Grace Fu

Duplicate of Grace Fu Hai Yien , 2 different versions, need to merge.

Grace Fu Hai Yien 傅海燕
Party Affiliation	PAP
Current Role	• MP for Yuhua SMC •
Past Roles	• MP for Jurong GRC •
Others	• •
Background
Education	• • • •
Personal Details
Age	60
Others

Grace Fu Hai Yien (Chinese: 傅海燕; pinyin: Fù Hǎiyàn; born 29 March 1964) is a Singaporean accountant and politician who has been serving as the 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) representing Yuhua SMC since 2011.

Early Life and Education

Fu was born on 29 March 1964 in Singapore. She attended Nanyang Girls' High School and Hwa Chong Junior College before graduating from the National University of Singapore in 1985 with a Bachelor of Accountancy (Honours). In 1991, she completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the NUS Business School.

Career

Fu began her career as an auditor at Overseas Union Bank (1985–1988) and later joined Haw Par Group (1991–1995), where she worked in corporate planning, financial control, and business development. In 1995, she joined PSA Corporation as Assistant Director (Finance) and rose through the ranks, eventually serving as CEO of PSA South East Asia and Japan. In this role, she oversaw business operations in Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, and Japan. Fu has been a non-practising member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore since 1992.

Political career

Fu entered politics in the 2006 general election as part of the five-member PAP team contesting Jurong GRC, which won decisively. She served as MP for Yuhua division of Jurong GRC before contesting and winning the newly created Yuhua SMC in the 2011 general election with 66.9% of the vote.

She was appointed the Leader of the House from 1 October 2015 to 19 August 2020.

For the full list of positions, refer to PARL Link.

Political Appointments

1. Minister of State for National Development (2006–2008)
2. Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education (2008–2011)
3. Senior Minister of State for Environment and Water Resources and Information, Communications and the Arts (2011–2012)
4. Second Minister for Foreign Affairs (2012–2015)
5. Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Leader of the House (2015–2020)
6. Minister for Sustainability and the Environment (2020–present)
7. Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations (2024–present)

In 2012, Fu became the second woman in Singapore's history to be appointed a full minister, following Lim Hwee Hua.

Fu was awarded the DCMG (Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George) for her contributions to public service and international relations.

Personal life

Fu is married to technopreneur Ivan Lee, and they have three sons. Her father, James Fu, was a former leftist journalist and press secretary to Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, while her mother was a nurse.

Controversies

"Pay not a key factor" comment

In a January 2012 Facebook post, Fu's comments on ministerial salary cuts drew public attention and sparked debate on compensation for public officeholders.

"When I made the decision to join politics in 2006, pay was not a key factor. Loss of privacy, public scrutiny on myself and my family and loss of personal time were. The disruption to my career was also an important consideration. I had some ground to believe that my family would not suffer a drastic change in the standard of living even though I experienced a drop in my income. So it is with this recent pay cut. If the balance is tilted further in the future, it will make it harder for any one [sic] considering political office.”

While some criticized her remarks, others defended her position, highlighting the personal sacrifices involved in public service.

Lee Hsien Loong, who was the Prime Minister in 2012, defended her position, saying in his ministerial speech, "Grace Fu was completely right in this point when she posted on her blog to say that this salary revision is okay, but if you go too far, I think that is going to be a problem for many Singaporeans. She got flamed online, but she was right, and she was honest to point this out."

Her Facebook post was later removed from public view.

Heated Exchange in breach of parliamentary etiquette

• 8 Nov 2022 - Grace Fu got into a heated exchange with WP's MP Jamus Lim on the topic of flexible carbon pricing based on economic conditions, which led to both MPs standing up to speak
• this prompted Pritam Singh to interject, "Point of order. I understand that when a member asks a question, the other member sits down and vice versa."
• Upon which Grace Fu said, "I apologise, Mr Speaker. I will sit down."
• However, she still continued to fire many comments at MP Jamus Lim, and the exchange only ended about 10 minutes later.

Demand that Leon Perera apologise

• Leon Perera suggested in November 2017 that Mediacorp had put up a video of a Parliamentary debate with "certain bits removed", and that the broadcaster made a rectification only after he communicated with them.
• then Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Chee Hong Tat later pointed out that Mediacorp had in fact rectified the clip and put the full debate online on Feb 18, two days before Leon Perera had emailed the company on Feb 20.
• In her letter to then NCMP Leon Perera dated Jan 3, 2018, then Leader of the House Grace Fu wrote: "Your allegations in Parliament on Nov 7, 2017 amount to a misrepresentation of facts and if left uncorrected, a misleading of Parliament. This is a serious matter."
• She demanded that Leon Perera correct his misrepresentation when Parliament sits on Jan 8 and issued a list of requirements
• He was to issue a personal statement covering the following points:
  • That his allegations that Mediacorp had deliberately edited Parliamentary footage and removed parts of the video, and ** that Mediacorp had "made a rectification and put up a different clip" only after his intervention, were untrue
  • That he had accepted Mediacorp's explanation long before the Parliamentary sitting on Nov 7
  • That he withdraw allegations against Mediacorp in full
  • That he apologise to the House for misrepresenting facts and misleading Parliament.

Demand that Sylvia Lim apologise for GST ‘test balloons’ remark

• later, on 6 Mar 2018, she demanded that WP's MP Sylvia Lim apologise to the House before Thursday (8 Mar), and withdraw her allegation that the Government had floated “test balloons” on the need to raise revenues within this term and had intended to raise the goods and services tax (GST) immediately.
• she then read out a statement which set out the facts and reiterated that Ms Lim’s allegation was without basis, among them the following extracts:
  • Ms Lim was suggesting that the Government would have raised the GST immediately if not for the adverse public reaction when it floated the suggestion late last year, and if it had not been stuck with the previous statement it had enough money for the decade.
  • “Ms Lim was in fact accusing the Government of being untruthful when it says that it had planned ahead and that its proposal to raise the GST between 2021 and 2025 was the result of such planning,” she said.
  • demanded she withdraw statement on GST hike, apologise to Parliament
  • Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat also pressured the WP MP
  • Sylvia Lim gave a lengthy explanation on Thursday but stood firm on her earlier comments with the statement:
    • "As an opposition MP, it is my duty to watch every move and signal from the Government for the future of Singapore and the welfare of Singaporeans. Hence, I admit that I did suspect that the Government intended to raise the GST. However the Government contributed to this suspicion by its non-denial of reports and economist predictions of an immediate GST rise,” she said.
• Grace Fu then slammed Sylvia Lim's “deplorable” conduct, and the “low standards” set by her and the opposition party

14th Parliament MP  : Ang Wei Neng • Baey Yam Keng • Cheryl Chan Wei Ling • Chan Chun Sing • Chee Hong Tat • Cheng Li Hui • Edward Chia Bing Hui • Chong Kee Hiong • Desmond Choo • Chua Kheng Wee Louis • Eric Chua • Darryl David • Christopher de Souza • Foo Mee Har • Grace Fu Hai Yien • Gan Kim Yong • Gan Siow Huang • Gan Thiam Poh • Gerald Giam • Derrick Goh • He Ting Ru • Heng Chee How • Heng Swee Keat • Shawn Huang Wei Zhong • Indranee Rajah • S Iswaran • Janil Puthucheary • Amy Khor Lean Suan • Koh Poh Koon • Kwek Hian Chuan Henry • Desmond Lee • Lee Hsien Loong • Liang Eng Hwa • Lim Biow Chuan • Jamus Jerome Lim • Sylvia Lim • Lim Wee Kiak • Low Yen Ling • Mariam Jaafar • Masagos Zulkifli Bin Masagos Mohamad • Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman • Mohd Fahmi Bin Aliman • Muhamad Faisal Bin Abdul Manap • Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim • Murali Pillai • Nadia Ahmad Samdin • Ng Eng Hen • Ng Ling Ling • Louis Ng Kok Kwang • Rachel Ong • Ong Ye Kung • Joan Pereira • Leon Perera • Denise Phua Lay Peng • Poh Li San • Pritam Singh • Raeesah Khan • Rahayu Mahzam • Saktiandi Supaat • Seah Kian Peng • K Shanmugam • Sharael Taha • Sim Ann • Sitoh Yih Pin • Hany Soh • Sun Xueling • Alvin Tan • Carrie Tan • Tan Chuan-Jin • Dennis Tan Lip Fong • Desmond Tan • Jessica Tan Soon Neo • Tan Kiat How • Tan See Leng • Tan Wu Meng • Patrick Tay Teck Guan • Teo Chee Hean • Josephine Teo • Tharman Shanmugaratnam • Tin Pei Ling • Edwin Tong Chun Fai • Vikram Nair • Vivian Balakrishnan • Wan Rizal • Don Wee • Lawrence Wong • Xie Yao Quan • Alex Yam Ziming • Yeo Wan Ling • Yip Hon Weng • Melvin Yong Yik Chye • Zaqy Mohamad • Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim NCMP  : Leong Mun Wai • Hazel Poa