Yeo Guat Kwang
Yeo Guat Kwang is a Singaporean former politician. A former member of the governing People's Action Party, he was the Member of Parliament for the Punggol South division of Cheng San Group Representation Constituency between 1997 and 2001, the Aljunied–Hougang division of Aljunied GRC between 2001 and 2011, and the Ang Mo Kio–Hougang division of Ang Mo Kio GRC between 2011 and 2015.
Education
Yeo attended The Chinese High School and Nanyang Junior College, before graduating from the National University of Singapore in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in social sciences.He subsequently went on to complete a postgraduate diploma in education at the National Institute of Education at the Nanyang Technological University in 1987.
He also completed a joint programme at the NUS Business School and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy with a Master in Public Administration and Management degree in 2013.
Career
Education
Yeo started his career in 1987 as a teacher at Nanyang Junior College, and in 1991, he became a Head of Department at Anderson Secondary School. From 1993 to 1996, he was a Specialist Inspector for Chinese at the Ministry of Education.Labour movement
In 1997, Yeo joined the labour movement as an Executive Secretary for the Building Construction and Timber Industries Employees Union. In 2001, he became the Executive Secretary for the Singapore Industrial and Services Employees Union, as well as the Amalgamated Union of Statutory Board Employees.In January 2014, Yeo was appointed Assistant Secretary-General in the National Trades Union Congress, which has close ties with the PAP.
In December 2016, Yeo was promoted to Assistant Director-General in NTUC.
Yeo is also the chairman of the NTUC's Migrant Workers' Centre, which was set up in 2009. He is also the head of the Centre for Domestic Employees, and the director for Workplace Safety and Health.
Yeo was president of the Consumers Association of Singapore, a consumer advocacy group founded by the NTUC, until June 2012.
Political career
In the 1997 general election, Yeo made his political debut in Cheng San GRC as part of a five-member PAP team; said team won 54.82% of the vote against the Workers' Party. He subsequently became the MP for the Punggol South division until 2001, when the GRC was abolished.In the 2001 general election, with Cheng San GRC abolished, Yeo joined a five-member PAP team in Aljunied GRC, which won in a walkover; he became the MP for the Aljunied–Hougang division. He retained his seat in the 2006 general election after the PAP team for Aljunied GRC won 56.09% of the vote against the WP.
In the 2011 general election, after his Aljunied–Hougang division was shifted to Ang Mo Kio GRC and renamed Ang Mo Kio–Hougang, Yeo joined a six-member PAP team for said GRC, which won 69.33% of the vote; he continued to represent the Ang Mo Kio–Hougang division until 2015. It was at the same election that the PAP lost Aljunied GRC to the WP.
In the 2015 general election, Yeo was redeployed to his former Aljunied GRC, leading four political newcomers in a bid to retake it; however, the WP narrowly retained the GRC with a majority of 1.9%, or 2,612 votes. As the PAP team had requested a recount, given that the WP's initially calculated majority was under 2%, the result for Aljunied GRC was only declared around 3.10am the morning after Election Day. It was later revealed that the PAP had won in the divisions of Serangoon and Paya Lebar, which Yeo and Murali Pillai would respectively have represented, by around 300 votes each.
Yeo retired from politics prior to the 2020 general election.
Civil career
As of August 2017, Yeo was a board member at the now-defunct Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore. He also used to be a board member at the Public Utilities Board, Land Transport Authority, and SPRING Singapore.Private sector
Yeo held directorships in Asiagate Holdings and SIIC Environment Holding as of August 2017.He had been a director before in other private companies.