Lee Hsien Loong
Prime Minister of Singapore
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 August 2004
President : Sellapan Ramanathan
Deputy : See list[show]
Preceded by : Goh Chok Tong
Minister for Finance
In office
2001 – 1 December 2007
Deputy : Lim Siang Keat Raymond
Preceded by : Hu Tsu Tau Richard
Succeeded by : Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Member of Parliament
for Ang Mo Kio GRC
Incumbent
Assumed office 1991
Preceded by : Position established
Born : 10 February 1952 (age 57)
Singapore, British Empire
Political party : People’s Action Party
Spouse(s) : Ho Ching
Alma mater: Trinity College, Cambridge
Lee Hsien Loong (simplified Chinese: traditional Chinese:pinyin: POJ: Li Hian-liong; born February 10, 1952) is the third and current Prime Minister of Singapore. Lee Hsien Loong is married to Ho Ching, who is the former Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the government-owned Temasek Holdings. He is the eldest son of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.
Early life
The eldest child of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Kwa Geok Choo, Lee was born in Singapore on February 10, 1952. His grandmother Chua Jim Neo was a Hokkien Nyonya, and his mother Kwa Geok Choo has ancestry from Min Nan Tong’an.[1][2][3] In Lee Kuan Yew’s biography, the young Lee had learned Jawi script since he was five, and has always been interested in the affairs of Singapore, often following his father to the rally grounds since 1963.
Lee studied at Nanyang Primary School, received his secondary education at Catholic High School and subsequently studied at National Junior College, where he learned the clarinet under the tutelage of Adjunct Associate Professor Ho Hwee Long. He studied mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge University, where he graduated in 1974 with First Class Honours in Mathematics and a Diploma in Computer Science (with distinction). He subsequently obtained a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 1980.
Lee joined the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in 1971 and rose quickly through the ranks becoming the youngest Brigadier General in Singapore’s history. In 1978, he attended the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth. He retired from the military in 1984 to enter politics and was elected as a Member of Parliament that year. Lee’s first wife, Malaysian-born doctor Wong Ming Yang, died on 28 October 1982 of a heart attack[4] three weeks after giving birth to Lee’s first son Lee Yi Peng, a mildly autistic albino. In 1985, Lee married Ho Ching, a fast-rising civil servant. They have one daughter and three sons (the oldest son of Ho Ching, Li Hongyi was the winner of the Lee Kuan Yew Award for Math & Science in 2006, the same year he was commissioned as an officer in the Singapore Armed forces at the SAFTI Military Institute) , including one daughter and son from Lee’s first wife.
In 1992, Lee was diagnosed with lymphoma. He underwent a three-month period of chemotherapy and has since recovered.
Early political career
Lee entered politics at the age of 32 in 1984. He was appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Defence in December 1984 by his father, Lee Kuan Yew, and was subsequently promoted to Acting Minister for Trade and Industry in 1986, and the Second Minister for Defence.
In February 1987, issues on ethnic relationships in Singapore surfaced when Malaysian leaders asked the Members of Parliament why there were so few Malays holding key positions in the SAF. Lee Hsien Loong, then Second Minister for Defence, stated that the SAF did not want its soldiers to be in a position where the loyalty of the soldiers might clash with racial and religious factors.
