Josephine Teo

Josephine Teo Li Min née Yong (Chinese: 杨莉明; pinyin: Yáng Lìmíng; born 1968)[1] is a Singaporean politician who has been serving as Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of the Cyber Security Agency and Smart Nation Initiative since 2021, and Second Minister for Home Affairs since 2017. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), she has been a Member of the 14th Parliament representing the Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng ward of Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency (GRC) since 2020.

The Honourable
Josephine Teo Li Min
杨莉明
Teo in 2016
Minister for Communications and Information
Assumed office
15 May 2021
Prime MinisterLee Hsien Loong
Preceded byS. Iswaran
Second Minister for Home Affairs
Assumed office
11 September 2017
MinisterK. Shanmugam
Preceded byDesmond Lee
Member of Parliament
for Jalan Besar GRC
(Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng)
Assumed office
10 July 2020
Preceded byLily Neo (PAP)
Past offices held
Minister
Minister for Manpower
In office
1 May 2018 – 14 May 2021
Preceded byLim Swee Say
Succeeded byTan See Leng
Minister in Prime Minister's Office
In office
1 May 2017 – 30 April 2018
Serving with Chan Chun Sing
Second Minister
Second Minister for Manpower
In office
1 May 2017 – 30 April 2018
MinisterLim Swee Say
Succeeded byTan See Leng
Second Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office
1 May 2017 – 10 September 2017
MinisterVivian Balakrishnan
Succeeded byMaliki Osman
Minister of State
Senior Minister of State,
Prime Minister's Office
In office
1 October 2015 – 30 April 2017
Serving with Heng Chee How
Senior Minister of State,
Ministry of Transport
In office
1 September 2013 – 30 April 2017
Senior Minister of State,
Ministry Of Finance
In office
1 September 2013 – 30 September 2015
Minister of State,
Ministry for Finance
In office
18 May 2011 – 1 September 2013
Minister of State,
Ministry for Transport
In office
18 May 2011 – 1 September 2013
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC
(Bishan North)
In office
8 May 2011 – 23 June 2020
Member of Parliament
for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC
(Toa Payoh East)
In office
27 April 2006 – 8 May 2011
Personal details
Born
Josephine Yong Li Min

(1968-07-08) 8 July 1968
Singapore
Political partyPeople's Action Party
Spouse(s)Teo Eng Cheong
Children3
Alma materNational University of Singapore
London School of Economics
In this Chinese name, the family name is Teo / Yong.

Before entering politics, Teo had worked at the Economic Development Board, Agency for Science, Technology and Research and National Trades Union Congress. She made her political debut in the 2006 general election as part of a five-member PAP team contesting in Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC. The PAP team won by an uncontested walkover and Teo was elected as a Member of Parliament representing the Toa Payoh East ward. After the 2011 general election, she switched to representing the Bishan North ward in Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC. She held positions in the Ministries of Finance, Transport before she was promoted to full Minister on 1 May 2017. She had since held portfolios in the Prime Minister's Office and Manpower and Foreign Affairs ministries.

Education

Teo was educated at Dunman High School and Raffles Junior College[2] before she went to the National University of Singapore (NUS), where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1990 and a Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) in 1991. During her studies in NUS, she was awarded several prizes, including the Rachel Meyer Book Prize, which is awarded to the best-performing female candidate in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences' final-year examinations.[3] She was then awarded a postgraduate scholarship under the Economic Development Board-Glaxo Scholarship Programme and completed a Master of Science in economics at the London School of Economics in 1992.[3]

Career

Teo worked at the Economic Development Board (EDB) from 1992 to 2002. She began her career in enterprise development before she was posted to Suzhou as part of the EDB team working on the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park, where she was responsible for marketing resources. Upon her return to Singapore, she became the EDB's Head of Human Resources.[3]

From 2002 to 2006, Teo was the Head of Human Resources at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).[3]

In November 2005, Teo also took on the role of Director of Human Resources at the Administration and Research Unit of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC). After she was elected to Parliament in 2006, Teo took on additional roles within the NTUC and the labour movement. She served as the Executive Secretary of the Singapore Industrial Services Employees' Union (2006–2011). At the Administration and Research Unit, she served as the Alignment Director (Youth Development) and Alignment Director (Organisation Development) (2007–11), and as the Centric Director (Staff) (2008–2011).[2] She also served as the NTUC's Assistant Secretary-General from 2007 to 2011.[4]

From 2009 to 2011, Teo also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Business China, an organisation aimed at improving cultural and economic ties between Singapore and China.[5]

Political career
Teo meeting with Mauricio Macri, then the Chief of Government of Buenos Aires, in 2012

Teo made her political debut in the 2006 general election when she contested in Bishan–Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency (GRC) as part of a five-member People's Action Party team. The PAP team won by an uncontested walkover and Teo became a Member of Parliament representing the Toa Payoh East ward of Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC.

During her first term in Parliament, Teo served as the Chair of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Education, and as a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Defence and Foreign Affairs.[6]

Following the 2011 general election, Teo was part of a five-member People's Action Party team for Bishan–Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency (GRC) and won about 56% against the Singapore People's Party. On 18 May 2011, Teo was appointed Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Transport. She was promoted to Senior Minister of State at the Ministries of Finance and Transport on 1 September 2013, and switched to representing the Bishan North ward of Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC. She relinquished her position as Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance on 30 September 2015. [7][8]

In 2012, Teo appeared in a Channel 8 drama, Pillow Talk, in which she shared about love and romance between couples.

Following the 2015 general election, Teo was part of a five-member People's Action Party team for Bishan–Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency (GRC) and won about 73% higher than the previous election against the Singapore People's Party.

In a media interview in October 2016, Teo responded to questions of whether Singaporeans were getting their HDB flats early enough in order to start a family, stating that one "does not need much space to have sex". Teo further added that "in France, in the U.K., in Nordic countries, man meets woman [and] they can make a baby already. They love each other."[9] Teo's words drew flak from on social media, with netizens criticising her for lacking empathy towards couples and being insensitive towards couples' practical considerations such as being able to secure a HDB flat before starting a family, as well as accusing her of promoting premarital sex in conservative Singapore.[10]

On 1 May 2017, Teo was promoted to full Minister and appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for Manpower, and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs.[11] She also oversaw the National Population and Talent Division, a department in the Prime Minister's Office. On 11 September 2017, she relinquished her portfolio as Second Minister for Foreign Affairs and became Second Minister for Home Affairs. On 1 May 2018, Teo succeeded Lim Swee Say as Minister for Manpower, being the second female Cabinet minister to helm a ministry after Grace Fu. She also continued to hold the portfolio of Second Minister for Home Affairs.[12]

In May 2017, Teo commented on her Facebook page about the high cost of milk powder in Singapore, saying that "milk is milk, however fancy the marketing". She further claimed that she would buy whichever brand of milk powder approved for sale by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority that was cheapest for her own children.[13] She was criticised for being ignorant to the fact that even the cheapest milk powder in Singapore is still much more expensive compared to that in other countries in the region.[14]

On 26 October 2018, during a conference held by the Institute of Policy Studies, Teo commented that implementing a minimum wage in Singapore may instead lead to higher unemployment and that Singapore's income inequality gap is "a problem of success" that is "difficult to overcome".[15]

In the 2020 general election, Teo moved from the five-member PAP team contesting in Bishan–Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency to the four-member PAP team contesting in Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency. The PAP team won against the Peoples Voice team with about 65% of the vote. Teo then became the Member of Parliament representing the Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng ward of Jalan Besar GRC.

Following a Cabinet reshuffle in May 2021, Teo succeeded S. Iswaran as Minister for Communication and Information while continuing to serve as Second Minister for Home Affairs. In addition, she was appointed Minister-in-charge of the Cyber Security Agency and Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative. In 2021, Teo was involved in a Singtel advertisement called "Powering Up Singapore with SingTel 5G".

Personal life

Teo is married Teo Eng Cheong, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City and Investment Development Co (SSTEC) and former Chief Executive Officer of Surbana Jurong. They have two daughters and a son. [16]

References
  1. "PARL | MP". www.parliament.gov.sg.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-02-10. Retrieved 2009-03-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Channelnewsasia.com - Singapore General Election". May 27, 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-05-27.
  4. "Swee Say wins poll by landslide". www.asiaone.com. Archived from the original on 2017-10-30. Retrieved 2020-07-17.
  5. "MP Josephine Teo steps down as Business China CEO". Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2010-11-11.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. Ong, Justin. "Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announces Singapore's new Cabinet". CNA. Archived from the original on 2015-10-06. Retrieved 2015-10-05.
  8. Singapore, CNA. "PM Lee and Singapore's new Cabinet sworn in". CNA. Archived from the original on 2015-10-05. Retrieved 2015-10-05.
  9. Singapore, ST. "You don't need much space to have sex: Josephine Teo on 'no flat, no child' belief". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 2017-09-10. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
  10. "What should come first, a baby or a flat?". BBC News. 13 October 2016.
  11. "Cabinet changes: Josephine Teo, Desmond Lee promoted to full ministers". The Straits Times. April 27, 2017. Archived from the original on September 9, 2017. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  12. "Cabinet reshuffle: Chan Chun Sing to lead MTI; Heng Swee Keat stays at MOF, Ong Ye Kung to head MOE". CNA. Archived from the original on 2018-05-02. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
  13. Singapore, CNA. "'Milk is milk, however fancy the marketing': Josephine Teo". CNA. Archived from the original on 2017-09-09. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
  14. Singapore, TOC. "Josephine Teo's comment, "milk is milk, however fancy the marketing" irks parents". TOC. Archived from the original on 2017-09-09. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
  15. Singapore, CNA. "'Implmenting minimum wage may lead to lower employment': Josephine Teo". Archived from the original on 2018-10-26. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
  16. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-25. Retrieved 2009-03-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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