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Vivian Balakrishnan
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| விவியன் பாலகிருஷ்ணன் | |
Balakrishnan in 2023
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| Minister for Foreign Affairs | |
| Assumed office 1 October 2015 | |
| Prime Minister | Lee Hsien Loong Lawrence Wong |
| Second Minister | Josephine Teo (2017) Maliki Osman (2020–present) |
| Preceded by | K. Shanmugam |
| Acting Minister for Transport | |
| In office 25 February 2019 – 5 April 2019 | |
| Prime Minister | Lee Hsien Loong |
| Preceded by | Khaw Boon Wan |
| Succeeded by | Khaw Boon Wan |
| Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative | |
| In office 2014–2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Lee Hsien Loong |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Josephine Teo |
| Minister for the Environment and Water Resources | |
| In office 21 May 2011 – 30 September 2015 | |
| Prime Minister | Lee Hsien Loong |
| Second Minister | Grace Fu (2012–2015) |
| Preceded by | Yaacob Ibrahim |
| Succeeded by | Masagos Zulkifli |
| Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts | |
| In office 30 May 2006 – 31 March 2008 | |
| Prime Minister | Lee Hsien Loong |
| Minister | Lee Boon Yang (2003–2009) |
| Second Minister for Trade and Industry | |
| In office 1 April 2005 – 29 May 2006 | |
| Prime Minister | Lee Hsien Loong |
| Minister | Lim Hng Kiang (2004–2018) |
| Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports | |
| In office 12 August 2004 – 20 May 2011 Acting: 12 August 2004 – 31 March 2005 | |
| Prime Minister | Lee Hsien Loong |
| Preceded by | Yaacob Ibrahim |
| Succeeded by | Chan Chun Sing |
| Member of Parliament for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC (Cashew) | |
| Assumed office 27 April 2006 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Majority | 34,991 (32.72%) |
| Member of Parliament for Holland-Bukit Panjang GRC (Ulu Pandan) | |
| In office 4 November 2001 – 27 April 2006 | |
| Preceded by | Lim Boon Heng (PAP) |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1961 (age 62–63)[1] State of Singapore |
| Political party | People's Action Party |
| Spouse | Joy Balakrishnan |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | National University of Singapore (MBBS) |
| Occupation |
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Vivian Balakrishnan (Tamil: விவியன் பாலகிருஷ்ணன், romanized: Viviyaṉ Pālakiruṣṇaṉ; born 1961)[1] is a Singaporean politician, diplomat and former ophthalmologist who has been serving as Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2015. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Cashew division of Holland–Bukit Timah GRC since 2006, and previously the Ulu Pandan division of Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC between 2001 and 2006.
He previously served as Second Minister for Trade and Industry between 2005 and 2006, Minister for Community, Youth and Sports between 2005 and 2011, Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts between 2006 and 2008, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources between 2011 and 2015, and Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative between 2014 and 2017.
APresident's Scholar, Balakrishnan studied medicine at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore and underwent postgraduate specialist training in ophthalmology before he was admitted as a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. From 1999 to 2002, he served as the commanding officer of the Second Combat Support Hospital of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), while holding the positions of medical director of the Singapore National Eye Centre and chief executive officer of the Singapore General Hospital concurrently.[2]
Balakrishnan made his political debut in the 2001 general election as part of a five-member PAP team contesting in Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC and won by an uncontested walkover.[3] He was subsequently appointed as Minister of State for National Development in 2002, and Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry in 2004.[1]
Vivian Balakrishnan was born in 1961 in Singapore to an Indian Tamil father and a Chinese mother with ancestry from Fuqing, Fujian.[4]
He was educated at Anglo-Chinese School and National Junior College before he was conferred the President's Scholarship in 1980 to study medicine at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore. He served two terms as the president of the NUS Student Union, and later the chairman of the union council.
Balakrishnan chose a postgraduate specialisation in ophthalmology and became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1991.[citation needed]
Balakrishnan had worked at Moorfields Eye HospitalinLondon between 1993 and 1995 as a specialist senior registrar, where he subspecialised in paediatric ophthalmology.
When Balakrishnan returned to Singapore, he became a consultant ophthalmologist at the Singapore National Eye Centre and National University Hospital, and an associate professor of ophthalmology at the National University of Singapore in 1998.
In 1999, he became the medical director of the Singapore National Eye Centre, and later the chief executive officer of the Singapore General Hospital in 2000.[5] Balakrishnan was also the commanding officer of the 2nd Combat Support Hospital of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) between 1999 and 2002.
In the 1990s, he hosted the series Health Matters on Singapore television.[6]
Balakrishnan made his political debut in the 2001 general election as part of the five-member PAP team contesting in Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC and won by an uncontested walkover.[7] He was subsequently appointed Minister of State for National Development, and Chairman of the Remaking Singapore Committee in 2002. He was later appointed Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry in 2004.[8]
In 2004, Balakrishnan was appointed acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports. He was made a full member of the Cabinet in 2005.[8]
During the 2006 general election, Balakrishnan was part of a five-member PAP team led by Lim Swee Say, contesting in Holland–Bukit Timah GRC and won by an uncontested walkover.[9][10]
During a Committee of Supply debate in Parliament on 9 March 2007 regarding the estimates of expenditure for the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), an MP for Jalan Besar GRC, Lily Neo asked Balakrishnan whether the ministry would consider raising the Public Assistance rates for the purpose of ensuring recipients are able to have three meals a day, to which Balakrishnan replied with "How much do you want? Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant?"[11][12][13]
As Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Balakrishnan raised the public assistance scheme from $260 for a single-person household in 2007, to $400 for a single-person household in 2011.[14]
During the 2011 general election, Balakrishnan led the four-member PAP team which includes Liang Eng Hwa, Christopher de Souza and Sim Ann contesting in Holland–Bukit Timah GRC and won 60.1% of the vote.[15] This was the first time Holland–Bukit Timah GRC were being contested since its formation in 2001.[16]
During the political campaign for the 2011 general election, Balakrishnan said that the candidates from the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) did not have any plans for the constituency, and their selection of Holland–Bukit Timah GRC was an opportunistic act.[17] He suggested that they were trying to suppress a certain YouTube video featuring a member of their team[18] and that it raised questions about their agenda and motivation.[19][20] It was later discovered that the video included Vincent Wijeysingha at a forum discussing issues surrounding gay rights and section 377A of the Penal Code in Singapore.[21][22] The PAP team issued a statement asking the SDP team whether they were pursuing a "gay agenda".[20][23] The SDP denied it, saying that they were not pursuing the gay agenda[22] and the issue was put to rest.[23][24] The PAP drew criticism from internet users in Singapore for their election strategy.[25]
At the same election, the SDP candidates raised the issue of government spending for the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics, which Balakrishnan had overseen as Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, saying that the budget exceeded the initial estimates of S$104 million by over three times.[26][27] Balakrishnan acknowledged that they had got the initial estimates wrong as it was the first time that an event of that scale was organised in Singapore.[26] He asserted that the increased budget did not affect other programmes of the ministry, and that 70% of the spending for the event went into paying local firms for their services.[28] He declared that his team had spent less than the finalised budget amount and did not waste money.[26][28]
On 21 May 2011, Balakrishnan was appointed Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, taking over from Yaacob Ibrahim.[29] After the 2015 general election, Balakrishnan was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs.[30]
In response to a parliamentary question on 5 January 2021 regarding the use of data from the contact tracing app developed during the COVID-19 pandemic known as TraceTogether, the Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Tan replied that under the Criminal Procedure Code, the Police can access TraceTogether data for the purpose of criminal investigations,[31] despite Balakrishnan's assurance to the public 8 months earlier in June 2020 that TraceTogether data will only be used for contact tracing purposes.[32] Balakrishnan later said in Parliament "I take full responsibility for this mistake. And I deeply regret the consternation and anxiety caused".[33]
In September 2021, during a debate in Parliament about the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, a hot mic picked up Balakrishnan referring to NCMP Leong Mun Wai of the Progress Singapore Party as "illiterate" and questioning how Leong got into Raffles Institution (RI) in a conversation with fellow PAP MPs on the front bench. Balakrishnan was subsequently called by Leong to apologise.[34][35]
In 2023, Balakrishnan and K. Shanmugam were investigated by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau for their rentals of state-owned bungalows at Ridout Road. The CPIB reported that they did not find any criminal wrongdoing or improper conduct.[36][37]
He is married to Joy Balakrishnan, and they have a daughter and three sons.[38]
(Column: 3536) Dr Lily Neo: Sir, I want to check with the Minister again on the strict criteria on the entitlement for PA recipients. May I ask him what is his definition of "subsistence living"? Am I correct to say that, out of $260 per month for PA recipients, $100 goes to rental, power supply and S&C, and leaving them with only $5 a day to live on? Am I correct to say that any basic meal in any hawker centre is already $2.50 to $3.00 per meal? Therefore, is it too much to ask for just three meals a day as an entitlement for the PA recipients? Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: How much do you want? Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant?
31. "How much do you want? Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant?" - Then Minister of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan
The gap between have and have nots, between Minister and ordinary Singaporean, is ironically best illustrated with remarks made by Vivian Balakrishnan himself some years ago. In an exchange in Parliament with MP Lily Neo, who was asking the government to allocate more money to the poor so they could afford three meals a day, the Minister retorted: "How much do you want? Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant?"
The police can obtain any data under Singapore's jurisdiction for the purposes of criminal investigations, and this includes TraceTogether data, Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Tan told the House on Monday (Jan 4).
During a Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF) press conference in June last year, Dr Balakrishnan emphasised that the TraceTogether app and token are not meant to be used to detect offences and breaches of rules, but rather for effective contact tracing. "(The) TraceTogether app, TraceTogether running on a device, and the data generated (are) purely for contact tracing. Period," he said at the time.
The Singapore government has acknowledged its error in failing to state that TraceTogether (TT) is not exempt from the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). "I take full responsibility for this mistake. And I deeply regret the consternation and anxiety caused," said Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister-in-Charge of the Smart Nation Initiative, in Parliament on Tuesday (2 February). "Perhaps I was so enamoured by what I thought was the ingenuity and brilliance of (the TT system) that I got blindsided."
Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has apologised to Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Leong Mun Wai for private comments made in Parliament yesterday (Sep. 14) where he allegedly called the latter "illiterate".
In a video of the sitting, which was livestreamed on the YouTube channel of the Ministry of Communications and Information, a voice can be heard saying "he's illiterate", after Manpower Minister Tan See Leng replied to a question from Mr Leong.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports 2005 – 2011 Acting: 2004 – 2005 |
Succeeded by as Acting Minister |
| Preceded by | Minister for the Environment and Water Resources 2011 – 2015 |
Succeeded by |
| New office | Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative 2014 – 2021 |
Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Foreign Affairs 2015 – present |
Incumbent |
| Parliament of Singapore | ||
| Preceded by as MP for Bukit Timah GRC (Ulu Pandan) | Member of Parliament for Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC (Ulu Pandan) 2001 – 2006 |
Succeeded by as MP for Holland–Bukit Timah GRC (Ulu Pandan) |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for Holland–Bukit Timah GRC (Cashew) 2006 – present |
Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chairman of Young PAP 2004 – 2008 |
Succeeded by |
Biography
Politics
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Effective from 15 May 2024 | |
Member of multiple Parliaments of Singapore
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1 Kyaw Tin is currently recognized as Myanmar's official Foreign Minister by ASEAN, instead of Ko Ko Hlaing (despite the latter currently serving as Myanmar's Minister of International Cooperation). |
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