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Yeo Guat Kwang

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In this Chinese name, the family name is Yeo.
Yeo Guat Kwang
杨木光
Member of the Singapore Parliament
for Ang Mo Kio GRC
In office
7 May 2011 – 25 August 2015
Preceded byPAP held
Succeeded byPAP held
Member of the Singapore Parliament
for Aljunied GRC
In office
3 November 2001 – 19 April 2011
Preceded byPAP held
Succeeded byWP held
Member of the Singapore Parliament
for Cheng San GRC
In office
2 January 1997 – 18 October 2001
Preceded byPAP held
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born (1961-01-27) 27 January 1961 (age 64)
State of Singapore
Political partyPeople's Action Party
(1997–2015)
Alma materNational University of Singapore
National Institute of Education

Yeo Guat Kwang (Chinese: 杨木光; pinyin: Yáng Mùguāng; born 27 January 1961) is a Singaporean former politician. A former member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Punggol South division of Cheng San Group Representation Constituency (GRC) between 1997 and 2001, the Aljunied–Hougang division of Aljunied GRC between 2001 and 2011, and the Ang Mo Kio–Hougang division of Ang Mo Kio GRC between 2011 and 2015.

Education

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Yeo attended The Chinese High School and Nanyang Junior College,[1] before graduating from the National University of Singapore in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in social sciences.

He subsequently went on to complete a postgraduate diploma in education at the National Institute of Education at the Nanyang Technological University in 1987.[1]

He also completed a joint programme at the NUS Business School and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy with a Master in Public Administration and Management degree in 2013.[2]

Career

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Education

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Yeo started his career in 1987 as a teacher at Nanyang Junior College,[1] and in 1991, he became a Head of Department at Anderson Secondary School.[1] From 1993 to 1996, he was a Specialist Inspector for Chinese at the Ministry of Education.[1]

Labour movement

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In 1997, Yeo joined the labour movement as an Executive Secretary for the Building Construction and Timber Industries Employees Union (BATU).[1] In 2001, he became the Executive Secretary for the Singapore Industrial and Services Employees Union (SISEU), as well as the Amalgamated Union of Statutory Board Employees (AUSBE).[1]

In January 2014, Yeo was appointed Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) in the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC),[3][4] which has close ties with the PAP.

In December 2016, Yeo was promoted to Assistant Director-General in NTUC.[5][6]

Yeo is also the chairman of the NTUC's Migrant Workers' Centre, which was set up in 2009.[7] He is also the head of the Centre for Domestic Employees,[7] and the director for Workplace Safety and Health.[8]

Yeo was president of the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE), a consumer advocacy group founded by the NTUC,[9] until June 2012.[10]

Political career

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In the 1997 general election, Yeo made his political debut in Cheng San GRC as part of a five-member PAP team; said team won 54.82% of the vote against the Workers' Party (WP).[11][12] He subsequently became the MP for the Punggol South division until 2001, when the GRC was abolished.[11][13]

In the 2001 general election, with Cheng San GRC abolished, Yeo joined a five-member PAP team in Aljunied GRC, which won in a walkover; he became the MP for the Aljunied–Hougang division.[14] He retained his seat in the 2006 general election after the PAP team for Aljunied GRC won 56.09% of the vote against the WP.[15][16]

In the 2011 general election, after his Aljunied–Hougang division was shifted to Ang Mo Kio GRC and renamed Ang Mo Kio–Hougang,[13] Yeo joined a six-member PAP team for said GRC, which won 69.33% of the vote;[17][18] he continued to represent the Ang Mo Kio–Hougang division until 2015. It was at the same election that the PAP lost Aljunied GRC to the WP.[19]

In the 2015 general election, Yeo was redeployed to his former Aljunied GRC, leading four political newcomers in a bid to retake it;[20] however, the WP narrowly retained the GRC with a majority of 1.9%, or 2,612 votes.[19] As the PAP team had requested a recount, given that the WP's initially calculated majority was under 2%, the result for Aljunied GRC was only declared around 3.10am the morning after Election Day.[19] It was later revealed that the PAP had won in the divisions of Serangoon and Paya Lebar, which Yeo and Murali Pillai would respectively have represented, by around 300 votes each.[21]

Yeo retired from politics prior to the 2020 general election.

Civil career

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As of August 2017, Yeo was a board member at the now-defunct Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore.[22] He also used to be a board member at the Public Utilities Board, Land Transport Authority, and SPRING Singapore.[23]

Private sector

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Yeo held directorships in Asiagate Holdings and SIIC Environment Holding as of August 2017.[23]

He had been a director before in other private companies.[23]

Personal life

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Yeo is of Teochew descent; his ancestral hometown is Chao'an, Chaozhou.[24]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Yeo Guat Kwang". Parliament of Singapore. 2 August 2012. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  2. ^ "Guat Kwang Yeo: Executive Profile & Biography". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 24 June 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  3. ^ "Labour Movement appoints new Assistant Secretaries-General". Today. Singapore. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  4. ^ "The Labour Movement appoints new assistant Secretaries-General". Ntuc.org.sg. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  5. ^ Toh, Yong Chuan (23 December 2016). "New leadership tier created in NTUC". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  6. ^ "NTUC unveils scheme to aid SME employees". Singapore Business Review. 13 April 2017. Archived from the original on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  7. ^ a b Toh, Yong Chuan (18 December 2016). "A centre with heavyweight backers". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  8. ^ Seow, Joanna (27 January 2014). "Employers have a duty to ensure proper safety measures are in place: Yeo Guat Kwang". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  9. ^ "CASE's relationship with NTUC". The Online Citizen. 11 May 2008. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  10. ^ "Lim Biow Chuan elected President of CASE". Channel NewsAsia. 23 June 2012. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  11. ^ a b "Singapore Parliamentary General Election 1997 > Cheng San GRC". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  12. ^ "ELD | 1997 Parliamentary General Election Results". www.eld.gov.sg. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  13. ^ a b Eisen (20 April 2025). "A Brief History of Aljunied GRC". History By Eisen. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  14. ^ "Singapore Parliamentary General Election 2001 > Aljunied GRC". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  15. ^ "Singapore Parliamentary General Election 2006 > Aljunied GRC". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
  16. ^ "ELD | 2006 Parliamentary General Election Results". www.eld.gov.sg. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  17. ^ "Singapore Parliamentary General Election 2011 > Ang Mo Kio GRC". sg-elections.com. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  18. ^ "ELD | 2011 Parliamentary General Election Results". www.eld.gov.sg. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  19. ^ a b c "GE2O15: Workers' Party retains Aljunied GRC with 50.95 per cent of the vote". The Straits Times. 12 September 2015. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  20. ^ "GE2015: PAP unveils its Aljunied GRC team". The Straits Times. 28 August 2015. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  21. ^ "5 things to ponder over in Workers' Party's close shave at Aljunied GRC | Mothership.SG". mothership.sg. Archived from the original on 17 September 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  22. ^ "AGRI-FOOD & VETERINARY AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE". gov.sg. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  23. ^ a b c "Yeo Guat Kwang, National Trades Union Congress: Profile & Biography". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  24. ^ "Yeo Guat Kwang" (PDF). Teochewfederation.sg. p. 37. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
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