Vivian Balakrishnan

Vivian Balakrishnan விவியன் பாலகிருஷ்ணன்
Party Affiliation
Current Role	• MP for the Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC •
Past Roles	• • • •
Others	• President's Scholar •
Background
Education	• NUS • Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh • National Junior College • Anglo-Chinese School
Personal Details
Age	64
Others	Married and is a father & grandfather

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Born on 25 January 1961, PAP-affiliated Vivian Balakrishnan is currently MP for the Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC while concurrently serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs (from 2015).

He is an alumnus of the following institutions:

• Anglo-Chinese School.
• 1980 - graduated from NJC in and received the President's Scholarship to study medicine at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS. He was well-known for his debating skills while in school and has participated in various school debates.
• after that he went overseas to further his studies and was a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

• Debate '84
• 

  The motion for this tertiary debate

• 

  Vivian Balakrishnan as the final speaker on his NUS team

• 

  Class photo in the NJC yearbook 1980

He is currently still registered on the MOH's website. Below is a quick look at Vivian Balakrishnan's medical career:

• his specialization is in ophthalmology
• 1993 and 1995 - Moorfields Eye Hospital in London between
• commanding officer at Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), Second Combat Support Hospital
• ophthalmologist at SNEC & NUH
• 1997 - Deputy Director late 1997
• 1999 - Medical Director at Singapore National Eye Centre in Jan 1999
• CEO of Singapore General Hospital (SGH)

• 

  Official announcement of VB's directorship in SNEC 25th Anniversary Commemorative Book

• 

  Practising Certificate as listed on MOH's website

Political Career

Vivian Balakrishnan first entered politics in 2001 and entered Parliament as a result of the Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC walkover. Thereafter, his various political appointment include the following:

• 2002 - made Minister of State for National Development
• 2004- made Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports
• 2005 - made full cabinet minister
• 2005 - Second Minister for Trade and Industry MTI between 2005 and 2006
• 2006 - Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts MICA between 2006 and 2008,
• 2014 - Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative between 2014 and 2017
• 2015 - Minister of Foreign Affairs

For the full list, refer to PARL Link.

Controversy

YOG budget overrun

• YOG budget overrun as Minister for Community, Youth and Sports (MCYS) 2005 and 2011
  • 2010 Summer Youth Olympics
  • budget exceeded the initial estimates of S$104 million by over three times (check for figures)

Renting of 26 and 31 Ridout Road, state-owned GCB

• Ridout Road rentals
  • whether renting of 31 Ridout Park state-owned bungalows (Shanmugam rented 26 Ridout Park) constitute conflict of interest, abuse of power
  • RP's Kenneth Jeyaretnam questioned how the 2 ministers can pay market rate for these 2 GCB

'Illiterate' hot mic comment

• ‘illiterate’ comment as MP and Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • on 14 Sep 2021 Tue, during a Parliament session,
    • after Leong Mun Wai had spoken, a voice could be heard saying "he's illiterate".
    • Later, after another exchange between Tan See Leng and Leong Mun Wai, someone heard saying, "Seriously, how did he get into RI?... Must have been a lousy school."
    • It was deduced that VB made these comments, possibly due to TSL's mic which was not switched off
    • Someone then replied, "I'm from Monk's Hill." It was presumed to be Tan See Leng.
    • Leong Mun Wai confirmed received a call of apology from VB on Wed 15 Sep 2021, Leong Mun Wai said he had accepted apology when queried by mainstream media
    • Leong Mun Wai added, "I am also curious to know who are the other persons who were involved in the conversation and the reason why they held the institution that I attended in contempt."
    • in the televised GE2020 debate on 1 Jul 2020 with Jamus Lim, Chee Soon Juan and Francis Yuen, he declared, "I dare say every neighborhood school of ours is a school that we can be very proud of," a comment which was a complete contrast to his hot mic comment.
    • 

TraceTogether debacle

• TraceTogether debacle
  • as Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative
  • "Police can use TraceTogether data for criminal investigations" ~ Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Tan told the House on Monday Jan 4 2021
  • "I didn't think of Criminal Procedure Code when speaking earlier about TraceTogether" ~ VB
  • "Frankly, I had not thought of the CPC, when I spoke earlier," he said, a day after Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Tan affirmed that under this law, police have the power to obtain TraceTogether data for the purposes of a criminal investigation. ~ check for correct quote
  • Tuesday (Feb 2) said he took "full responsibility" for the Government's error in not stating that contact tracing data from TraceTogether is not exempt from the Criminal Procedure Code for criminal investigations

'Three meals' parliament comment

• "three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant"
  • debate with Lily Neo in Parliament 9 March 2007 (to check source)

Personal Details

• wife Joy was a General Paper teacher in National Junior College in the 1990s. She was also a relief teacher at other secondary schools and was known to her students as 'Mrs. Bala'
• Father of 1 girl & 3 sons. As of 15 May 2020, he is grandfather to 4 grandchildren (not counting 1 stillborn)

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