Rahayu Mahzam

The Honourable Rahayu Mahzam
رحايو مهزم
Minister of State for Health
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 May 2024
Prime Minister	Lawrence Wong
Minister	Ong Ye Kung
Minister of State for Communications and Information
Incumbent
Assumed office 15 May 2024
Prime Minister	Lawrence Wong
Minister	Josephine Teo
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health
In office 13 June 2022 – 14 May 2024
Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong
Minister	Ong Ye Kung
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Law
In office 13 June 2022 – 14 May 2024
Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong Lawrence Wong
Minister	K. Shanmugam
Preceded by	Sim Ann (2011)
Succeeded by	Murali Pillai (As Minister of State)
Parliamentary Secretary for Communications and Information
In office 15 May 2021 – 12 June 2022
Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong
Minister	Josephine Teo
Parliamentary Secretary for Health
In office 1 September 2020 – 12 June 2022
Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong
Minister	Gan Kim Yong (2020) Ong Ye Kung (2021)
Member of Parliament for Jurong GRC (Bukit Batok East)
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 September 2015
Preceded by	Halimah Yacob
Majority	60,501 (49.24%)
Personal details
Born	(1980-07-21) 21 July 1980 (age 44)[1] Singapore
Political party	People's Action Party
Children	1
Alma mater	National University of Singapore (LLB)
Occupation	Politician lawyer

In this Malay name, there is no surname or family name. The name Mahzam is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by their given name, Rahayu.

Rahayu binte Mahzam (Jawi: رحايو مهزم; born 21 July 1980)^[1] is a Singaporean politician. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), she has been serving as Minister of State for Health and Minister of State for Communications and Information concurrently since 2024.^[2] She has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Bukit Batok East division of Jurong GRC since 2015.^[3]

A lawyer by profession, Rahayu specialises in civil litigation and family law. She made her political debut in the 2015 general election as part of a five-member PAP team contesting in Jurong GRC and won 79.3% of the vote.

Education

Rahayu studied at Raffles Girls' School^[4] and Raffles Junior College before she went to the National University of Singapore's Faculty of Law, where she completed a Bachelor of Laws in 2003 and was called to the Bar in 2004.^[5]

Career

Rahayu joined Heng, Leong & Srinivasan LLC as a partner in January 2008, specialising in civil litigation and family law. In 2013, she left practice and served as Deputy Registrar at the Syariah Court of Singapore before returning to practice in August 2015. She is also an Associate Mediator accredited by the Singapore Mediation Centre.^[6][4][7]

Political career

Rahayu was announced as a People's Action Party (PAP) candidate on 20 August 2015 to join the five-member PAP team contesting in Jurong GRC during the 2015 general election.^[8] After the PAP team won with 79.29% of the vote against SingFirst,^[9] Rahayu became a Member of Parliament representing the Bukit Batok East ward of Jurong GRC.^[1] In 2017, she was part of the taskforce set up to implement tighter regulations on formula milk manufacturers.^[10]

During 2020 general election, Rahayu joined the five-member PAP team contesting in Jurong GRC again^[11] and they won with 74.62% of the vote against Red Dot United. Rahayu thus retained her parliamentary seat in Bukit Batok East and was appointed Parliamentary Secretary on 1 September 2020 at the Ministry of Health.

On 15 May 2021, she received an additional appointment as Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Information.^[1] Rahayu was promoted to Senior Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Health on 13 June 2022 with the Ministry of Law added to her portfolio. At the same time, she relinquished her Communications and Information portfolio.^[12] In the May 2024 Cabinet Reshuffle prior to Prime Minister-Designate Lawrence Wong being sworn in as Singapore's 4th Prime Minister, Rahayu was promoted to Minister of State in the Ministry of Health as well as the Ministry of Communications and Information, while relinquishing her appointment in the Ministry of Law. Rahayu was sworn into her new portfolios on 15 May 2024. ^[13]

Personal life

Rahayu is the eldest of three children^[14] and her parents were a security officer and a civil servant.

Rahayu is married to a civil servant^[4] and has a son.^[15]

References

1. "MP | Parliament Of Singapore". www.parliament.gov.sg.
2. "PMO | Changes to Cabinet and Other Appointments (May 2024)". 14 May 2024.
3. Mahmud, Aqil Haziq. "Four new MPs-elect appointed Ministers of State, including former SAF general Gan Siow Huang". Channel News Asia. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
4. Au-Yong, Rachel (9 September 2015). "GE2015: On the campaign trail with PAP's Rahayu Mahzam". The Straits Times. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
5. "Rahayu Mahzam, politician and practising lawyer". Letters of the Law. 2 January 2017.
6. "People's Action Party" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
7. "Welcome | Blog". www.hlslegal.sg.
8. "Lawyer Rahayu Mahzam, oncologist Tan Wu Meng join PAP's Jurong GRC team for coming GE". Today. 20 August 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
9. "Results". Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
10. "Taskforce set up to implement tighter regulations on formula milk manufacturers". Channel NewsAsia. 22 May 2017. Archived from the original on 22 May 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
11. "GE2020: From East Coast to Bukit Panjang, 7 key battlegrounds to watch". CNA. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
12. Lim, Min Zhang (6 June 2022). "Tan Kiat How, Eric Chua and Rahayu Mahzam to be promoted in latest Cabinet changes". The Straits Times. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
13. "PMO | Changes to Cabinet and Other Appointments (May 2024)". 14 May 2024.
14. "Rahayu Mahzam CV" (PDF).
15. "Latest Singapore News and Headlines - Channel NewsAsia". Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved 22 February 2018.

External links

• Rahayu Mahzam on Parliament of Singapore

Parliament of Singapore
Preceded by Halimah Yacob	Member of Parliament for Jurong GRC (Bukit Batok East) 2015 – present	Incumbent