9 Nominated MPs to be appointed to Parliament on 8 Jan, including S’pore Aquatics President

8 new Nominated MPs to be appointed to Parliament, 1 will return for 2nd term

Nine Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) will be appointed on Thursday (8 Jan), according to a Singapore Parliament press release on Friday (2 Jan).

While eight of them are new faces, one will return for a second term as an NMP.

9 NMPs nominated to Parliament by Special Select Committee

The nine individuals were nominated to President Tharman Shanmugaratam by the Special Select Committee, chaired by Speaker Seah Kian Peng.

They are, in alphabetical order:

• Mr Azhar Othman — Executive Chairman of Enercon Asia and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GAED Holdings

• Associate Professor Kenneth Goh Toh Chuan — President of Singapore Aquatics and former national swimmer

• Dr Haresh Singaraju — Head of Queenstown Polyclinic and Chair of the Patient and Family Advocacy Committee at the National University Polyclinics

• Associate Professor Terence Ho Wai Luen — Professor at Singapore University of Social Sciences and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

• Ms Kuah Boon Theng — Senior Counsel and Managing Director of Legal Clinic LLC

• Mr Mark Lee Kean Phi — CEO of Sing Lun Holdings, previously served as an NMP from 2023 to 2025

• Dr Neo Kok Beng — founder and CEO of NEO Aeronautics

• Professor Kenneth Poon Kin Loong — Dean of Research at the National Institute of Education

• Mr Sanjeev Kumar Tiwari — General Secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Public Employees and Central Committee Member of NTUC

NMPs chosen from 57 names

The Special Select Committee, which comprises eight current elected MPs, had invited names for NMP consideration on 8 Oct last year, with submissions closing on 6 Nov.

A total of 57 proposal forms were received: 14 names were submitted by functional groups across society and 43 were individual applications.

2025 General Election independent candidates Darryl Lo and Jeremy Tan had both submitted their names, but have not been nominated.

According to the committee’s report, it found “many of the candidates to be well qualified” but not more than nine NMPs can be appointed.

‘Challenging’ to select 9, committee ‘deliberated very carefully’

Mr Seah said the committee “deliberated very carefully” over all the candidates.

He noted that the nine nominated had varied backgrounds and experiences, diverse perspectives, and a commitment to serving Singapore and Singaporeans.

Thus, the committee is confident they will “strengthen and add value” to parliamentary debates.

Leader of the House Indranee Rajah, who is a member of the committee, said it was “a challenging task” to select nine from the pool of “highly qualified candidates”.

She expressed appreciation to all applicants and welcomed the new cohort of nine NMPs to the 15th Parliament.

Also read: 2 Nominated MPs resign 1 year before terms end, both considering serving S’pore in other ways

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Featured image adapted from Singapore Aquatics on Facebook and MS News.