Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim on giving up a 20-year legal career to take up political office

SINGAPORE – Just days after being re-elected in the 2025 General Election, Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim received a call from Prime Minister Lawrence Wong that brought him back to a day in 2012 that changed his life.

He was then an up-and-coming lawyer in international arbitration work – “cutting my teeth against silks in England, the Middle East and North Africa region” – when a client asked him what he had done besides his corporate work.

“My client asked me, what have you done for your country, your community?” Mr Zhulkarnain, now 44, recalled. “I thought: Am I so arrogant as to say that I’ve done enough?”

The question prompted him to start offering his services pro bono, and to volunteer at Casa Raudha, a crisis shelter for women and children. He eventually followed these causes into politics and was elected an MP for Chua Chu Kang GRC in the 2020 General Election.

Over the phone, PM Wong made a convincing case for him to join the Government, the clincher being that this was his chance to “make a deep impact” for the Malay/Muslim community.

PM Wong’s call, Mr Zhulkarnain said, was as defining as his client’s challenge for him to go further in giving back to society.

On May 21, PM Wong announced

his new Cabinet line-up

, with nine new office-holders.

Mr Zhulkarnain was one of two backbenchers, alongside Mr Desmond Choo, joining the Government, and the only one who will take up his appointments – as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Social and Family Development – in 2026.

“I’m the guy that PM wants to wait for,” he quipped.

Mr Zhulkarnain said he enjoyed his five years as a backbencher, which allowed him to champion causes he was passionate about, such as fighting against stigma, social stratification and domestic violence.

As deputy chair and later chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Home Affairs and Law, he literally had a front row seat to the cut and thrust of debate in the House.

Being a backbench PAP MP also meant he could carry on with his international law practice as a senior partner with Dentons Rodyk, where he leads a team of seven lawyers.

“It was really a full gamut of work and I really never, never thought of sitting on the front bench,” he told The Straits Times in an exclusive interview.

While he bought into the Prime Minister’s vision, Mr Zhulkarnain said it was still a difficult decision to say yes, given that the youngest of his four children is three years old.

It also meant giving up his legal practice – “the second love of my life after my wife”, he said.

Singapore’s code of conduct for ministers states that a minister who is a partner in any business must, on taking office, cease playing any part in the day-to-day management of the firm’s affairs and can no longer practise for remuneration.

These few months are therefore for him to conclude his remaining court cases, and to divest his interest in the legal practice, he said.

Going upstream

The decision to give up his legal practice was informed by the same logic that saw him resign as chairman of AMP Singapore – a non-profit organisation that serves the Muslim community – to join politics in 2020.

Citing the parable of babies in the river, Mr Zhulkarnain said there is value in addressing immediate problems, but one also has to think of going upriver to tackle problems at their source.

As a member of the Government, he hopes to do a lot more upstream work with other policymakers and civil servants, so there will be less need in Singapore for things like shelters for victims of domestic violence.

“Singapore cannot just do (downstream work), because otherwise we will be a nanny state,” he said.

“We have a lot of resources building shelters... and to what end? The day that I’ll be happy is the day such shelters go out of business, because that means you have a society that doesn’t need all these. But, unfortunately, we still do.”

As a lawyer, being an MP asking tough questions of the Government is a good thing, said Mr Zhulkarnain, but being part of the answer “is really what will make a much more vast difference”.

While he has yet to take on his new roles, he has some idea of the areas he will focus on.

Apart from social and family issues, Mr Zhulkarnain said he supports the Government’s

tough stance on vaping

, having heard first-hand through his Meet-the-People Sessions of residents’ family members getting addicted to Kpods.

“When it comes to matters of Singaporeans’ lives and future, I will always err on the side of caution,” he said.

On foreign affairs, he intends to capitalise on his professional experience working in the Middle East to look at expanding Singapore’s business interests in the region.

Mr Zhulkarnain said his prior roles where he looked at issues through an economic lens also drove home the need for Singapore to keep at its economic diplomacy efforts, especially as countries become more insular.

He had previously been a director for the Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry and also a member of the National Wages Council.

Apart from his two ministerial portfolios, Mr Zhulkarnain said taking up political office was also about supporting the next generation of Malay/Muslim leaders.

“(PM Wong’s call) was not just a vote of confidence for me – it’s a call to action for me to support the team,” he said, naming Malay/Muslim political office-holders including Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli, Acting Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Faishal Ibrahim, and Dr Syed Harun Alhabsyi, who will become a senior parliamentary secretary in October.

Asked if he felt any weight of expectations, Mr Zhulkarnain said that as a Malay/Muslim political office-holder, or even just a candidate standing for election, it is undeniable that the community would expect him to see things from their perspective.

In the same way, a leader with a community activism or animal welfare background would be expected to be authentic and continue speaking up on those issues, he added.

“A community that identifies with you is your strength, actually,” he said. “Then, you should actually reflect that strength in you, and bring that community forward.”