23 Facts About Murali Pillai

Kumjan Muralidharan Pillai, better known as Murali Pillai, is a Singaporean politician and lawyer who has been serving as Minister of State for Transport, and Minister of State for Law since 2024.

Murali Pillai joined the People's Action Party in 2001 and was the branch secretary to Ong Chit Chung, Member of Parliament for Bukit Batok.

Murali Pillai was part of a five-member PAP team who contested and narrowly lost to the Workers' Party in Aljunied GRC during the 2015 general election.

In 2016, Murali Pillai was fielded in as a PAP candidate for the Bukit Batok by-election.

Murali Pillai subsequently went on to complete a Master of Laws degree and Master of Business Administration degree at the National University of Singapore.

Murali Pillai obtained a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Murali Pillai played hockey as a student and had represented his school.

Murali Pillai was once President of Raffles Hall in NUS.

In 1992, Murali Pillai joined the Singapore Police Force as an Assistant Superintendent of Police, primarily involved in investigations into white-collar crimes.

Murali Pillai completed his National Service obligations in 2017 as Deputy Superintendent upon reaching age of 50.

Murali Pillai then stepped down from his post in an effort to better balance his work commitments and political responsibilities.

Murali Pillai contested in the 2015 general election in a PAP team for Aljuined GRC.

Murali Pillai was formally nominated as a candidate on 27 April 2016, the only other nominated candidate being Chee Soon Juan of the SDP.

Murali Pillai pledged that if he won, he would upgrade infrastructure around Blocks 140 to 149 of the SMC, which would cost S$1.9 million.

Murali Pillai later clarified that this potential S$1.9 million project is "part of" the S$23.6 million masterplan announced by David Ong during the 2015 general election.

Murali Pillai was sworn into parliament on 9 May 2016.

Murali Pillai continued to serve as Chairman until 1 July 2024 where he relinquished the Chairmanship to Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim after taking office as Minister of State.

On 30 June 2020, after submitting his nomination papers for the election, Murali Pillai claimed on social media that there was an online attack against his son, who was convicted of an offence.

Murali Pillai was publicly criticised by one of his constituents on Facebook for being unempathetic to her housing issues, suggesting to her that marriage was the solution to her issues.

Murali Pillai attended the event in his position as the adviser to Bukit Batok's Grassroots Organisations.

Murali Pillai defended against the criticism by saying that precautions were in place for the dinner.

On 13 May 2024, it was announced that Murali Pillai was appointed to minister of state in the Ministry of Law and Ministry of Transport, an appointment that he would only take on from 1 July 2024.

Murali Pillai is one of two backbenchers promoted to a full-time political office in that announcement, the other being Shawn Huang.