Shanmugam appointed Senior Minister, continues in his national security, home affairs roles
Samuel Devaraj
The Straits Times
July 22, 2026
K. Shanmugam will be appointed Senior Minister, while continuing in his roles as Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs.
Announcing the move on July 22 during a press conference on changes to his Cabinet, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said Shanmugam and Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong are the two most experienced members of his team.
“They will continue to provide valuable counsel and will help guide and mentor our younger office holders,” he added.
Shanmugam, 67, is the first Senior Minister to be appointed to the role without having previously been a Prime Minister or a Deputy Prime Minister.
He entered Parliament as an MP in 1988 at the age of 29, representing Chong Pang ward under Sembawang GRC which subsequently came under Nee Soon GRC from 2011.
The senior counsel was appointed to Cabinet in 2008 as Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs.
He was Minister for Foreign Affairs between 2011 and 2015, and stepped down as Law Minister in May 2025.
Shanmugam will continue helming the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), a position he has held since 2015, with two second ministers under him - Edwin Tong and the newly-promoted Sim Ann.
Asked about Shanmugam being the first Senior Minister to concurrently helm a ministry, PM Wong said his new appointment reflects his role in the team and that he continues to value Shanmugam and Lee’s counsel.
“They have a role to play, increasingly, to guide and mentor the newer and younger officeholders,” said PM Wong.
“And that’s valuable to me, I think valuable to everyone in the team, especially as we undertake this leadership transition.”
PM Wong was also asked if he plans for Shanmugam to give up his MHA portfolio some time during this term of Government, given that the ministry is one of two that will have two second ministers - the other being the Ministry of Finance.
The latest reshuffle will see Jeffrey Siow become Second Minister for Finance alongside Indranee Rajah.
PM Wong noted that one might look at the appointments and speculate whether some of them are possibly in the pipeline to take over.
“The reality is these are all roles and responsibilities where we want to expose office holders, we want to assess their suitability, and over time we hope that some of them will be in a position to take over,” he said.
“I’m always doing that for different ministries and certainly whether it’s MHA, MOF, or others, I will work with the team, assess their suitability, assess their readiness, and in due course, if they are ready, some of them may well take over to lead the ministry.”
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