George Yeo 
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Dummipedia, the simplified free online encyclopedia
George Yong-Boon Yeo (born 1954, age 55), more commonly known as George Yeo, is the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Singapore. The first Singaporean Minister to start blogging (since August 2006), he has played a crucial role in restarting the Nalanda University, the ancient Buddhist university in Bihar, India.
| Fast Facts | |
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| George Yong-Boon Yeo | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2004 | |
| President | Sellapan Ramanathan |
| Prime Minister | Lee Hsien Loong |
| Preceded by | Shanmugam Jayakumar |
Member of Parliament
for Aljunied GRC | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 1988 | |
| Born | September 13, 1954 (aged 55) Singapore |
| Political party | People's Action Party (PAP) |
| Alma mater | Cambridge University Harvard Business School |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Spouse | Jennifer Yeo Lai Peng |
| Children | One daughter and three sons |
| Relations | Gwendoline Yeo (niece) |
| Speech by Minister George Yeo at ICBN 2007 (Video credit: ev20077) |
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2. Born in Singapore, Yeo, a President's Scholar as well as a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Scholar, graduated with a Double First in Engineering from Cambridge University in 1976. Entering the SAF as a Signals Officer, he later became Head of the Air Plans Department.[1] In 1983, Yeo went to Harvard Business School, graduating with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree, with high distinction. On his return to Singapore in 1985, he was appointed Chief-of-Staff of the Air Staff and in 1986, became the Director of Joint Operations and Planning in the Ministry of Defence. Promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in 1988, he resigned in August the same year to enter politics.
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3. In the 1988 general election, Yeo was elected to Parliament as one of three Members of Parliament (MP) for the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC), a seat that he has retained every since (as of 2008). He was consequentially appointed Minister of State for Finance and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. When Goh Chok Tong took over the helm in November 1990, he initially appointed Yeo as the Acting Minister for Information and the Arts, as well as the Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
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4. In July 1991, Yeo was promoted to Minister for Information and the Arts, as well as the Second Minister for Foreign Affairs. While retaining the former of his two portfolio until 1999, his other portfolio has seen two changes, first to Minister for Health in 1994, and then to Second Minister for Trade and Industry in 1997. In 1999, Yeo relinquished his portfolio for Information and the Arts to become Minister for Trade and Industry until August 2004, when he was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs when Lee Hsien Loong took over the premiership.
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5. Yeo was the Chairman of the Young PAP from 1991 to 2000 and since 1992, he has been representing the Eurasian community in the Cabinet. In the 2006 general elections, the team that he led to contest in the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency managed to garner only 56.1% of the votes, compared with 43.9% garnered by the new faces in the Workers' Party. This was despite the James Gomez saga plaguing the opposition. In the incident, Gomez was alleged to have tried to create confusion by pretending to have filed the application for a minority certificate when in actual fact, he was shown (through CCTV footage) to have kept the forms in an envelope in his bag and left the building without submitting it. more... at Wikipedia
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