Murali Pillai

The Honourable Murali Pillai SC
穆仁理, முரளி பிள்ளை
Pillai in 2021
Minister of State for Transport
Designate
Assumed office 1 July 2024
Prime Minister	Lawrence Wong
Minister	Chee Hong Tat
Minister of State for Law
Designate
Assumed office 1 July 2024
Prime Minister	Lawrence Wong
Minister	K. Shanmugam
Member of Parliament for Bukit Batok SMC
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 May 2016
Preceded by	David Ong
Majority	2,712 (9.60%)
Personal details
Born	K. Muralidharan Pillai (1967-10-30) 30 October 1967 Singapore
Political party	People's Action Party
Spouse	N. Gowri
Children	4
Parent	P K Pillai (father) Vasanthi Ramadass (mother)
Alma mater	National University of Singapore (LLB, LLM, MBA) University of California, Los Angeles (MBA)
Occupation	Politician lawyer

Murali Pillai, S C (Chinese: 穆仁理, pinyin  Mù Rén Lǐ; Tamil: முரளி பிள்ளை; born 30 October 1967), is a Singaporean politician and lawyer. He has been appointed the Minister of State for Law and for Transport, with effect from 1 July 2024. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP) since 2001, Pillai has been elected twice as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the single-member constituency of Bukit Batok in the west of Singapore. He was also a member of the PAP's 34th Central Executive Committee from January 2017 till November 2018.

Prior to pursuing a career in the law, Pillai was an Assistant Superintendent in the Singapore Police Force for four years, where his focus was on investigating white-collar crimes. While he prized the "rigour and discipline" of the uniformed services, he decided to switch to a career in which he could emulate his childhood inspiration, the formidable Singaporean litigator David Saul Marshall. Marshall's efforts in court for his clients had long impressed upon Pillai the need to seek justice for even the most downtrodden. Thus, he got himself called to the Bar in Singapore in 1996, then went into private practice, building not only a busy litigation portfolio but also taking on many cases pro bono.

It was in doing one such pro bono case - successfully defending a chaplain accused of molestation - that Pillai began his journey as a Bukit Batok community leader in 2000. Four-term MP Ong Chit Chung, whose ward was Bukit Batok, had asked Pillai to defend the chaplain and thereafter, invited him to join a legal clinic for Bukit Batok residents.

A few months later, in 2001, Pillai decided to join the PAP, following in the footsteps of his father Parameswaran Kunjan Pillai (better known as P K Pillai), who had done so during the PAP's inception in 1954. The elder Pillai rose to become chairman of the PAP's Sembawang branch but then defected to its splinter faction, the Barisan Sosialis (BS) in 1961. He then opposed the PAP's move to merge with the Federation of Malaysia, urging Singaporeans to thwart that attempt in 1962. This led to his being detained without trial on 2 February 1963 under the then colonial government's swoop on leftists known as Operation Cold Store. After more than two years, P K was eventually released in August 1965, on the orders of Malaysia's then Home Affairs Minister Tun Dr Ismail Bin Abdul Rahman.

Having made peace with the fact that it was the PAP, and not the BS, that had acted most effectively in helping Singapore prosper, Pillai's father gave him his blessing to be part of the PAP - provided that Pillai "leave with the shirt on your back", that is, serve the people without expecting anything in return.

Early life and education

Pillai began his formal education at Newton Boys' School, (which then merged in 1978 with Monk's Hill Primary School. He then went on to Monk's Hill Secondary School and Hwa Chong Junior College. His childhood friend, for er Singapore international footballer V Sundramoorthy, recalled Pillai as being a studious yet sporty sort, who would "leave earlier so he could go back and study" whenever they played football near Pillai's home in a Jurong Town Corporation flat at the 14th mile in Sembawang. Pillai characterised himself as erring on the side of "playful", but heeded his parents' view that education was his best chance at bettering his circumstances. He managed, however, to balance books and play such that he represented his schools and university on the hockey pitch.

Pillai left school fluent in Malay, as well as being able to speak some Tamil and Mandarin. He secured a place to study law at the National University of Singapore (NUS) from 1988 till 1992, on a Public Service Commission bursary. At NUS, he lived all four of his undergraduate years on campus at the storied hostel Raffles Hall. He was elected the Hall's President in 1990.

Prior to entering NUS, he did his National Service (NS) stint, rising to become a platoon commander with the 2nd Guards Battalion of the Singapore Armed Forces. He would later complete his NS obligations in 2017, retiring as a Deputy Superintendent of Police at the age of 50.

Post-graduation, and amid a thriving legal practice, Pillai completed a Master's degree in law at NUS in 1998 and then a double Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from NUS and the University of California, Los Angeles in 2008.

Career

Legal career

Pillai has proved himself adept at obtaining justice for his clients on diverse matters, especially for complex employment disputes, and investment-related or contentious regulatory issues concerning financial institutions Having built on his years investigating white-collar crimes as a police officer, he speaks regularly at international fora such as the Annual Cambridge Symposium on Economic Crime.

In his almost 30 years in the law, he has won several landmark cases. These include:

• Acting for financial institution Prudential Assurance against its former agency leader who allegedly enticed more than 200 of its agents over to a rival institution, The trial judge found that the former agency leader breached his contractual duty to act in good faith and awarded Pillai's client several millions of dollars in damages;
• Acting for a company and its director before a special five-judge bench on the Court of Appeal on a point of law of public importance which led to the overturning of their convictions as well as the decision below to forfeit US$50 million of rosewood; and
• Acting for ex-MP Choo Wee Khiang, who was charged with criminal breach of trust when he was president of a national sports body. Pillai's client was acquitted without his having to enter a defence in court, and his acquittal was affirmed on appeal.

No matter, however, is "too big or too small" for Pillai to take on, hence his provision of pro bono services to those who are indigent since he started his practice in 1996..

Independently verified sources describe him as being, among other things, "highly trusted", "very knowledgeable" and "a brilliant strategist". His approach is said to be "prompt, despite being in heavy demand."

In January 2020, he was one among three lawyers to be made Senior Counsel, Singapore's equivalent of the vaunted silk, or King's Counsel, in Britain. Since then, he has bagged many other accolades, including Best Lawyer in Singapore (2024), Singapore Lawyer of the Year (2023) and as a Distinguished Practitioner and Litigation Star.

Pillai is currently an equity partner of Rajah & Tann LLP, Southeast Asia's largest law firm. He used to head its Commercial Litigation department but scaled back his involvement since 2016e after he entered politics to balance better his many responsibilities. He is now part of the firm's Commercial Litigation, Appeals and Issues and Employment and Benefits practices.

Political career

When Pillai's mentor, Bukit Batok MP Ong Chit Chung, died suddenly in 2008,Pillai and fellow community leaders stepped up to fill the big shoes Ong left in serving the residents of Bukit Batok. Ong had held the ward from 1988 till his death on 14 July 2008.

Pillai's service to Bukit Batok residents caught then anchor minister Lim Boon Heng's eye and Lim requested that Pillai serve as chairman of the PAP's Paya Lebar branch. Pillai did so from 2012 and connected so well with the ground there that, when the PAP was deciding on who to field against the heavyweight line-up of the Workers' Party of Singaporer (WP) in the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) of Aljunied, Pillai's name was among those proposed. Lim "choked up" when he described Pillai as "a committed volunteer who served with a heart."

Despite being what most people considered a "political novice" then, Pillai won his ward of Paya Lebar, which was within Aljunied GRC, clinching 300 votes more than his WP opponent Chen Show Mao. The upshot, however, was that the WP narrowly took Aljunied GRC by 70,050 of the total votes cast (or 50.96%) to the PAP's 67,424 (or 49.04%).

Half a year later, Pillai received "a bolt from the blue" when the PAP decided to field him in the by-election for Bukit Batok SMC after the incumbent, David Ong, resigned after a personal indiscretion. Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore's then prime minister and secretary-general of the PAP, said Pillai's was the first name that came to my mind" in proposing a likely candidate from the party and that "activists in Bukit Batok were asking for [Pillai] to come back" to serve the residents there.

With a three-pronged manifesto - matching jobseekers to employers; having well-placed volunteers mentor underprivileged youths; and having the community keep much closer tabs on the welfare of their elderly - Pillai prevailed against his "seasoned" opponent, Chee Soon Juan of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), with a majority of 61.21% of all votes cast.

In their rematch during the 2020 General Election, Pillai's manifesto homed in on helping the less fortunate overcome the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic; paying even closer attention to the elderly who lived alone; and boosting healthcare and childcare community services. A cornerstone of Chee's election campaign was his insistence that Pillai was but a "part-time MP" and that not only was he, Chee, committed to serving residents full-time, but would also donate part of his MP allowance to them. Pillai responded that Chee's pledge to be a full-time MP for Bukit Batok residents was not the solution either as it "takes an entire village" to serve the people effectively. "You need to have leadership, you need to be able to raise money, you need to get the people. That's what community action plans are all about," Pillai averred.

Pillai retained the ward, albeit with Chee shaving his majority from 61.21% to 54.8%.

Known to his residents as "Ah Mu", Pillai is considered a gentleman in politics, one who in the words of a Bukit Batok resident, does not "indulge in attack politics". Pillai himself once said, "All of us in politics must grow the skin of a rhino as well as the heart of a lion. But, no need for talons, please."

Parliamentary contributions

In his eight years thus far in Parliament, Pillai has established three aims: one, to speak up for those whom society has overlooked, those left in the lurch and those left behind; two, to contribute to shaping legislative developments; and to help build a strong society befitting of a maturing democracy. He has proved to be among the House's most assiduous parliamentarians, speaking up often on these issues.

He was sworn into office for the first time on 9 May 2016 and right off the starting block, he canvassed the need for concessionary maid levies to be extended to families with mentally disabled members.

Among Pillai's most notable calls in Parliament have been:

• Granting families of the mentally disabled concessionary maid levies. This led the Ministry of Social and Family Development to implement a new assessment tool in 2016 for intellectually disabled persons, or those on the autism spectrum, to enable their families to obtain such concessionary levies ;
• Extending the Government's Job Growth Incentive, which originally gave employers generous wage support if they hired senior and disabled workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, to cover the hiring of ex-offenders too Since the extension in late 2000 till May 2022, about 2,300 ex-offenders have been hired. Post-pandemic, this policy was made permanent through the Uplifting Employment Credit;
• Extending the option of serving custodial sentences beyond the prison to a wider range of mentally disturbed persons. This involved Mandatory Treatment Orders (MTOs) for such convicts to receive regular expert psychiatric care lest, as Pillai put it, "they may exit prisons without the additional social and emotional skills to manage life." This led to MTOs being made available to a greater number of offenders with mental disorders, under the Criminal Procedure Code (Prescribed Offences for Mandatory Treatment Orders) Regulations 2018;
• Urging the Ministry of Health to review more regularly the upper limits of the national health insurance scheme MediShield Life, after at least one elderly Singaporean could only claim about 0.1 per cent back under the scheme for an eye operation that cost him more than S$4,000. This led the Ministry concerned to move the needle by agreeing to review the scheme every three years or so, that is, quicker than the-then prevailing five years or so ;
• Proposing that the Government of Singapore help strengthen Singapore society in general by showing how much it cares for its families by commemorating their major milestones such as 50th wedding anniversaries and centenary birthdays. This led the Ministry of Social and Family Development to set up the Golden Jubilee Wedding Celebrations (GJWC) scheme, in which Singaporean spouses who have remained married for more than half a century receive, among other things, a certificate commending that from the President of the Republic of Singapore. The first GJWC took place at the Istana on 17 March 2018 and the scheme has continued ever since, albeit largely in virtual form during the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020;
• Convincing the Government of Singapore to accede to The Hague Apostille Convention by passing the Apostille Act 2020, which cuts down the time and resources that Singaporeans need to authenticate documents for use overseas;
• Proposing that MPs and civil servants be held more accountable for their productivity, including harnessing technology to gauge how actionable and effective their plans are;
• Urging the authorities to mandate the use of proven safety technology for all vehicles, especially motorcycles, following a sharp increase in fatalities among motorcyclists in Singapore in the first quarter of 2023;
• Proposing a review of "ouster clauses" in legislation not related to national security, concerns, in the interests of ensuring greater accountability for such actions. Otherwise, such clauses bar the courts from reviewing certain government actions;
• Prompting a study on how prosecutors could be made to release more documents to help other lawyers better defend their clients in criminal proceedings; and
• Urging the Government of Singapore to review the medical benefits of Civil Service pensioners with a view to covering their care in nursing homes as well as their palliative care at home.

Views

In shaping laws and making policies, Pillai advocates taking the long view and considering the respective interests of all stakeholders. Among his most notable perspectives are that:

• Multiracialism is the bedrock of Singapore society and practising inclusivity is the way to protect that. "We must ensure that there is no disenfranchisement within society ... [so that] when we are hit by [growing national security issues and terrorism], we retain our shape";
• Noting that consensus and the brokering of shared interests are hallmarks of democracy, Pillai said that consensus is "not a matter of sweeping hard truths under the carpet, but a process of contestation, persuasion and resolution";
• On the "natural tendency" in hard times for governments to cut bak on social spending, which he considers a "strategic capability", Plllai said, "We cannot be capricious. We must hold fast to our resolve to develop these strategic capabilities". He tempers that with the need for "financial probity" in any decision to draw on Singapore's reserves;
• As to why a court of law may not be the ideal body to review Executive decisions under the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act 2021: "[That] would be tantamount to giving the court, an unelected body, the final say in such matters ...since we are dealing with issues of foreign interference affecting public interest...a different form of procedure to ensure the swift and agile handling of causes and judicious safeguarding of sensitive information will be needed; and
• On the strength of Singapore's parliamentary model: "Having a House of backbencher MPs, not of professional politicians but each of us holding different areas of knowledge and expertise, ensures that we as a House do not have the same blind spots. Combined with a listening frontbench, we will be able to make better contributions to policy-making for Singapore and fellow Singaporeans.

Community contributions

The golden thread that runs through Pillai's long-time efforts for residents of Bukit Batok - who number about 50,000 in all and who live in about 160 residential blocks - is about tackling the root causes of social ills and fostering circles of community-based cre for all of them.

Among other things, Pillai:

• Drives a Community Job Placement Taskforce, which connects residents to prospective employers;
• Set up a Healthcare Taskforce, in which volunteers who are medical staff do health screenings of residents and even deliver hospital beds to the latter's homes;
• Initiated the Green Ribbon Taskforce which is focused on residents' mental heath, and which promotes awareness of such conditions as autism with purple light-ups in public'
• Together with non-governmental body Jamiyah Singapore, Pillai launched the food bank Jampacked@Bukit Batok to help residents ameliorate their cost-of-living woes;
• One of Pillai's most well-acknowledged contributions has been the redevelopment of a hillock in the neighbourhood known to Bukit Batok residents as Fuji Hill. In consultation with these residents, among whom is the illustrious architect Tay Kheng Soon, Pillai put in place a playground to encourage an adventurous spirit in the young, and elevated boardwalks for all to enjoy the ward's lush surroundings;
• Also part of the Bukit Batok Environment Plan is a community vegetable farm for, as Pillai puts it, "changing attitudes ...to ensure we have a sustainable bright spot in Bukit Batok"; and
• Holding the authorities to account in Parliament on unwelcome developments in Bukit Batok, including the siting of a new funeral parlour in his constituency and the Ministry of Education's sudden decision to relocate the ward's Bukit View Primary School to a site about 2km away, resulting in inconvenience to its existing students and their parents.

Other appointments

Pillai is chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Home Affairs and Law and is a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Social and Family Development. He was a member of Workforce Singapore (2016-2022) and the Land Transport Authority (2017-2023). Since 2021, Pillai has also been Vice-President of the community self-help group the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA).

Controversies

At 4:30am on 1 November 2019, rag-and-bone woman Goh Seow Whay was badly injured after being trapped during a fire in her 13th floor Housing Board flat. Firefighters who were trying to save her were delayed after they encountered a locked firehose cabinet at her block and then a cut in the supply of water to the block's firehoses. Ensuing investigations by the Singapore Civil Defence Force found that an employee of the contractor in charge of checking and maintaining the firehoses had negligently left the rooftop water pump switch off. That employee subsequently tried to gloss over his negligent act by sneaking up to the water pump a few hours after the fire and turning it on again.

Goh died of her injuries on 10 December 2019, with the state coroner later ruling her death an unfortunate misadventure, finding that the fire likely started from a misplaced cigarette butt. Pillai apologised publicly for the problems with the firehoses because "as your elected representative I am accountable to you." He also cut short an overseas trip, in which he was part of a presidential delegation, to help Goh's family and other residents the fire had affected. Goh's son, Merverick Chia, expressed his gratitude to Pillai for taking responsibility and assisting him and his family during, as well as after, the ordeal.

On 27 June 2020, a woman surnamed Chua complained on Facebook that Pillai was "unempathetic" about her quest to buy a Housing Board flat to rehouse her estranged parents and aunt. His alleged response to her plight apparently "shocked" her. Pillai spoke to Chua subsequently to understand her situation better and see how he could help her and her family. [By then, she had taken down her Facebook rant about Pillai.]

On 30 June 2020, after submitting his nomination papers for his 2020 General Election bid to be re-elected in Bukit Batok, Pillai alluded on social media to a post about his son, calling it a "scurrilous" attack against his family . He pointed out that the timing of the attack "leaves nothing to the imagination".. Pillai admitted to being "not a perfect father" and said such personal concerns, however, should be kept out of the political arena. Chee, his election opponent from SDP, criticised the attack.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Pillai was criticised by Chee for allowing a gathering of seniors to take place. Pillai attended the event in his position as the adviser to Bukit Batok's Grassroots Organisations. Pillai defended himself by saying that precautions were in place for the dinner.

Most recently, in August 2023, opposition Nominated MP Leong Mun Wai reported Pillai to the Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng after Pillai inferred from Leong's speech in Parliament on 3 August 2023 that Leong was all for bringing back rent control in Singapore. In his written explanation following the complaint, Pillai pointed out that Leong, in his speech, had called on the Government to outlaw rental computations that resulted in tenants paying higher rent. "We call on the Government to consider asserting its influence and encourage the Fair Tenancy Industry Committee to outlaw such rental computation structures all together in the next iteration of the code of conduct," Leong had said in Parliament. Pillai's response, among other things, was to note that Leong sought lower rents for small and medium enterprises and that triggered Pillai's memories of the ruinous and now-defunct Control of Rent Act.

In September 2023, Speaker of Parliament Seah dismissed Leong's claim, having assessed that Pillai had no "improper motive" in characterising Leong's proposals as an attempt to re-introduce rent control in Singapore.

Personal life

Pillai's father P K uprooted from India to Singapore sometime in 1947. A dyed-in-the-wool anti-colonialist, P K promptly joined the Communist Party of Malaya, fighting with it in the Malayan jungle, only to leave all that behind when he contracted malaria .

P K then joined the Naval Base Labour Union and the PAP; he was later chairman of the PAP's Sembawang branch. His eventual opposition to the merger between Singapore and the Federation of Malaysia, however, caused him to be detained without trial between February 1963 and August 1965. After his release, he wound up having to "break rocks in the road" as a labourer, as well as be a security guard, to feed his growing family.

P K impressed upon Pillai the importance of being a role model and serving others, with no thought of reward. P K passed on in 2007.

Pillai married N Gowri, a geography teacher with a PhD degree, in 1996. The couple have twin sons and two younger daughters.

External links

• Lawyer Profile - K. Muralidharan Pillai
• Murali Pillai on Parliament of Singapore