Rahayu Mahzam

Rahayu binte Mahzam (Jawi: رحايو مهزم; born 1980)[1] is a Singaporean politician who has been serving as Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Law concurrently since 2022.[2] A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Bukit Batok East division of Jurong GRC since 2015.[3]

The Honourable
Rahayu Mahzam
رحايو مهزم
Rahayu in 2016
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health
Assumed office
13 June 2022
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
MinisterOng Ye Kung
Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Law
Assumed office
13 June 2022
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
MinisterK. Shanmugam
Parliamentary Secretary for Communications and Information
In office
15 May 2021 – 12 June 2022
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
MinisterJosephine Teo
Parliamentary Secretary for Health
In office
1 September 2020 – 12 June 2022
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
MinisterGan Kim Yong
Ong Ye Kung
Member of Parliament
for Jurong GRC
(Bukit Batok East)
Assumed office
11 September 2015
Preceded byHalimah Yacob
Majority60,501 (49.24%)
Personal details
Born1980[1]
Singapore
Political partyPeople's Action Party
Children1
Alma materNational University of Singapore (LLB)
Occupation
  • Politician
  • lawyer
In this Malay name, there is no family name. The name Mahzam is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Rahayu.

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 Senior Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Health on 13 June 2022 with the Ministry of Law added to the portfolio, and relinquished the Communications and Information portfolio.[12]

Personal life

Rahayu is the eldest of three children[13] and her parents were a security officer and a civil servant.

Rahayu is married to a civil servant[4] and has a son.[14]

References
  1. "MP | Parliament Of Singapore". www.parliament.gov.sg.
  2. "Changes to Cabinet and Other Appointments (June 2022)". Prime Minister's Office Singapore. 6 June 2022.
  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.
  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. "Rahayu Mahzam CV" (PDF).
  14. "Latest Singapore News and Headlines - Channel NewsAsia". Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
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