Zaqy Mohamad

Zaqy Mohamad (Jawi: زقي محمد; born 15 September 1974) is a Singaporean politician. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he was appointed as Senior Minister of State in the Ministry for Manpower and Ministry for Defence by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Additionally, he is currently the Deputy Leader of the House and served as Deputy Party Whip of the PAP together with Sim Ann. [1]

The Honourable Zaqy Mohamad MP
زاقي محمد /扎吉哈
Senior Minister of State, Ministry for Manpower
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 July 2020
Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong
Minister	Josephine Teo
Constituency	Marsiling–Yew Tee GRC (Marsiling)
Senior Minister of State, Ministry for Defence
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 July 2020 Serving with Heng Chee How
Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong
Minister	Ng Eng Hen
Preceded by	Maliki Osman
Constituency	Marsiling–Yew Tee GRC (Marsiling)
Minister of State, Ministry for National Development
In office 1 May 2018 – 26 July 2020
Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong
Minister	Lawrence Wong
Preceded by	Koh Poh Koon
Succeeded by	Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim Tan Kiat How
Constituency	Chua Chu Kang GRC (Keat Hong)
Minister of State, Ministry for Manpower
In office 1 May 2018 – 26 July 2020
Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong
Minister	Josephine Teo
Preceded by	Sam Tan
Succeeded by	Gan Siow Huang
Constituency	Chua Chu Kang GRC (Keat Hong)
Deputy Leader of the House
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 August 2020
Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong
Leader	Indranee Rajah
Preceded by	Desmond Lee
Deputy Party Whip of the People's Action Party
In office 6 June 2019 – 23 August 2020 Serving with Sim Ann
Secretary-General	Lee Hsien Loong
Party Whip	Janil Puthucheary
Preceded by	Sam Tan
Succeeded by	Vacant
Member of the Singapore Parliament for Marsiling–Yew Tee GRC (Marsiling)
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 July 2020
Preceded by	Halimah Yacob (PAP)
Majority	29,081 (26.36%)
Member of the Singapore Parliament for Chua Chu Kang GRC (Keat Hong)
In office 21 May 2011 – 23 June 2020
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim (PAP)
Majority	59,271 (53.78%)
Member of the Singapore Parliament for Hong Kah GRC (Keat Hong)
In office 6 May 2006 – 18 April 2011
Preceded by	Ahmad Khalis
Personal details
Born	15 September 1974 Singapore
Nationality	Singaporean
Political party	People's Action Party (2006 - Present)
Alma mater	Nanyang Technological University
Occupation	Politician

He served as the Minister of State in the Ministry for Manpower and Ministry for National Development from May 2018 to July 2020. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Marsiling–Yew Tee GRC for Marsiling since July 2020 and served as the MP for Chua Chu Kang GRC for Keat Hong from May 2011 to June 2020 and MP for Hong Kah GRC for Keat Hong from May 2006 to April 2011.

Early life and education

Zaqy Mohamad was born in Singapore on 15 September 1974. He studied at Saint Michael's School where he took his primary education, and subsequently Raffles Institution for his secondary education and Raffles Junior College. He furthered his education by attending Nanyang Technological University where he was an active student leader, championing student welfare and financial assistance programmes for needy students as the President of the NTU Students' Union (NTUSU)[2] for two terms. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering. He obtained a scholarship to study at the Paris-based ESIEE Management for a year. In 2003, he finished his master's degree course in Financial Engineering from Nanyang Technological University jointly with Carnegie Mellon University.[3]

Career

Information technology

From 1999 to 2002, he was a senior consultant at Arthur Andersen. Thereafter, from 2002 to 2005, he served as a business consultant at IBM Business Consulting Services. From 2005 to 2008, he was the director of Solutions Avanade, a joint venture of Accenture and Microsoft. In 2008, he joined Dimension Data, an NTT Group company, as a sales director.[3]

Zaqy joined Ernst & Young in 2014, and was formerly a Partner with the firm.

Politics

A member of the People's Action Party, Zaqy first entered politics in 2006 as a member of parliament for Hong Kah GRC, in a team led by Amy Khor. In the 2011 General Elections, Hong Kah GRC was reconstituted as Chua Chu Kang GRC, where he has been MP since.[3]

At the 2015 general election, Zaqy again stood as a PAP Candidate in Chua Chu Kang GRC. Zaqy was elected to Parliament again when the four-member PAP team won the constituency (which was led by then-Health Minister Gan Kim Yong) with an increased majority and defeated the team from the People's Power Party by 84,850 votes (76.9%) to 25,475 (23.1%). Zaqy had been co-opted into the PAP's Central Executive Committee (CEC) on 5 January 2015, but relinquished his position due to regulatory compliance reasons, as his employer Ernst & Young was the auditor of PAP.[4]

Zaqy was formerly a member of the GPC for Transport. Zaqy had also served in the GPCs of Manpower, Trade and Industry, Finance and Communications and Information in his previous terms of office.[3]

On 8 August 2017, after former Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob resigned from her position as MP for Marsiling–Yew Tee GRC to contest in the 2017 presidential elections, Zaqy was appointed as grassroots adviser, under the government-linked People's Association, for Halimah's Marsiling ward.[1] This is significant as Halimah was the sole minority candidate in Marsiling Yew-Tee GRC, and despite the original purpose of the GRC system, the government has opted to appoint Zaqy in lieu of calling a by-election to replace her.[1][5]

Zaqy was elected in the 2020 Singaporean general election and took over Halimah Yacob's constituency of Marsiling.

Personal life

A Muslim, Zaqy is married.[3]

See also

• List of Singapore MPs
• List of current Singapore MPs

References

1. Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh (9 August 2017). "Zaqy to take over Marsiling grassroots adviser role". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
2. http://www.hey.ntu.edu.sg/issue13/features_leeteng_zaqy.html#.WuBz7YhuZPY
3. "Member's CV" (PDF). Parliament. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
4. "Baey Yam Keng co-opted into PAP Central Executive Committee". AsiaOne. Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
5. Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh (7 February 2017). "No by-election if minority MP leaves GRC, says Chun Sing". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 22 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.