Pool of capable Singaporeans will narrow if personal cost of public service is too high: Tan See Leng

SINGAPORE – If entering public service comes at too high a personal cost, the pool from which Singapore can draw its leaders will narrow over time, and this would be a far greater cost for the country than any debate over political salaries, said Minister for Trade and Industry (Energy and Industry) Tan See Leng.

“Ultimately, public service is a high calling, but even callings require deliberate choices,” said Tan, who was speaking at the parliamentary debate on the Government’s response to a review of the salaries of political office-holders and MPs on Sept 10.

Tan was the group chief executive and managing director of IHH Healthcare, a medical group, before he became a minister in 2020, after the general election that year.

Sharing his own experience transitioning from the private sector to politics, he said political service demands significantly more from those who choose to serve.

“The hours are longer, the responsibilities are heavier, every decision is scrutinised, and there is little separation between public duty and private life,” he added.

Tan said young professional executives will also face the conundrum of having to step away from careers they spent years building to pivot to full-time public service before reaching their peak in the private sector.

He cited ministers such as Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and former defence minister Ng Eng Hen, who stepped away from their medical careers in their prime. They both entered politics in 2001.

“Their ministerial salaries could never have matched what they gave up financially,” he said.

Skill sets that Singapore could benefit from may belong to professionals like an entrepreneur whose company is just taking off, someone in finance who is starting to see rewards for their hard work, or a rapidly rising mid-career executive supporting ageing parents while raising his own children, Tan said.

Such individuals, who enter politics in their prime, would have enough runway to learn the ropes from their seniors and make lasting contributions to Singapore.

“But please don’t forget, at a personal level, there is much they must be prepared to give up as well. Time. Future opportunities. Personal goals. Privacy. Financial remuneration then becomes one of the many opportunity costs on that list,” Tan said.

“And inevitably, some will conclude that the sum total is just too high,” he said.

“Now, if that happens too often, Singapore loses, not because these people whom we reach out to lack the heart to serve, but because the personal price becomes too great.”

Tan entered politics at the age of 55 after more than 30 years in the private sector.

He started out as a general practitioner and later founded Healthway Medical Group, where he was CEO from 1993 to 2002. He later held other leadership roles in the healthcare sector, including group CEO and managing director of Parkway Pantai.

He was the oldest of the new candidates on the People’s Action Party’s slate in 2020.

After winning the then-named Marine Parade GRC ward, he was made Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Manpower as well as Trade and Industry. In May 2021, he became Minister for Manpower, retaining his Trade and Industry portfolio. 

In May 2025, he took on the role of Minister-in-Charge of Energy and Science and Technology in the Ministry of Trade and Industry. After a Cabinet reshuffle in 2026, he was appointed to his latest post as Minister for Trade and Industry (Energy and Industry).

Tan acknowledged that by the time he entered politics, he had already spent decades building many companies in the private sector.

This meant he had the financial security and independence to make decisions based entirely on his political convictions, with less regard for the personal financial consequences of such a decision.

Speaking just for himself, Tan said “no realistic level of ministerial salary” could have matched what he was earning before he joined the Government.

“I could have gone on earning, chasing, making exciting new deals, setting up new enterprises for many more years had I stayed in the private sector,” he said.

If money had been the primary consideration, he would never have entered politics, Tan added.

“I just felt I had to give back to the country and the people who had given me so much,” he said.

Tan told the House: “But I know that my own circumstances are unique. I cannot speak for everyone who is faced with the dilemma of either continuing to pursue their own careers or stepping into the uncertainties of public office.”

His hope, he said, is that when younger Singaporeans in the private sector are asked to serve in the public sector in future, it will not be an unnecessarily hard or progressively harder choice.

“Because at the end of the day, the strength of our Government depends not on what we pay those who serve, but on whether we continue to recruit the best people to serve,” he said, adding that this is an investment in Singapore’s future that is always worth making.

“Our responsibility is to ensure that when good Singaporeans are given the privilege to serve, their answers will depend on their willingness and ability – and less on whether their families and loved ones also have to share steep financial costs.”