Before Cabinet meetings, there are pre-Cabinet meetings where no civil servant is present. ...
Discussions are "very civil, polite, calm but very robust". New ministers present papers with "some trepidation because the senior ministers in their calm way will scrutinise the proposal, and if it's no good, it will be dismantled. But it's all very objective. Disagreements are not treated as an ego contest", he says.
"New ministers entering this kind of working culture know that while discussions are very robust, we are all in the same team. If there's any ambition, it is a collective ambition for Singapore."
Mr Ong, Mr Chan Chun Sing and Mr Tan Chuan Jin were at Raffles Junior College (RJC) at the same time.
On Chan Chun Sing:
"Ever since I've known Mr Chan in JC, he's been very humble and considerate, that's why I am not surprised at all that he is now very comfortable overseeing the People's Association and unions."
On Tan Chuan Jin:
They got to know each other at the London School of Economics (LSE). They played soccer on Sundays at Regent's Park and went backpacking in Egypt.
Mr Tan was commander of the Singapore Armed Forces' humanitarian aid task force in Meulaboh following the 2004 tsunami. "The experience - witnessing death, saving lives - has obviously shaped him as a person," he says of his old friend.
On Mr Heng Swee Keat:
They were both once in the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI).
"He was a very good boss and an economic czar," Mr Ong says.
On Lawrence Wong who succeeded him as principal private secretary to Mr Lee Hsien Loong:
He is very sharp, sound and insightful in his policy analysis.
On Ng Chee Meng
They got to know each other when they both sat on the board of Spring Singapore.
"He is what you would call a guy's guy. Someone you can trust your life with."
IF THERE'S something unique that Mr Ong brings to the Cabinet table, it is that he has tasted political defeat - and bounced back.
Up to his O levels, he studied in a Chinese environment, at Nanyang Primary and Maris Stella. His father, former Barisan Sosialis MP Ong Lian Teng, was Chinese-educated, as was his mother. But he opted to go to RJC, a largely English-educated world.
After A levels, he got a government scholarship and chose LSE although he had never been to Europe.
He had done well in various ministries before moving to the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).
He stayed at NTUC for about a year, then left for Keppel Corporation where he was director of group strategy. In 2015, he stood and won in Sembawang GRC.
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