Chee made his political debut in the 2015 general election as part of a five-member PAP team contesting in Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC which won 73.59% of the vote. Chee was elected as the Member of Parliament representing the Toa Payoh West–Balestier division of Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC. Since then, he has retained his parliamentary seat in the 2020 general election and had been appointed Minister of State and subsequently Senior Minister of State.
Chee was also Principal Private Secretary to Minister MentorLee Kuan Yew from 2008 to 2011. During this time, he attracted attention after he wrote on behalf of Lee to The Straits Times forum on 7 March 2009 in response to a call by Nanyang Technological University's Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies for a return to the use of Chinese dialects. In the letter, he wrote that "it would be stupid for any Singapore agency or NTU to advocate the learning of dialects, which must be at the expense of English and Mandarin".[6] Lee later mentioned Chee's letter in his book My Lifelong Challenge: Singapore's Bilingual Journey and said that the call to return to the use of Chinese dialects was a "daft call".[7] During Lee's state funeral in 2015, Chee was one of the eight pallbearers.[8]
Chee resigned from the Singapore Administrative Service on 11 August 2015 to run for election in the 2015 general election as part of a five-member People's Action Party (PAP) team contesting in Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC after Wong Kan Seng, Hri Kumar and
Zainudin Nordin stepped down from their respective wards and politics. [12] Two years before that, he had been attending grassroots events in Bishan–Toa Payoh[13] and Marine Parade GRCs.[14] On 1 September 2015 (Nomination Day), Chee's fist-clenching and chest-thumping action in response to hecklers[15] shocked a few observers and amused others. When he was asked about that, Chee replied, "I'm new to this, so there's much for me to learn. I'll certainly try to improve."[15] On Polling Day, the PAP team won with 73.59% of the vote against the Singapore People's Party.[16] Chee was elected Member of Parliament representing the Toa Payoh West–Balestier ward of Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC.
Chee was promoted to Senior Minister of State on 1 May 2017[3] and served at the Ministries of Communications and Information and Health from May 2017 to April 2018. On 9 November 2017, he alleged in a Facebook post that Leon Perera, a Non-constituency Member of Parliament, had made false accusations about Mediacorp making partisan edits on the video of a parliamentary debate on Presidential Elections (Amendment) Bill in February 2017.[17] In response, Perera refuted Chee's allegation and stated that his questions were about the ownership of the copyright to parliamentary video footage and why parliamentary video live feed cannot be made publicly available, as is the case in many other countries. Perera later apologised in Parliament.[18]
On 10 March 2018, Chee was one of the PAP Members of Parliament who responded to Workers' Party Member of Parliament Sylvia Lim over her remark that the government had intended to raise the goods and services tax in the current term but backtracked due to negative public reaction. He chided the Workers' Party for using this issue to discredit the PAP government, saying that it was an attack on its integrity and not responding as strongly as they did would imply that the government is dishonest.[19] Lim acknowledged that she "may have been wrong".[20]
On 24 April 2018, Chee was redesignated as Senior Minister of State at the Ministries of Trade and Industry and Education.[21]
In the 2020 general election, Chee contested in Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC as part of a four-member PAP team and they won with 67.26% of the vote against the Singapore People's Party.[22] He thus retained his parliamentary seat, representing the Toa Payoh West–Thomson ward of Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC. He is also a member of the Bishan–Toa Payoh Town Council and an advisor to the Bishan–Toa Payoh grassroots organisations. On 27 July 2020, he was appointed Senior Minister of State at the Ministries of Transport and Foreign Affairs. Following a Cabinet reshuffle, on 15 May 2021, his portfolio as Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs was dropped, but he remained Senior Minister of State for Transport as he was shifted to the Labour Movement following a request by PM Lee to send him in return for Koh Poh Koon. Chee was however appointed Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance on 13 June 2022, he was replaced by Desmond Tan at NTUC.[23]
On 2 May 2024, Chee was appointed as a Director at the Monetary Authority of Singapore Board of Directors. His term would last from 1 June to 31 May 2027.[24][25]
Menteri Transportasi (2023–sekarang)
Pada 12 Juli 2023, Chee ditunjuk sebagai Pelaksana Tugas Menteri Transportasi setelah S. Iswaran dibebastugaskan selama dia berada di bawah penyelidikan yang diluncurkan oleh Biro Investigasi Praktik Korupsi (CPIB).[26]
Pada tanggal 18 Januari 2024, Chee dipromosikan sebagai Menteri Transportasi penuh setelah S. Iswaran mengundurkan diri mengikuti putusan 27 dakwaan terkait suap dan korupsi. Ia juga diangkat menjadi Menteri Kedua Keuangan.[27]
Personal life
Chee telah menikah dan dianugrahi empat orang anak.[28]
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Afiliasi partai setiap anggota ditampilkan di sebelah kanan konstituensi yang diwakilinya. PAP: Partai Tindakan Rakyat; WP: Partai Pekerja; PSP: Partai Kemajuan Singapura Semua pemimpin masing-masing GRC digarisbawahi. NCMP adalah anggota WP, sedangkan NMP bukan anggota partai manapun.
Afiliasi partai setiap anggota ditampilkan di sebelah kanan konstituensi yang diwakilinya. PAP: Partai Tindakan Rakyat; WP: Partai Pekerja NCMP adalah anggota WP, sedangkan NMP bukan anggota partai manapun.
