Masagos Zulkifli

Masagos was born on 16 April 1963 and had his early education at Bukit Panjang Government High School and National Junior College. Subsequently, he graduated in 1988 with a Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.) degree from Nanyang Technological University with First Class Honours, majoring in electrical and electronic engineering, and in 1994 with a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Electrical Engineering from the National University of Singapore. His first job was with Singapore Telecommunications Limited (now Singtel) in 1988; a SingTel Postgraduate Scholarship enabled him to take a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the University of Southern California in 1995. He was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of SingTel Global Offices.[1]

Masagos left the private sector for politics in 2006, after being elected as one of the five Members of Parliament representing the Tampines Group Representation Constituency in the general election that year.[2] He was appointed Senior Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education on 2 June 2006, and concurrently Senior Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs on 1 April 2008. He was promoted to Minister of State in these ministries with effect from 1 November 2010.[1]

Masagos (back, second from left), then Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education, at a working lunch hosted by United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in The Pentagon on 17 October 2006. With him are (left to right) the Defence Attaché in Singapore's U.S. Embassy Brig.-Gen. Richard Keng Yong Lim, Singapore's Ambassador to the U.S. Chan Heng Chee, and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

Masagos was re-elected in the 2011 general election, and on 21 May 2011 appointed Minister of State for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs. On 1 August 2012 he was promoted to Senior Minister of State in these ministries.[1]

As of 9 April 2015, Masagos was appointed a full Minister in the Prime Minister's Office. This was the first time there were two full ministers of Malay descent in the Cabinet, the other being Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim. Masagos was also promoted to Second Minister for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs.[3] Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Masagos' elevation to full minister reflected the "progress of the Malay community".[4] Masagos himself said he was honoured to have been appointed and that "[h]aving two Malay full ministers in the Cabinet for the first time in our nation's history reflects the [Government's] trust and recognition of the good progress made by the Malay-Muslim community".[5]

On 28 September 2015, it was announced that Masagos will be the Minister for Environment and Water Resources from 1 October 2015.[6]

He was also appointed the Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs from 1 May 2018.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Masagos Zulkifli.

• Profile of Masagos Zulkifli on the Parliament of Singapore website