KHAW Boon Wan is set to be the chairman of the new SPH Media Company Limited by Guarantee. Here are five things to know about the former minister.

1. One of the 'Super Seven'

Khaw Boon Wan was one of the 'Super Seven' heavyweights fast-tracked into Senior Minister of State or Minister of State positions after entering politics in the 2001 General Election. The others were Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Ng Eng Hen, Vivian Balakrishnan, Cedric Foo, Raymond Lim and Balaji Sadasivan.

Four of these men - Mr Khaw, Mr Tharman, Mr Ng and Mr Balakrishnan - grew into key members of the People's Action Party's (PAP) 3G front bench. Mr Foo left for the private sector in 2005, Mr Lim stepped down after the 2011 polls and Mr Balaji passed away as Senior Minister of State in 2010.

2. Sars veteran and health chief

Mr Khaw was popularly known as the 'Fix-it' minister for taking on challenging portfolios. In 2003, he helped tackle the Sars crisis while Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Health. In 2004, he took over as Minister for Health and introduced processes to prepare Singapore for the next novel disease outbreak.

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3. Housing minister

Housing affordability and supply were hot-button issues during the 2011 General Election. Mr Khaw took on the job in May 2011, just one year after his heart bypass surgery (for which he famously paid S$8 out-of-pocket).

He ramped up the supply of HDB (Housing Development Board) flats, increased subsidies, and removed cash-over-valuation (COV) from pre-sales negotiations by having buyers and sellers agree on a price before getting an official valuation.

4. Volunteered for transport

After the 2015 General Election, Mr Khaw volunteered to take on the 'politically spiky' transport portfolio, to quote Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's valedictory letter to Mr Khaw when he retired from politics in June 2020.

He significantly improved MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) reliability, as measured by mean kilometres between failure, and pushed for the construction of Changi Runway 3, Changi Airport Terminal 5 and the Tuas Megaport.

5. Political reformer

After the PAP lost its first GRC (Group Representation Constituency) in the 2011 General Election, Mr Khaw led the party's post-mortem and presented his recommendations at the Party Conference the same year, where they were debated.

According to PM Lee, this was a 'watershed moment for the PAP'. Mr Khaw became the party's chairman to drive reforms from within, leading up to the party's improved showing in the 2015 General Election.

READ MORE:

• Khaw Boon Wan to be chairman of SPH Media CLG, management shareholders to be founding members

• Not a 'global search': Khaw is the right pick to chair SPH Media, says Iswaran

• Government does not expect proposed SPH restructuring to affect relationship: Iswaran

• Singapore cannot afford 'convulsions and closures' in media landscape: S Iswaran

• SPH to transfer media business to not-for-profit entity

• SPH deal aims to improve asset values, ease shareholder pressure off media unit

• The SPH Journey: A timeline of key events since SGX listing

• SPH restructuring: 6 other news outlets under media trusts and foundations