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Lee Kuan Yew to get new post

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, AUG. 10. Singapore's elder statesman, Lee Kuan Yew, who has been holding the distinctive position of "Senior Minister" in the Cabinet of the outgoing Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong, will get a new post. He will become "Minister Mentor" in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister-designate, Lee Hsien Loong, who will be sworn in on August 12.

Announcing that he would advise the President, S. R. Nathan, to appoint Mr. Goh as "Senior Minister," Mr. Hsien Loong released the list of his prospective Cabinet. Tony Tan, Deputy Prime Minister, will retain his position until June-end 2005 when he would retire as per his own wish as part of the ongoing process "political self-renewal". Dr. Tan will oversee the implementation of the "Strategic Framework for National Security." He will be succeeded by Wong Kan Seng. The Minister for Home Affairs, Mr. Wong, will first hold the position in Mr. Hsien Loong's prospective Cabinet.

S. Jayakumar, Foreign Minister, will be made a Deputy Prime Minister. He will also "chair a Cabinet committee on foreign policy matters that cut across different Ministries." The Foreign Minister-designate is George Yeo, a key Minister in Mr. Goh's Cabinet. While Teo Chee Hean is slated to retain the Defence portfolio, Mr. Hsien Loong said he would continue to hold charge of Finance.

Subject to the President's formal concurrence, Mr. Goh would become the Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), a post now held by Mr. Hsien Loong. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, now Acting Minister of Education, would be made the MAS Deputy Chairman, the Prime Minister-designate said in a statement.

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