Several Singaporeans are highlighting that Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board’s chief executive, Ng Chee Peng, is ruling party politician Ng Chee Meng’s younger brother, on social media today.
Ng Chee Meng (47) and Ng Chee Peng (45) are two of three brothers. Their elder brother, Ng Chee Khern (49), was a military man and served as the Chief of the Republic of Singapore Air Force from 2006–2009 and held the rank of Major-General.
Both Ng Chee Meng and Ng Chee Peng joined their eldest brother’s footsteps and joined the military. In 2009, Ng Chee Khern passed the Chief of Air Force mantle to his younger brother Ng Chee Meng who served in the capacity from 2009 to 2013.
After leaving the Air Force, Ng Chee Khern served as the Director of the Security and Intelligence Division – the external intelligence agency of Singapore from 2010–2014. In 2014, Ng Chee Khern was appointed as the Permanent Secretary (Defence Development) in the Ministry of Defence and as the Second Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health.
Ng Chee Khern is also a member of the boards of various governmental organisations, including the Public Utilities Board; CapitaMall Trust Management; Chartered Ammunition Industries; ST Aerospace Systems; Changi International Airshow & Events; MDSO Supervisory Board; Construction Industry Development Board; Defence Science and Technology Agency; DSO National Laboratories; and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.
The second son in the Ng family, Ng Chee Meng, left his Chief of Air Force post in 2013 and became the 8th Chief of Defence Force of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) from 2013 to 2015, and held the rank of Lieutenant-General.
In 2015, Ng Chee Meng left the military to contest the 2015 General Election as a People’s Action Party (PAP) candidate. He was swept into power, alongside his Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC team led by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, and was appointed Acting Minister of Schools and the Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Transport.
Ng was promoted to Minister for Education (Schools) and Second Minister for Transport in 2016 before we was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office during the last Cabinet reshuffle, earlier this year. Ng now also serves as serves as secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) – the labour movement of Singapore.
The youngest brother, Ng Chee Peng, followed a somewhat similar career path to his brothers. Forging a successful career in the Forces, Ng Chee Peng served as the Chief of the Republic of Singapore Navy from 2011–2014 and held the rank of Rear-Admiral (two stars).
In August 2014, Ng Chee Peng retired from the military and joined the Ministry of Manpower as Deputy Secretary (Special Projects). In March 2015, Ng Chee Peng succeeded Yee Ping Yi as CEO of CPF Board. Yee Ping Yi now serves as Deputy Secretary (Planning) at the Ministry of Finance.
CPF is an employment based savings scheme with employers and employees contributing a mandated amount to the Fund. CPF Board is a statutory board under the Ministry of Manpower that is responsible for investing compulsory contributions that are made by Singaporeans and Permanent Residents into their CPF accounts.
The fact that Ng Chee Khern, Ng Chee Meng and Ng Chee Peng are brothers is not new – this information is easily available online and several Singaporeans have been aware of this fact for years.
In 2013, one blog – Unseen Singapore – even covered the connection between the three men in a blog post and revealed to readers that the three men who were all serving in the defence sector at the time are brothers. Even before Ng Chee Meng became a PAP Minister, administrator of the blog had written:
“The man on the street will know all about the Lee family and its influence in Singapore. But do you know about the Ng family who is the true king maker in Singapore?
“The 3 Ng brothers are respectively the Singapore Chief of Defence Force (Ng Chee Meng), Director of the Security Intelligence Division (Ng Chee Khern) and the Chief of Navy (Ng Chee Peng) at present.
“This monopoly on military might and information intelligence is truly unrivalled. The Ng genetics must be awfully potent to produce 3 top generals within a household in a single generation.”
Some Singaporeans, however, seem to have been unaware of the connection between the three brothers. An infographic showing the relationship between the three men and their respective work histories has been circulating on social media since this morning.
The picture has already garnered over 400 shares on Facebook:
