Grace Fu

Grace Fu Hai Yien
MP
傅海燕

Grace Fu speaking to reporters at the launch of the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics' Million Deeds Challenge on 26 April 2009.
Minister for Culture, Community and Youth
Assumed office
1 October 2015
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
Preceded by Lawrence Wong
Leader of the House
Assumed office
1 October 2015
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
Deputy Desmond Lee
Preceded by Ng Eng Hen
Member of the Singapore Parliament
for Yuhua SMC
Assumed office
21 May 2011
Minister in Prime Minister's Office
In office
1 August 2012  30 September 2015
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources
In office
1 August 2012  30 September 2015
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
Minister Vivian Balakrishnan
Preceded by Position established
Succeeded by Position Abolished
Second Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office
1 August 2012  30 September 2015
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
Minister K. Shanmugam
Preceded by Lui Tuck Yew
Succeeded by Position Abolished
Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts and the Environment and Water Resources
In office
21 May 2011  30 July 2012
Preceded by Position established
Senior Minister of State for Education and National Development
In office
1 April 2008  20 May 2011
Preceded by Position established
Member of the Singapore Parliament
for Jurong GRC
In office
27 April 2006  18 April 2011
Personal details
Born (1964-03-29) 29 March 1964[1]
Singapore
Political party People's Action Party
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Fu.

Grace Fu Hai Yien (Chinese: 傅海燕; pinyin: Fù Hǎi Yiàn; born 29 March 1964) is a Singaporean politician. A member of the country's governing People's Action Party (PAP), she is the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth. She is the second woman in Singapore's history to hold the status of full Minister, after Lim Hwee Hwa.

Career

Fu began her career with Overseas Union Bank (OUB) as an auditor from 1985 to 1988. She then joined the Haw Par Group, where she worked in corporate planning, financial control and business development from 1991 to 1995.

In October 1995, Fu joined the PSA Corporation as an Assistant Director (Finance). She took on additional responsibilities as Vice-President (Marketing) and assumed the position of Financial Controller of the PSA Corporation in October 1998. She was promoted to the position of Executive Vice-President (Finance) in January 1999. In April 2003, Fu was appointed chief executive officer of Singapore Terminals. In 2004, she became the chief executive officer of PSA South East Asia and Japan, where she was responsible for the business performance of PSA's flagship terminals in Singapore, Thailand, Brunei and Japan.

Fu has been a non-practising member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore since 1992.[2]

Political career

Fu was one of 24 new PAP candidates formally introduced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong ahead of the 2006 general election. She was elected in June 2006 as an Member of Parliament (MP) for the Jurong Group Representation Constituency (Jurong GRC). On 1 August 2006, Fu was appointed a Minister of State for the Ministry of National Development

On 1 April 2008, Fu was promoted to Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of National Development.

At the 2011 general election, Fu was elected as the MP for the Yuhua Single Member Constituency. She defeated the Singapore Democratic Party's candidate Teo Soh Lung by 14,093 votes (66.9%) to 6,986 (33.1%). Following the election, Fu was appointed Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts and the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources.

In January 2012 Fu expressed concerns over the planned 36–37% income cuts for ministers, saying that if ministerial pay was further reduced in the future, it would "make it harder for anyone considering political office".[3][4][5][6][7] Her comments contributed to the ongoing public debate over compensation and motivation of public officials, and were subject to criticism from Internet users in Singapore. Others defended her remark as fair, supporting her position that loss of privacy and public scrutiny adds a large personal cost to public positions not found in the private sector.[8][9]

On 31 July 2012, Fu was promoted to full Minister, together with Josephine Teo. She is the second woman in Singapore's history, after Lim Hwee Hua, to hold this status. She was Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2015.[10] She is currently the Minister for Culture, Community & Youth, the first female minister to hold such political post.

Education

Fu was educated in Nanyang Girls' High School and Hwa Chong Junior College, before going on to the National University of Singapore where she completed a Bachelor of Accountancy (Honours) in 1985 and a Master of Business Administration in 1991.

Personal life

Fu is married and has three sons.[11]

Political history

Date Appointment
June 2006 Elected Member of Parliament for Jurong GRC
August 2006 Minister of State – Ministry of National Development
April 2008 Senior Minister of State – Ministry of Education and Ministry of National Development
May 2011 Elected Member of Parliament for Yuhua SMC
May 2011 Senior Minister of State – Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts and Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources
Aug 2012 Minister, Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs
Sept 2015 Re-elected Member of Parliament for Yuhua SMC, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth

References

  1. "Member's CV – Ms Grace Fu Hai Yien". Parliament of Singapore. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  2. MP Profile – Grace Fu, pap.org.sg, retrieved 13 March 2012.
  3. Nie, Ho Yeen. "Grace Fu criticised over Facebook comments on pay review". Channel News Asia.
  4. Chan, Rachel (6 January 2012). "Furore over minister's pay-cut post". AsiaOne.
  5. Wong, Alicia (6 January 2012). "Grace Fu clarifies Facebook post on ministerial pay". TodayOnline.
  6. Seah, Chiang Nee (7 January 2012). "PAP mood turns sour over pay cuts". The Star.
  7. Shamim, Adam; Lim, Weiyi (5 January 2012). "Singapore's Lee Fights Voter Grievances by Accepting Pay Cut". Bloomberg.
  8. Mokhtar, Faris (6 January 2012). "Public misunderstood my comments: Grace Fu". Yahoo! News SG. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  9. Kong, Loh Chee (5 January 2011). "Deep cuts proposed to pay of political leaders". TodayOnline.
  10. "Singapore reshuffles Cabinet". Channel News Asia. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  11. A Chat with Grace Fu, pap.org.sg, 10 June 2006.

External links

Political offices
New office Minister-in-charge of the Municipal Services Office
1 October 2014 – present
Incumbent
Preceded by
Lawrence Wong
Minister for Community, Culture and Youth
1 October 2015 – present
Incumbent
Parliament of Singapore
Preceded by
Ng Eng Hen
Leader of the House
1 October 2015 – present
Incumbent
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