Vivian Balakrishnan

Vivian Balakrishnan விவியன் பாலகிருஷ்ணன்
Party Affiliation
Current Role	Minister for Foreign Affairs
Past Roles	• •
Others	• President's Scholar •
Background
Education	• NUS • Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
Personal Details
Age	64
Others

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• born 25 January 1961
• Anglo-Chinese School
• commanding officer at Singapore Armed Forces (SAF)
• medical director at Singapore National Eye Centre & CEO of Singapore General Hospital (SGH)
• entered politics 2001, Holland–Bukit Panjang GRC walkover
• Minister of State for National Development in 2002
• Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry in 2004.

Controversy

• YOG budget overrun as Minister for Community, Youth and Sports (MCYS) 2005 and 2011
  • by how much

• Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts MICA between 2006 and 2008,
• Second Minister for Trade and Industry MTI between 2005 and 2006
• Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative between 2014 and 2017

• ‘illiterate’ comment as MP and Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • 14 Sep 2021 Tue - 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
    • Tan See Leng then replied, "I'm from Monk's Hill."
    • LMW confirmed received a call of apology from VB on Wed 15 Sep 2021, LMW said he had accepted apology when queried by mainstream media
    • LMW 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."
    • 

• TraceTogether debacle