Vivian Balakrishnan
Vivian Balakrishnan speaking in 2008
Minister of the Environment and Water Resources
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 May 2011
Preceded by	Yaacob Ibrahim
Minister of Community Development, Youth and Sports
In office 12 August 2004 – 20 May 2011
Preceded by	Yaacob Ibrahim
Succeeded by	Chan Chun Sing (acting minister)
Personal details
Born	(1961-01-25) January 25, 1961 (age 63) Singapore
Political party	People's Action Party

Vivian Balakrishnan is a politician from Singapore. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he is currently the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources.

He first entered politics by being nominated uncontested for the Holland–Bukit Panjang Group Representative Constituency in the 2001 General Elections.^[1] He was re-elected in 2006 and 2011 at the Holland-Bukit Timah Group Representative Constituency.

He also served as the Second Minister for Trade and Industry until May 2006; the Second Minister for the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) until March 2008 and Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS)^[2] from 2005 until 2011. He has also served as the Minister of State for National Development from 2001 to 2004 and the Minister in charge of Entrepreneurship.

In the Singapore general election, 2011, his constituency was redrawn and his team, made up of Liang Eng Hwa, Christopher de Souza and Sim Ann, contested for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC against the Singapore Democratic Party. His team won with a margin of 60.08% of the votes.

Early life

He used to study in Anglo Chinese School and National Junior College. He was awarded the President's Scholarship in 1980 when he pursued Medicine at the National University of Singapore. During his university days, he was also the President (for two terms) and Chairman of the NUS Students' Union. After graduating in 1985, he went on to specialise in Ophthalmology. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 1991.

Medical career

From 1993 to 1995, he worked at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London as Specialist Senior Registrar, where he subspecialised in Paediatric Ophthalmology.

He later returned to Singapore where he was appointed as Consultant Ophthalmologist at Singapore National Eye Centre and National University Hospital and Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at the National University of Singapore in 1998. In 1999, he was appointed as the Medical Director of the Singapore National Eye Centre and later became Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore General Hospital in 2000. ^[3]

Entry into politics

Balakrishnan stated he was originally "skeptical of the PAP... like many younger Singaporeans, I felt an emotional dissonance with the PAP." He believed in ideals like free speech, egalitarianism, and separation of powers, and though he thinks his commitment to these values have not changed, he was driven to join the PAP by a need to pursue economic and political security for Singapore and to contribute in community affairs.^[4]

Balakrishnan stated on his website that his mother and her parents were born into poverty, but nonetheless "worked hard", and this forms much of his "inner most feelings, values and attitudes... to poverty, to family, to social safety nets". He believes, "bad things can happen to decent people... they will need help, deserve help, and need hope. [But] one needs family support. Do not talk about MCYS first. It is all about discipline and hard work". He worries that the younger generations, "born in the midst of plenty" may spend too much time thinking how to spend the nation's wealth and "their inheritance". He believes that most social problems come not from "the lack of money" but "poverty of relationships". Thus he seeks a "compassionate society" but "a small, efficient Government, with low taxes" where philanthropists are free to donate money and effort into their desired social causes.^[5]

Electoral issues

Balakrishnan was re-elected unopposed in the 2006 general elections in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC.^[6]

In 2007, he made the following statement in parliament "How much do you want? Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant?", in response to Tanjong Pagar GRC MP Lily Neo’s calls for the government to increase public assistance to the low-income families given the rising cost of living.^[7] He added that he was by no means claiming that the public assistance offering was a generous package but that he was designing a system where public assistance should be complemented by other sources of help.^[8] In 2011, he said that his above statement to Lily Neo "would haunt" him "forever" in his political life and that "That statement I made was wrong."^[9]

In the general elections in 2011, voters in his constituency were able to vote for the first time since its formation in 2006 (the Bukit Timah division in particular had not seen a contested election since 1991). Balakrishnan was criticised by the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) regarding the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympics (YOG) budget, in that it had exceeded the initial budget of S$104 million by three times.^[10] The MCYS explained that the initial budget had been insufficient to meet the requirements of the Olympic event and that the YOG budget did not affect any of the Ministry's expenditures in other areas, such as helping the needy. YOG also generated S$60 million in additional tourism receipts.^[11] This issue was brought up again by the SDP during the general elections.^[12]

As the SDP, already known to be the main contender against the PAP in Balakrishnan's constituency, was preparing to issue its nomination plans, Balakrishnan issued the following statement:

I am not sure what [the SDP] strategy is...I can’t help feeling that part of the reason for their reticence is they have elements of their agenda they are not prepared to disclose and subject to scrutiny. Eventually, they will have to come out of the closet. (The Straits Times, April 20, 2011)

A few days later, on 23 April, he called the announced SDP lineup "a team of strange bedfellows". ^[13] On 25 April, Balakrishnan accused the SDP of "suppressing a certain YouTube video, which raises some very awkward questions about the agenda and motivations of the SDP and its candidates."^[14] This turned out to be a video recording a forum on gay rights, in which SDP candidate Vincent Wijeysingha made a speech declaring, "I think the gay community has to rally ourselves. Perhaps one outcome of today's forum would be, for those of us who are interested, to come together to further consider how we can address the 377 issue as well as further rights issues in relation to gays and lesbians."

A few days later, the PAP team led by Balakrishnan issued the following statement: The video raises the question on whether Wijeysingha will now pursue this cause in the political arena and what is the SDP's position on the matter. Balakrishnan also asked the SDP if it was "promoting the gay cause" and noted "the discussion at the forum also touched on sex with boys and whether the age of consent for boys should be 14 years of age." ^[15] His question became controversial.^[12] The Economist noted "social-networking sites filled up with the rebukes of Singaporeans disgusted at the PAP tactic."^[16] Today published several letters from citizens on the issue.^[17]

SDP members also rejected his comments stating, "We've been a very open party and we're very clear... we are not pursuing a gay agenda".^[18] The New Paper released a story with the sensational headline: ''Is Singapore ready for a GAY MP?"^[19] On April 28, Balakrishnan "called for a truce" and told the press: "there is "no need" to further discuss [the] video". He denied having employed a "smear tactic" when he brought up the issue, arguing that his question about the SDP's "gay agenda" was a "legitimate question".^[20]

On 7 May, Balakrishnan's team won their first contested election with 60.1% of the votes cast, with 90.5% turnout.

On 21 May 2011, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan was appointed as Minister for the Environment and Water Resources. ^[21], taking over from Yaacob Ibrahim.

Lawmaking and policymaking activity

Acts of Parliament initiated

• Competition Act
• Community Care Endowment Fund Act
• Mental Capacity Act and the International Child Abduction Act

Amendments initiated

• Children Development Co-Savings Act
• Children and Young Persons Act
• Women’s Charter
• Charities Act
• Hindu Endowment Board
• Postal Services, Animals and Birds Act
• Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority and Sale of Food Act.

Ministry activities

Under Balakrishnan, MCYS :

• established of the Comcare Endowment Fund
• established the Central Youth Guidance Office
• created a formal accreditation process for social workers

MCYS under Balakrishnan also created the following government organisations:

• National Family Council,
• Charities Council
• Community Foundation
• National Steering Committee on Racial & Religious Harmony
• the National Integration Council
• the Centre for 3rd Age
• the National Council against Problem Gambling.

MCYS under Balakrishnan also designed and deployed the Next Generation National Broadband Network.

References

External links

• Singapore Cabinet profile
• Parliament of Singapore profile
• Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (Singapore)
• Minister, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan
• Facebook Page
• Vivian Balakrishnan's Blog

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