Uplifting vulnerable workers and ensuring retirement adequacy were among the priority areas the new acting minister laid out.

Those who own critical information infrastructure – computer systems directly involved in providing essential services – will be expected to detect, respond and recover from cyberattacks.

The labour chief will return to a portfolio he held until leaving parliament after his team's loss in Sengkang GRC at the 2020 General Election.

Mr Wong said he had tried "his very best" to see whether there was a way for Assoc Prof Faishal to continue in office, but concluded that this was no longer a private matter.

Apart from entering the party's central executive committee (CEC), Mr Zaqy will also replace Associate Professor Faishal Ibrahim as chairperson of the PAP's Malay affairs bureau.

Asked why he had not appointed a second deputy prime minister, Mr Wong says that the Cabinet already has three coordinating ministers, appointed after the 2025 election.