
Early Life and Education
- Raffles Institution
- Hwa Chong Junior College
- he went to the University of Cambridge, where he studied medicine at Trinity College
Career
- medical career as a specialist in medical oncology at the National Cancer Centre at the Singapore General Hospital
- as of 2025, he still has a valid medical practicing certificate, with the place of practice listed as National Cancer Centre Singapore, 30 Hospital Boulevard Singapore 168583
-
Tan Wu Meng's medical registration as of 2025
Controversies
Retiring from Cabinet after GE2020 election
- unlike Khaw Boon Wan (Sembawang GRC) and Sam Tan Chin Siong (Tanjong Pagar GRC) who retired before GE2020 and therefore did not participate in the election, Tan Wu Meng's decision to leave the Cabinet after GE2020 (held on 10 July 2020) was only announced on 25 Jul 2020 during the Cabinet reshuffle (resignation letter dated 24 Jul 2020), effectively retaining his MP position in Jurong GRC.
- Back then, the Jurong GRC comprised the following MPs after election in 2020:
- Tharman Shanmugaratnam (MP since GE2001)
- Rahayu Mahzam (MP since GE2015)
- Tan Wu Meng (MP since GE2015)
- Xie Yao Quan (newcomer for GE2020)
- Shawn Huang Wei Zhong (newcomer for GE2020)
- An interesting thing to note is that if Tan Wu Meng had not contested in GE2020 and retained his MP position, when Tharman Shanmugaratnam resigned on 8 Jun 2023 to run for President, the Jurong GRC would be left with only 2 newcomers and one other MP who had only entered politics in 2015 like himself, with no minister or veteran PAP politician to anchor the GRC, unless the PAP did a major change in the Jurong GRC lineup prior to GE2020. The post of the MP who resigned is left vacant in a GRC until the next election, and his duties covered by the other GRC MPs. The next election was to be held before Nov 2025.[1]
“politically motivated” and "divisive" opinion piece
- Tan Wu Meng received criticism for his opinion piece on the People’s Action Party (PAP) website, seen as “politically motivated” because published on the eve of imminent general elections
- was viewed as an attack on Workers’ Party (WP) chief and MP Pritam Singh and local playwright Alfian Sa’at by many
Attack at Meet-the-People Session
- Was hit by a resident during a Meet-the-People Session (MPS) on 17 Apr 2018
-
Tan Wu Meng's Facebook post briefly describing the attack at the MPS
