Grace Fu

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Grace Fu Hai Yien [a] DCMG [1] (born 29 March 1964) [2] is a Singaporean accountant and politician who has served as the Organising Secretaries of the People's Action Party since 2025 and has been serving as Minister for Sustainability and the Environment since 2020, and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations since 2024. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Yuhua division of Jurong East–Bukit Batok Group Representation Constituency (GRC) since 2025. She had previously represented the Yuhua division of Jurong GRC between 2006 and 2011 and Yuhua Single Member Constituency (SMC) between 2011 and 2025.

Contents

An accountant by profession, Fu worked at Overseas Union Bank, Haw Par Group, and PSA Corporation before entering politics. She made her political debut in the 2006 general election as part of the five-member PAP team for Jurong GRC and won. After Yuhua SMC was carved from Jurong GRC, she won reelection there in the 2011 general election and would do so until 2025. Following the redrawing of electoral boundaries in the 2025 general election, Yuhua SMC was absorbed into Jurong East–Bukit Batok GRC, where she won reelection as part of a five-member PAP team.

Before her appointment as the Minister of Sustainability and the Environment, Fu served as Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education between 2008 and 2011, for the Environment and Water Resources and for the Information, Communications and the Arts between 2011 and 2012, Second Minister for Foreign Affairs between 2012 and 2015, Leader of the House and Minister for Culture, Community and Youth between 2015 and 2020.

Early life and education

Fu was born on 29 March 1964 in Singapore, then a state in Malaysia. She was educated at Nanyang Girls' High School and Hwa Chong Junior College before graduating from the National University of Singapore in 1985 with a Bachelor of Accountancy with honours degree in 1985. She subsequently completed a Master of Business Administration degree at the NUS Business School in 1991.

Career

Fu started her career at the Overseas Union Bank 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 PSA Corporation as Assistant Director (Finance). She took on additional responsibility as Vice-President (Marketing), and assumed the position of Financial Controller in October 1998. She was promoted to Executive Vice-President (Finance) in January 1999. In April 2003, Fu was appointed CEO of Singapore Terminals. In 2004, she became CEO 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. [3]

Fu has been a non-practising member of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants since 1992. [4]

On 5 January 2024, Fu was elected as the President of the Singapore National Olympic Council. Tan Chuan-Jin, the previous president and Speaker of Parliament, had resigned after an extramarital affair with fellow PAP MP Cheng Li Hui. [5]

Political career

The Honourable
Grace Fu
DCMG
傅海燕
Grace Fu attends the 2nd EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement Trade Committee Meeting - 2024 (P064254-639033) (cropped).jpg
Fu in 2024
Minister for Sustainability and the Environment
Incumbent
Assumed office
27 July 2020

Fu made her political debut in the 2006 general election as part of the five-member PAP team contesting in Jurong GRC and won. Fu was subsequently elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Yuhua division of Jurong GRC in June 2006. She was one of 24 new PAP candidates introduced ahead of the general election.

On 1 August 2006, Fu was appointed Minister of State for National Development.

On 1 April 2008, Fu was promoted to Senior Minister of State for National Development, and appointed Senior Minister of State for Education concurrently.

At the 2011 general election, Fu contested in the newly created Yuhua SMC and won with 66.9% of the vote. Following the election, Fu was appointed Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts, and Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources concurrently.

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". [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] Her comments contributed to the public debate over the compensation and motivation of public officials, and were criticised by Singaporean netizens. Others defended her remark as fair, supporting her position that the loss of privacy and public scrutiny added to a large personal cost to working in public positions not found in the private sector. [11] [12]

On 31 July 2012, Fu was made full minister, becoming the second woman in Singapore's history, after Lim Hwee Hua, to become a full minister in the Cabinet. She served as 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. [13]

In 2014, as the Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Fu was in charge of the Municipal Services Office. [14]

In 2015, Fu was appointed Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, becoming the first female minister in Singapore to head a ministry. [15]

Following the 2020 general election, Fu became Organising Secretary of the PAP's Central Executive Committee (CEC).

Fu served as Leader of the House from 2015 to 2020, before being appointed Minister for Sustainability and the Environment in 2020.

She has also been a member of the Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, co-chaired by Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina, and Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley, since 2020.

On 14 January 2024, Fu became Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations after a cabinet reshuffle. S. Iswaran had previously held the position, as well as the ministership for transport, before he resigned in response to being prosecuted on 27 charges of corruption. [16] [17]

Personal life

Fu's father, James Fu, was a former leftist journalist who became press secretary to Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. [18] [19] Her mother was a nurse. [20] Her grandmother, Liew Yuen Sien, [21] was the principal of Nanyang Girls' High School from 1927 to 1966. [22]

Fu is married to Ivan Lee, a technology entrepreneur; they have three sons. [23] [24]

Notes

  1. ↑ Chinese :傅海燕; pinyin :Fù Hǎiyàn

References

  1. ↑ "2011 Honorary Awards" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  2. ↑ "PARL | MP". Archived from the original on 24 April 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  3. ↑ "PMO | Ms Grace FU Hai Yien". 7 September 2020. Archived from the original on 19 September 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  4. ↑ "MP Profile – Grace Fu". Archived from the original on 9 January 2012. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  5. ↑ "Grace Fu elected as Singapore National Olympic Council president". CNA . 5 January 2024. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
  6. ↑ Hoe, Yeen Nie. "Grace Fu criticised over Facebook comments on pay review". Channel NewsAsia . Archived from the original on 8 January 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  7. ↑ Chan, Rachel (6 January 2012). "Furore over minister's pay-cut post". AsiaOne. Archived from the original on 9 January 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  8. ↑ Wong, Alicia (6 January 2012). "Grace Fu clarifies Facebook post on ministerial pay". TodayOnline. Archived from the original on 8 January 2012.
  9. ↑ Seah, Chiang Nee (7 January 2012). "PAP mood turns sour over pay cuts". The Star . Archived from the original on 8 January 2012.
  10. ↑ Shamim, Adam; Lim, Weiyi (5 January 2012). "Singapore's Lee Fights Voter Grievances by Accepting Pay Cut". Bloomberg . Archived from the original on 8 January 2012.
  11. ↑ Mokhtar, Faris (6 January 2012). "Public misunderstood my comments: Grace Fu". Yahoo! News SG. Archived from the original on 9 January 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  12. ↑ Kong, Loh Chee (5 January 2011). "Deep cuts proposed to pay of political leaders". TodayOnline. Archived from the original on 9 January 2012.
  13. ↑ "Singapore reshuffles Cabinet". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 18 March 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  14. ↑ Migration (17 August 2014). "National Day Rally 2014: New Municipal Services Office to serve residents seamlessly | The Straits Times". www.straitstimes.com. Archived from the original on 22 April 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  15. ↑ "Singapore, Meet Your New Culture Minister: Grace Fu". popspoken.com. Archived from the original on 17 May 2025. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
  16. ↑ "PMO | Changes to Cabinet and Other Appointments (Jan 2024)". 18 January 2024.
  17. ↑ "Iswaran charged with multiple offences including corruption, resigns as Transport Minister". CNA. Archived from the original on 18 January 2024. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
  18. ↑ George, Cherian (1 April 2012). Freedom from the Press: Journalism and State Power in Singapore. NUS Press. p. 103. ISBN   9789971695941. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  19. ↑ Toh, Elgin (24 March 2015). "First among equals: Mr Lee Kuan Yew led a tiny island nation from Third World to First". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 11 August 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  20. ↑ Chang, Rachel (12 August 2012). "Grace Fu: Steely leader sticks to her convictions". The Straits Times.
  21. ↑ Yong, Charissa (30 July 2017). "Schools should remain open to all: PM". The Straits Times. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  22. ↑ "Nanyang Girls' High School". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  23. ↑ Heng, Janice (8 March 2015). "When a woman outshines her man". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  24. ↑ A Chat with Grace Fu Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine , pap.org.sg, 10 June 2006.
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