Lui Tuck Yew
Lui Tuck Yew (; born 16 August 1961) is a Singaporean politician, diplomat and former two-star rear-admiral who has been serving as the Singapore Ambassador to China since 2019. He was previously the Singapore Ambassador to Japan, serving from 2017 to 2019. During Lui's political career, he was a member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP) and an elected Member of Parliament representing the Moulmein ward of Tanjong Pagar GRC (2006–2011) and later Moulmein–Kallang GRC (2011–2015). He also held the Cabinet positions of Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (2009–2011), Minister  for Transport (2011–2015), and Second Minister for Defence (2015) before retiring from politics just before the 2015 general election. Prior to entering politics in the 2006 general election, Lui had served in the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and had been the Chief of Navy between 1999 and 2003, holding the rank of two-star rear-admiral. Education. Lui was educated at Anglo-Chinese Primary School (Canning Rise) (1968-1973), Anglo-Chinese Secondary School (Barker Road) (1973-1977) and Anglo-Chinese Junior College (Rochester Park) (1978-1979), before receiving a Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship to study at the University  of Cambridge, where he read the Natural Sciences Tripos (Chemistry) in Trinity College and graduated in 1983. In 1994, he completed a Master of Arts in international relations at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. Career. Lui began his career in the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN). He became the Chief of Navy in 1999. He left the RSN in 2003 to join the Administrative Service, and was appointed the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA). In 2004, he became the Deputy Secretary (Land) at the Ministry of Transport, while continuing to  serve concurrently as CEO of the MPA. In 2005, Lui was appointed the CEO of the Housing and Development Board. Political career. At the 2006 general election, Lui was elected to Parliament as a Member of the People's Action Party (PAP) team in the Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency (GRC). He was re-elected to Parliament at the 2011 General Election, this time in Moulmein–Kallang GRC. Lui was appointed a Minister of State at the Ministry of Education on 30 May 2006. On 1 April 2008, he became the Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Education  and the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts. He was made the Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts on 1 April 2009, and became a full member of the Cabinet in 2010 and was appointed Second Minister for Transport assisting Raymond Lim. After the 2011 general election, Lui was appointed the Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs. He relinquished his portfolio in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 1 August 2012, and remains the Minister for Transport. During his tenure as Minister for Transport, Lui defended the privatization of the public transport system, explaining  that if public transport were to be nationalised, operators would be dependent on government funding as well as operate on a cost recovery basis. This he added, would not spur them to lower transport costs. Lui is adamant that the companies remain financially viable by approving yearly fare hikes. 2011 general election. In the 2011 general election, Lui was a PAP candidate in the newly created Moulmein–Kallang GRC, which included his Moulmein ward (which had previously been part of Tanjong Pagar GRC). The PAP team defeated the team from the Workers' Party by 44,828 votes (58.56%) to 31,721 (41.44 %). On 11 August 2015, Lui announced his departure from politics after serving for nine years. Together with former cabinet ministers Wong Kan Seng, Mah Bow Tan and Raymond Lim, they stepped down from politics after the 2015 General Elections. Lui acknowledged the criticisms against him as a result of handling the Transportation portfolio, and said, "In politics, you need a tender heart and a thick skin, not a hard heart and thin skin. I think my heart, my skin, like all my body parts, are fine." Diplomatic career. On 1 June 2017, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs appointed Lui as  Singapore's ambassador to Japan. Lui is appointed as Singapore's ambassador to People's Republic of China as of November 2019. Personal life. Lui is married to Soo Fen. They have two children.