Janil Puthucheary

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The Honourable
Janil Puthucheary
ജനില പോണ്ടിച്ചേരി
Janil Putucheary Walkabout.png
Puthucheary in 2023
Party Whip of the People's Action Party
Incumbent
Assumed office
6 June 2019
Personal details
Born
Janil Arusha Puthucheary

(1972-11-06) 6 November 1972 (age 52)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Political party People's Action Party
SpouseMichelle Jong
Children3
Alma mater Queen's University, Belfast
Occupation
  • Politician
  • paediatrician

Janil Arusha Puthucheary [a] (born 6 November 1972) [1] [2] is a Malaysian-born Singaporean politician and paediatrician. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he has been serving as Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment and Senior Minister of State for Education since 2025. He has also been serving as Party Whip of the People's Action Party since 2019. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Punggol Coast division since 2015, as part of Pasir Ris–Punggol Group Representation Constituency until 2025 and as part of Punggol Group Representation Constituency since 2025. [3] [4]

Contents

Born in Malaysia, Puthucheary had worked as a paediatrician at hospitals in the United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore before he became a Singapore citizen in 2008.

He made his political debut in the 2011 general election as part of a six-member PAP team contesting in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC, and won 64.79% of the vote. Puthucheary was elected as the Member of Parliament representing the Punggol West ward of Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC.

He has since retained his parliamentary seat in the subsequent general elections, however, he switched to representing the Punggol Coast ward after the 2015 general election. Additionally, he has served as Minister of State and later Senior Minister of State at the Ministries of Communication and Information (2016–2017, 2020–present), Education (2016–2018), Transport (2018–2020), and Health (2020–present). He is chairman of the PAP youth wing. [5]

Education

Puthucheary attended primary school in Kuala Lumpur before going to Oundle School in Northamptonshire for his secondary education.

He completed his training as a paediatrician at Queen's University Belfast and the Royal College of Physicians.

Career

Puthucheary worked at hospitals in Belfast, London and Sydney before he moved to Singapore in 2001 to work at KK Women's and Children's Hospital as a Senior Consultant at the children's intensive care unit. In 2007, he became an Assistant Professor and Medical Director for Faculty Development at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School. [6]

Political career

Puthucheary made his political debut in the 2011 general election when he joined a six-member PAP team contesting in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC. After his candidacy was announced, he attracted attention as he had not served national service as new citizens are not required to. He was also compared with Chen Show Mao, a foreign-born Workers' Party (WP) candidate who had served national service as a second generation Singapore Permanent Resident. In response, Puthucheary said that he had spent the past ten years saving children's lives. [7] Low Thia Khiang, the WP chief, called for an amendment to the Constitution to require completion of national service from male political candidates. [8] The PAP team in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC won with 64.79% of the vote against the Singapore Democratic Alliance. [9] Puthucheary thus became an MP representing the Punggol West ward of Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC. [10]

Puthucheary contested as part of a six-member PAP team in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC in the 2015 general election and they won with 72.89% of the vote against the Singapore Democratic Alliance. On 1 January 2016, he was appointed Minister of State at the Ministry of Communications and Information and Ministry of Education. On 1 May 2017, he was promoted to Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Education and left the Ministry of Communications and Information. On 1 May 2018, his appointments were changed to Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Communications and Information and the Ministry of Transport. On 6 June 2019, he was appointed Government Whip. [1]

During the 2020 general election, Puthucheary contested as part of a five-member PAP team in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC and they won with 64.16% of the vote against the Singapore Democratic Alliance. After the election, Puthucheary switched to representing the Punggol Coast ward of Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC. On 27 July 2020, he dropped his appointment as Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Transport while continuing to serve as Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Communications and Information. In addition, he was appointed Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Health. [1] During the 2025 general election, Puthucheary was part of the newly-created Punggol GRC PAP team led by Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong. The PAP would eventually win with 55.17% of the vote against the Workers' Party team led by Harpreet Singh Nehal. [11] [12]

Personal life

Puthucheary was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Dominic Puthucheary, a trade unionist and founding member of the People's Action Party. His father later left the PAP to join Barisan Sosialis, a party formed by expelled left-wing PAP members. Dominic Puthucheary was detained in February 1963 during Operation Coldstore [13] [14] but was released ten months later and barred from entering Singapore until 1990, when he was elected MP for Nibong Tebal in Penang, Malaysia. [15] An older brother of Puthucheary's father, James Puthucheary, was also a founding member of the PAP who left to join Barisan Sosialis and was detained during Operation Coldstore. [16]

In 2008, Puthucheary became a Singapore citizen. [17] [18] [19] When the Singapore Armed Forces Volunteer Corps was established on 13 October 2014, Puthucheary enlisted in the Corps' first batch of volunteers. [20]

Puthucheary is of Malayalee descent. [21] He is married to Michelle Jong, a Senior Consultant in the Department of Endocrinology at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. [22] [23] They have three sons. [24]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "MP | Parliament of Singapore".
  2. ↑ "Parliament of Singapore : Dr Janil Puthucheary's CV". Parliament of Singapore. Archived from the original on 22 May 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  3. ↑ miwo (23 April 2025). "PAP team for Punggol GRC". People's Action Party. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  4. ↑ "ELD | 2025 Parliamentary General Election Results". www.eld.gov.sg. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  5. ↑ "Young PAP Executive Committee". People's Action Party. Archived from the original on 29 April 2025. Retrieved 29 April 2025.
  6. ↑ Member's CV: Dr Janil Puthucheary Archived 24 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine , parliament.gov.sg, retrieved 6 April 2012.
  7. ↑ Loh, Andrew (15 April 2011). "PAP's Janil Puthucheary: "I did not do NS…"". The Online Citizen. Archived from the original on 21 April 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  8. ↑ Loh, Andrew (3 May 2011). "PAP has abused power to secure political advantage: WP". The Online Citizen. Archived from the original on 4 May 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  9. ↑ Parliamentary General Election 2011: Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC, singapore-elections.com, retrieved 6 April 2012.
  10. ↑ Dr Janil Puthucheary Archived 1 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine , prpg-tc.org.sg, retrieved 6 April 2012.
  11. ↑ "GE2025: 'Task force man' Gan Kim Yong leads PAP to win Punggol GRC". The Straits Times. 4 May 2025. ISSN   0585-3923 . Retrieved 6 May 2025.
  12. ↑ "PAP wins Punggol GRC with 55.17% of votes over WP". AsiaOne. 4 May 2025. Retrieved 6 May 2025.
  13. ↑ "Who Is Dominic Puthucheary?". Singapore Notes. 24 March 2011.
  14. ↑ Their dads were once PAP adversaries, The Straits Times, 22 March 2011.
  15. ↑ "We were in Singapore but our hearts were in Malaya". www.asiaone.com. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  16. ↑ "JamesPuthucheary.org". JamesPuthucheary.org -. 27 April 1943. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
  17. ↑ Chew, Cassandra (22 March 2011). "'I'm staying, I'm fully invested'". The Straits Times. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  18. ↑ "GE 2011: PAP's new candidates". www.asiaone.com. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  19. ↑ Young, Pak Nang (1 April 2011). "A minimum period of citizenship?". TODAY. Archived from the original on 5 April 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
  20. ↑ "First intake of SAF Volunteer Corps enlisted". 26 March 2015. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  21. ↑ Lee, Hsien Loong (29 September 2017). "PM Lee Hsien Loong at the Singapore Malayalee Association 100th Anniversary Dinner". Prime Minister's Office Singapore. Retrieved 5 August 2025. Currently, there are three Malayalee MPs – Dr Janil Puthucheary, Mr Vikram Nair and Mr Murali Pillai.
  22. ↑ "Vital Science: June 2012", Vital Science, p. 13, June 2012, retrieved 5 August 2025, Eugene Stead College members on one of their outings with Dr. Michelle Jong and Dr. Janil Puthucheary and their sons:
  23. ↑ "A/Prof Michelle Jong". SHBC 2025. Retrieved 5 August 2025.
  24. ↑ "Dr Janil Puthucheary". prpg-tc.org.sg. Pasir Ris Punggol Town Council. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2015.

Notes

  1. ↑ Malayalam: ജനില അരുഷ പോണ്ടിച്ചേരി, romanized: Janil Aruṣa Pōṇṇṭiccēri
Parliament of Singapore
Preceded by Member of Parliament for
Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC
2011–2025
Served alongside:
(2011-2015): Zainal bin Sapari, Teo Chee Hean, Penny Low, Gan Thiam Poh, Teo Ser Luck
(2015-2020): Zainal bin Sapari, Teo Chee Hean, Ng Chee Meng, Teo Ser Luck, Sun Xueling
(2020-2025): Sharael Taha, Desmond Tan, Teo Chee Hean, Yeo Wan Ling 		Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for
Punggol GRC
2025–present
Served alongside: Gan Kim Yong, Yeo Wan Ling, Sun Xueling 		Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Chairman of Young PAP
2017–present		Incumbent
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