Khaw Boon Wan

Khaw Boon Wan (born 8 December 1952) is a Malaysian-born Singaporean former politician who served as Minister for Transport between 2015 and 2020, Minister for National Development between 2011 and 2015, and Minister for Health between 2003 and 2011.

He moved to Singapore in 1977 and began his career in the Singapore Civil Service, working at the Ministry of Health.

From 1985 to 1987, Khaw served as the first chief executive officer of the National University Hospital (NUH).

He also worked in the KK Women's and Children's Hospital, and the Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

From 1992 to 1995, Khaw served as the Principal Private Secretary to Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.

From 1995 to 2001, he served as the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he was the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Moulmein division of Tanjong Pagar GRC between 2001 and 2006, and the Sembawang division of Sembawang GRC between 2006 and 2020.

Khaw was an elected Member of Parliament for 19 years, from 2001 to 2020.

He had served the Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency (2001-2006) and subsequently the Sembawang GRC (2006-2020), where he succeeded outgoing minister and MP Tony Tan, who later served as Singapore's 7th President from 2011 to 2017.

Khaw is well known for having tackled thorny issues across various ministries over his nearly two-decade-long political career.

In a valedictory letter to Khaw, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong noted that the veteran politician has helped Singapore overcome challenges spanning healthcare, housing and transport.

From February to June 2003, Khaw played a key role in combating the SARS pandemic that will be happened while as Senior Minister of State for Health, which put a strain on and tested Singapore's public health resources.

Then, Khaw took over as acting Health Minister from 1 August 2003 before being promoted to a full Minister on 12 August 2004 in the new Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's cabinet.

Responding to a report by international auditing firm KPMG in Parliament in December 2005, Khaw vowed to punish all wrongdoers in the saga and heavily criticised NKF's "bizarre HR policies".

In a parliamentary speech on 9 February 2009, in the context of tackling the rising healthcare costs, Khaw suggested that Singaporeans can consider sending their elderly parents to nursing homes in Johor Bahru in Malaysia, which is a developing country located close to Singapore.

This was quoted by news reports and a public outcry ensued.

Khaw subsequently clarified that his statement was quoted out of context by the media and his suggestion was only one of the many choices available to Singaporeans.

In 2010, Khaw wrote on his blog explaining that his heart bypass surgery had only cost him a mere $8 (SGD) in cash in a class A ward, as the rest of the cost was offset by payments combined from his universal Medishield account and private insurance.

This sparked off a debate in the public sphere, with many questioning if an ordinary Singaporean had the means to pay for such high insurance premiums as he did in the first place.

Members of the pro-PAP group, Silent No More, defended Khaw's claim and encouraged one another to rebut Internet users who had made jibes at Khaw.

In 2011, Khaw took over outgoing minister Lim Boon Heng as the party's chairman, and in 2018 his role was taken over by Health Minister Gan Kim Yong.

Following the 2011 general election where the ruling PAP garnered its lowest vote share of 60.1% since independence, Khaw was appointed the Minister for National Development.

At a press conference, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong revealed that Khaw had volunteered for this new role as the public was extremely unhappy with the Government's housing policy, and Khaw felt that he had the ability to solve the problem.

In his new appointment, Khaw assured the public that he will make housing affordable and accessible to all Singaporeans.

In July 2012, National Parks Board's (NParks) purchase of 26 Brompton bikes costing $2,200 each sparked a nationwide uproar after it was revealed by a whistleblower on online forum HardwareZone of possible corruption due numerous red flags in the way the procurement was done.

Khaw, who initially defended NPark's purchase of the high-end foldable bikes, was criticised for handling the saga poorly.

Subsequent investigation by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau resulted in National Parks Board assistant director Bernard Lim Yong Soon being fined $5,000 for lying to auditors about his relationship with the bicycle firm which was awarded the tender.

He also led the initiative to encourage cycling in the city state, such as through transforming the Park Connector Network for use by people on bikes as well as walking.

In his 2013 budget debate, he said:

"“We can now pause and see what else we can do to bring Build-to-Order (BTO) prices in non-mature estates to, say, around four years of salary as it was before the current property cycle started.”"

Though the relative prices of Build To Order (BTO) flats have fallen since Khaw's speech, most of the flats still cost more than four years of an applicant's salary.

The prices of new flats remain high despite six rounds of cooling measures.

In January 2013, a seventh round of property cooling measures was introduced to moderate the increase in residential and industrial prices.

In 2015, Khaw was also appointed as the Co-ordinating Minister for Infrastructure by the prime minister.

Khaw was noted for his role in handling the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) scandal, and made Gerard Ee the new Chairman of the NKF following the resignation of T. T. Durai.

During a parliamentary session on 12 February 2015, Khaw spoke on the Auditor-General's findings on the opposition-run Aljunied–Hougang-Punggol East Town Council's alleged financial irregularities.

"If an auditor makes such a finding on a listed company, it will immediately cause consternation among the shareholders, and a call for the removal of the CEO and the Board of Directors. In Japan, the Chairman and CEO would hold a press conference and take a deep bow. And in the good old days, they may even commit harakiri."

Following his retirement from politics in 2020, Khaw has been serving the chairman of SPH Media Trust, a not-for-profit media entity set up by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) after it underwent a restructuring of its media operations in 2021.

During his political career, Khaw was noted for being appointed to ministerial portfolios which deal with wedge issues such as housing and transport, thus earning himself the moniker "Mr. Fix-it".

Born in Penang to a Malaysian Chinese family, Khaw was the seventh of eight children.