5 facts about Sim Ann, who will receive a promotion after over 10 years as Senior Minister of State
After more than a decade as Senior Minister of State (SMS) across various ministries, Sim Ann will be promoted to Second Minister for Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs.
Here are five facts about her.
1. Promoted after over 10 years as Senior Minister of State
In a cabinet reshuffle on July 22, Prime Minister (PM) Lawrence Wong announced that Sim will be promoted to Second Minister after serving 11 years as SMS across various portfolios.
Sim entered politics when she contested Holland-Bukit Timah GRC as part of a four-member Peopole’s Action Party team during the 2011 General Election, defeating the Singapore Democratic Party in the process.
In May 2011, she was appointed Senior Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) and the Ministry of Education. In November 2012, she relinquished her appointment at MinLaw and was appointed to the Ministry of Communications and Information.
In September 2013, Sim was promoted to Minister of State serving in the same ministries.
After the 2015 General Election, in which she was re-elected as part of a four-member PAP team for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, she was promoted to SMS for the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY).
In August 2016, Sim swapped her Finance portfolio for one at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI). She subsequently switched to the Ministry of Communications and Information from MTI in May 2018.
After the 2020 General Election, Sim was appointed SMS at the Ministry of National Development (MND) and MCCY. In May 2021, she relinquished her MCCY appointment to take on the Foreign Affairs portfolio.
Following the 2025 General Election, Sim relinquished her portfolio at MND and was posted to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
2. She was a president scholar, had a career in civil service before entering politics
Sim studied at Raffles Girls’ School and Hwa Chong Junior College.
A President’s Scholar, she received the scholarship from then-President Ong Teng Cheong at the Istana in 1994. She went on to study at the University of Oxford and graduated in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, politics and economics (PPE).
She later obtained a master’s degree in political science from Stanford University and a postgraduate diploma in translation and interpretation from Nanyang Technological University.
In 1998, Sim began her career in the civil service at the Ministry of Health, before taking on roles at MHA and MTI.
3. First MP to give birth while in office
Sim was the first MP in Singapore to give birth while in office, welcoming her third child in 2011 during her first term in Parliament.
Other MPs who gave birth while serving in office include former Punggol East MP Lee Li Lian, who welcomed her first child in 2014, and Tin Pei Ling, who welcomed her first child in 2015, shortly before the general elections held that year.
4. Comes from a family of high achievers
Sim also comes from a family of high achievers. Her mother, Choo Lian Liang, was an author and retired Chinese documentary producer.
Choo authored a Chinese book, 追虹, detailing the experiences of four generations of a Chinese family — which then-PM Lee Hsien Loong wrote a review of in a Facebook post, complimenting the “fascinating family history” and “vivid” stories.
The novel was later translated to English by Sim, titled “Chasing Rainbows”.
Sim’s father was a physics lecturer and had celebrated his 85th birthday last year. Her brother, Sim Kai, is also a President’s Scholar, while her sister, Sim Min, was awarded a Monetary Authority of Singapore scholarship.
Her husband, 58-year-old Mok Ying Jang, is CEO of Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital and was also part of the Singapore Mount Everest team in 1998 — two members of the team summited the mountain that year.
Sim is a mother of three, with two of her children aged 19 to 22.
5. Viewed politics as making a difference to people’s lives
In 2011, Sim told The Straits Times that her lessons on politics are founded on her family history. In particular, experiences of her grandfather gave her a “healthy scepticism” of political ideology.
She revealed that her late grandfather, Chu Chi Chok, was banished to China after being branded a leftist by the British colonial government in 1950.
However, in 1958, Chu was labelled a rightist by Chinese communist leaders and was sent to a labour camp in northern China.
He died 10 months later from a heart attack, at the age of 48.
In the interview, Sim reflected: “How does what we do affect people’s lives? That, to me, is politics.”
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