George Yeo

Yeo during the WEF 2010

George Yong-Boon Yeo (born September 13, 1954 in Singapore ) is a brigadier general and politician from Singapore.

biography

Studies and promotion to brigadier general

After attending St. Patrick's, St. Stephen's and St. Joseph's Institution Elementary and Secondary Schools, which he graduated from the top of his class in 1970, he received a presidential scholarship and in 1973 the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) , which gave him a degree in engineering at Cambridge University . During his studies he was President of the Association of Malaysia and Singapore Students at Cambridge University. In 1976 he finished his studies with a distinction .

After returning to Singapore, he joined the SAF and initially served as a signal officer. In 1979 he completed the course at the Military Academy (Command and Staff College), which he also graduated as the best in his class. He then moved to the Air Force , where he later became head of the planning department. In 1983 he began postgraduate studies in business administration at Harvard Business School , which he completed in 1985 with a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) with honors. Upon his return, he became Chief of Staff of the Air Force in 1985 before being appointed Director of Joint Operations and Planning in the Ministry of Defense in 1986. In 1988 he was promoted to brigadier general and at the same time in August 1988 he left the armed forces.

Political career and promotion to foreign minister

George Yeo with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (2005)

Immediately thereafter, he began his political career on September 3, 1988 with the election of a member of parliament as a candidate for the Aljunied Group Represantation Constituency (GRC), a group within the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) . Immediately thereafter, he became Minister of State for Finance and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet of Lee Kuan Yew on September 13, 1988 and held this office until the end of Lee Kuan Yew's term on November 27, 1990. Lee Kuan Yew's successor, Goh Chok Tong , then appointed him acting Minister for Information and the Arts and Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

In the parliamentary elections in 1991 he was re-elected as a member of parliament as a representative of the Aljunied GRC. Shortly thereafter, on July 1, 1991, Goh Chok Tong appointed him Minister of Information and the Arts and Second Minister of Foreign Affairs, and confirmed in these posts on September 7, 1991. On January 2, 1994, he gave up the post of Second Minister for Foreign Affairs and took over the office of Minister of Health while retaining the Ministerial Office for Information and the Arts. Between 1991 and 2000 he was also chairman of the People's Action Party (Young PAP) youth association.

After the general elections on January 25, 1997, he gave up the post of Minister of Health and, in addition to the post of Minister of Information and the Arts, he also became Second Minister of Trade and Industry. On June 3, 1999, he resigned from the office of Minister for Information and the Arts and instead became Minister for Trade and Industry.

In the general election of November 2001, he was re-elected as a representative of the Aljunied GRC as a member of parliament and again appointed Minister for Trade and Industry in the government of Goh Chok Tong.

On August 12, 2004, after the new Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong took office, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs . In the elections of May 2006 he was again elected as a representative of the Aljunied GRC as a member of parliament and was subsequently confirmed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as Foreign Minister.

In 2007, as Foreign Minister, he was also the rotating chairman of the ASEAN Council of Ministers and, in this capacity, gave a statement to the United Nations in New York City in September 2007 on the situation in Myanmar after violently suppressed demonstrations and, on behalf of ASEAN, called for the release of all political prisoners, including by Aung San Suu Kyi . In an interview with the Washington Times , he spoke about the relationship between the United States and Singapore and the fight against international terrorism .

Web links

• Biography on the government homepage
• Biography on the homepage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( Memento from February 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
• Information in rulers.org

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Statement by ASEAN Chair-Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo
2. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Interview with Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo