Minister for Home Affairs
What position did Wong Kan Seng take from 1994 to Oct 2010?
Wong Kan Seng Wong Kan Seng ( ; born 8 September 1946 ) is a Singaporean business executive and a former politician . He retired from political service after 31 years . He currently serves as the chairman of Ascendas-Singbridge ( since 2015 ) and non-executive director of United Overseas Bank ( since 2017 ) . A former member of the governing Peoples Action Party ( PAP ) , he was a Member of Parliament ( MP ) representing various constituencies such as Kuo Chuan Single Member Constituency,Thomson GRC etc . He was a Member of Parliament from 22 December 1984 to 25 August 2015 for almost 31 years.He also served as the countrys Deputy Prime Minister from 2005 to 2011 . He also held the Cabinet portfolios of Minister for Community Development ( 1987–91 ) , Minister for Foreign Affairs ( 1988–94 ) , Minister for Home Affairs ( 1994–2010 ) and Co-ordinating Minister for National Security ( 2010–11 ) . Wong was the deputy prime minister on 1 September 2005 till 21 May 2011 when the former deputy prime minister Tony Tan stepped down from position . Wong was serving as deputy prime minister with S . Jayakumar & Teo Chee Hean . He served as Leader of the House from 25 February 1987 to 31 March 2007 . Political career . Wong is a Cantonese and entered politics on 22 December 1984 after working as a teacher in the Singapore Civil Service and the private sector . He served and held appointments in the Ministry of Defence . In 1981 , he joined Hewlett Packard Singapore where he remained till January 1985 . Wong was elected a Member of Parliament representing the Kuo Chuan constituency in Toa Payoh at the 1984 general election . He has since been re-elected as an MP representing the Group Representation Constituencies ( GRCs ) of Toa Payoh ( 1988 ) , Thomson ( 1991 ) and Bishan–Toa Payoh ( 1997 , 2001 , 2006 and 2011 ) and was once an adviser to the Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council and the grassroots organisations . Wong was appointed the Acting Minister for Community Development in 1986 . He was made a full member of the Cabinet as Minister for Community Development by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1987 . He was concurrently appointed the Minister for Foreign Affairs in 1988 . In 1994 , he became the Minister for Home Affairs . Wong also served as the Leader of the House in Singapores Parliament from 1991 to 2007 . Wong was vocal in his capacity as cabinet minister when it comes to defending any criticisms of the PAP as being authoritarian , or that the political process was undemocratic with an advantage given to the ruling party . He often described the opposition as being disorganised , weak and driven by self-interests.The public has no sympathy for them . Neither do I . Why should I ? I mean , they mess it up.On opposition politician J.B . Jeyaretnams proposal to establish an independent elections commission , Wong remarked , It is absurd . I think we cannot be more democratic than we are now . We even allow a loser to be in Parliament and make speeches attacking the government . Where could you find such a democracy in other countries ? At the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993 , Wong argued that democracy was interpreted differently in Singapore . He claims that its citizens do not agree that pornography is an acceptable manifestation of free expression or that homosexual relationships are just a matter of lifestyle choice . Wong was also of the belief that excessive emphasis on individual rights over the rights of the community will retard progress . On 1 September 2005 , Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong appointed Wong as one of two Deputy Prime Ministers following the retirement of Tony Tan . On 1 November 2010 , Wong was appointed the Co-ordinating Minister for National Security and relinquished his post as Minister for Home Affairs . Wong retired from the Cabinet following the 2011 general election . He remains a Member of Parliament and also the special adviser for economic cooperation to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong until 11 September 2015 , when he was finally retired from political service after 31 years . Role in homeland security in Singapore . As the Minister for Home Affairs , Wong was in charge of overseeing emergency planning , dealing with internal threats such as cults and terrorists , involved in law and order , and rooting out of criminals and illegal immigrants . Mas Selamat escape . On 27 February 2008 , alleged Jemaah Islamiyah leader Mas Selamat bin Kastari escaped from Whitley Road Detention Centre , leading to the largest manhunt in Singapore . Wong expressed his regret in Parliament the day after the occurrence . This should never have happened . I am sorry that it has . He revealed that Mas Selamat escaped when he was taken to the toilet before a meeting at the detention centres family visit room . Wong was criticised because news of Mas Selamats escape was not disseminated to the public until four hours after its occurrence . There were calls for Wong to step down , given the severity of the security lapse . Mas Selamat was eventually recaptured in Johor Bahru , Malaysia , on 1 April 2009 , by Malaysian authorities , over a year after his escape . SARS . Wong was then responsible for co-ordinating the inter-ministerial nationwide effort to counter the SARS epidemic . Certain measures were taken to contain the virus , including mandatory home quarantine measures , health screening at immigration checkpoints , schools and hospitals and public education programs . On 31 May 2003 , Singapore was taken off the World Health Organizations list of SARS-affected countries . Post-political career . Wong returned to the private sector after stepping down from the cabinet . Wong was appointed as the chairman of Singbridge , a unit of Temasek Holdings , in 2011 . He was later appointed chairman of Ascendas-Singbridge after the merger of the four operating subsidiaries owned by Temasek Holdings and Jurong Town Corporation in 2015 . He was appointed as an independent , non-executive director of United Overseas Bank in July 2017 . Education . Wong received his secondary education at Outram Secondary School . He went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts ( Honours ) from the National University of Singapore in 1970 , and a Master of Business Administration from the London Business School on a Singapore government scholarship in 1979 . Personal life . Wong is married to Ruth Lee Hong Geok . The couple have two children . External links . - Official website of Wong Kan Seng - Wong Kan Seng at parliament.gov.sg