SINGAPORE: New Acting Minister for Manpower Jasmin Lau said on Wednesday (Jul 22) that it is the ministry’s responsibility to help workers and companies navigate the ways technology is changing work.

“This will mean looking at how we uplift our workers in the most vulnerable segments, helping Singaporeans cope with more frequent career transitions, and also ensuring that lifelong learning is genuinely accessible and relevant,” she told reporters at a press conference announcing changes to the Cabinet.

“We must also take care of workers throughout different stages of their careers.

“We have our younger Singaporeans stepping into the workforce for the first time. Also our adult workers managing their careers while caring deeply for their children and their loved ones. And also our older workers who can and want to continue contributing.”

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Ms Lau said she would also “keep a close eye on retirement adequacy, so that Singaporeans who have worked hard all their lives can look forward to their later years with confidence”.

Her appointment to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) was part of a slate of changes announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Wednesday.

In addition, Ms Lau, 44, was promoted to Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information. 

She was previously minister of state for education as well as digital development and information.

Ms Lau also paid tribute to predecessor Dr Tan See Leng, who remains in the Cabinet as minister for trade and industry (energy and industry), saying that he left “big shoes to fill”.

The new acting minister said she would carry her experience from the education ministry over to the manpower ministry, adding that skills training and jobs are “part of the same story”.

“It has helped that over the past year, my portfolios have shown me a little bit more about the technology that we are talking about – about AI – but also from the education side, the concerns and anxieties of younger Singaporeans about to enter the workforce.

“I think that gives me quite a good overall understanding of what needs to be done going forward,” she said.

Ms Lau was new to politics when the People’s Action Party (PAP) fielded her in Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency in the 2025 General Election.

As a former civil servant, she held portfolios in health, finance and manpower. She was deputy secretary (policy) at the Ministry of Health when she resigned to run for office.

Ms Lau said she has observed that MOM’s work requires extensive stakeholder engagement and management.

“That’s a skill that we’ve built up over the years, whether in the public service or in our initial year as a politician,” she said.

“I think those skills remain relevant, regardless of which portfolios we are put into. And in the case of manpower, it’s a combination of those skills as well as the knowledge around the technology and the workforce anxieties.”

Noting that she had previously worked at MOM from 2008 to 2010, Ms Lau said the workforce landscape has changed significantly since then.

“I intend to spend time really listening to colleagues at MOM, to workers, to employers and to union leaders. I’m grateful to the prime minister for entrusting me with this goal, and I’m ready to do my best.”

POLITICAL LESSONS

Responding to a reporter’s question, Ms Lau also shared her views on how newer political officeholders manage their time commitments and the high standards of conduct they are held to.

“As a parent of young children, the commitments of this job are really challenging,” said the mother of two sons.

“But I would also put it a different way. There are many jobs out there that put the same pressures on workers and on parents or caregivers. It’s the same 24 hours, whether you do it as a politician or a nurse or a doctor out there.

“And so I think we split the 24 hours the same way as many other people have to do so, and then we manage it as best as we can.”

She added: “In terms of standards that are expected of us, we know before we join what the standards are.

“And so if we are in it already, the standards have not changed from what we thought the standards were, and they have to be respected, regardless of how tough the job may be.”

Two other first-term parliamentarians, who were already acting ministers, were also promoted to full ministers on Wednesday.

Mr Jeffrey Siow, who was promoted to transport minister and second minister for finance, said it has been "a year of intense learning".

"PM has been very generous with his advice and counsel. Now and then, he would take me aside, have a quiet word with me every time that he sees that I can do better," said Mr Siow.

"This has given me the confidence for me to push forward, knowing that he is watching over our development, and also that we can count on his support."

Mr Siow, who was previously in the public service, said that "being a civil servant is very different from being a politician and being a minister".

He added: "I moved from being a product developer to really more of a product manager. There's a lot of explaining to people what we are doing, why we are doing certain things, and persuading people in the best way possible, in the most efficient way possible, in the most effective way possible what you're trying to do."

Mr David Neo, who was Chief of Army before joining politics, was promoted to minister for culture, community and youth and second minister for education.

"For this past year, my focus has really been to get down onto the ground, to engage all our local stakeholders, small groups at a time, 10, 15, sometimes one-on-one," he said.

This is to hear from them "how they experience our policies, what is working, what is not working, and more importantly, what are our common goals and objectives".

The most important political lesson has been to apportion enough time to listen to a diverse range of stakeholders, including arts and culture groups, heritage practitioners, community and religious groups, athletes and youth, he said.

Mr Neo, who drew some criticism recently for a remark in parliament that he made that ministers have no time to watch movies, was also asked for his response to this.

"Well, I should just not tell any more jokes," he said. 

"As with all things, we all learn. And every time there's criticism, I take it positively as feedback, and it's just a matter of how things are experienced by different people.

"We look at it and then I ask myself, 'how can I do better going forward?' And that, I think, is the spirit in which I just keep taking in feedback."

SINGAPORE: Senior management of critical information infrastructure owners will be held "directly accountable for cyber-resilience" under an updated code of practice, said Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo on Wednesday (Jul 22).

Critical information infrastructure refers to computer systems directly involved in providing essential services. These sectors are energy, water, banking and finance, healthcare, transport, infocomm, media, security and emergency services, and government.

Speaking at the Operational Technology Cybersecurity Expert Panel forum, Mrs Teo said those who own critical information infrastructure will be expected to detect, respond and recover from cyberattacks.

“It reflects a fundamental shift from relying on perimeter defences to actively defending against threats. Boards and senior management will be held directly accountable for cyber resilience,” she added.

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Leaders at every level must have the cybersecurity knowledge needed to govern and manage cyber risks, she added.

This starts with having clear oversight of their critical assets and putting continuous monitoring in place, said Mrs Teo. “After all, you cannot defend assets you did not see and you cannot recover assets you did not know you have.”

With owners of critical information infrastructure increasingly adopting cloud technologies, they must extend “locking down” to cloud environments and raise their security baseline, said the minister.

Later this year, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) will launch a separate code of practice for cloud environments. It will lay out the cybersecurity requirements governing the secure deployment, operation, and management of critical information infrastructure systems hosted on cloud, said Mrs Teo.

Earlier this year, CSA wrote to boards and senior leadership of all critical information infrastructure owners to review their cybersecurity in light of artificial intelligence-enabled threats.

At the time, Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Tan Kiat How said that the letter from CSA sets out clear expectations on what the review should include.

In its letter, CSA said the organisation's review should look at whether its current cyber risk assessment takes relevant account of AI-enabled threats, as well as whether visibility over critical systems, internet-facing assets, privileged access, cloud services and third-party dependencies remains sufficient.

It should also consider whether vulnerability management, patching, monitoring and incident response arrangements are fast enough, and if its use of AI is appropriately governed.

Organisations should also look at where AI can be used to augment current cybersecurity operations.

Other than requiring owners of critical information infrastructure to strengthen board and senior management accountability for cybersecurity, the updated code requires owners to attain Cyber Trust Mark Level 5 certification to elevate their cybersecurity posture, said CSA in a separate press release on Wednesday.

Owners must maintain oversight of the systems that connect and communicate with the critical information infrastructure to improve cybersecurity risk management, and develop a comprehensive cybersecurity exercise plan to ensure a coordinated and effective response to related incidents, said the agency.

They also must have robust management measures to maintain network architecture, including network management monitoring and detection management, CSA said.

The agency will work with owners of critical information infrastructure to deploy threat detection systems across their network segments to detect malicious activities, it added.

While these measures are focused on owners of critical information infrastructure, the risk does not stop at the organisation, said Mrs Teo.

Like a misconfigured internal system, a compromised vendor or partner can also be a vulnerable entry point, she added.

Announcing the launch of a sandbox focused on using AI for cybersecurity, Mrs Teo said CSA will partner vendors to pilot AI-enabled security operations across Singapore’s critical infrastructure.

“We intend to share the learnings from the pilot with the wider community of cyber defenders. This will boost capabilities in the entire ecosystem, and not just the organisations with the resources to experiment,” she added.