George Yeo Yong-Boon (; born 13 September 1954) is a Singaporean former politician and brigadier-general who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs between 2004 and 2011.
Yeo served in the Singapore Army and later Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) under the Singapore Armed Forces between 1976 and 1988 and attained the rank Brigadier-General. He also served as Chief of Staff – Air Staff between 1985 and 1986, and Director of Joint Operations and Planning at the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) between 1986 and 1988.
A former member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), Yeo was the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Bedok Reservoir–Punggol ward of Aljunied GRC between 1988 and 2011. He also served as Minister for Information and the Arts between 1990 and 1999, Minister for Health between 1994 and 1997, Minister for Trade and Industry between 1999 and 2004 and Minister for Foreign Affairs between 2004 and 2011.
Education
Yeo was educated at St. Stephen's School, St. Patrick's School—where he topped in his class for his O-Level and St. Joseph's Institution before graduating from Christ's College at the University of Cambridge in 1976, majoring in engineering, under the President's Scholarship and Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship.
He subsequently went on to complete a Master in Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School in 1985 as a Baker Scholar.
Military career
Upon returning from the United Kingdom, Yeo served as a commissioned officer in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). He served as a signals officer in the Singapore Army, before transferring to the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF).
When Yeo returned to Singapore, he served as Chief of Staff – Air Staff between 1985 and 1986, and Director of Joint Operations and Planning at the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) between 1986 and 1988. He also led the team which conceptualised the SAFTI Military Institute.
Yeo left the SAF in 1988 and attained the rank Brigadier-General, before entering politics.
Political career
Yeo made his political debut in the 1988 general election as part of a three-member PAP team contesting in the newly-created Aljunied GRC and won.
Following his election into Parliament, Yeo served in various ministries, including the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Yeo represented the Eurasian community in the Cabinet at their request. Yeo was the chairman of the PAP's youth wing from 1991 to 2000, which saw a renaming to Young PAP (YPAP) in 1993. As an enticement for joining the YPAP, he said people joining the YPAP could take positions different from central party leadership.
Yeo and his Aljunied GRC team first faced a team of Singapore Democratic Party (then the largest opposition party led by Chiam See Tong) in 1988 (which led by Ashleigh Seow (the son of Workers' Party candidate for Eunos Group Representation Constituency Francis Seow)) and 1997. In 2006, the party faced WP (led by the party's chair Sylvia Lim) and won with the election's narrowest margin, with 56.1% to 43.9%. However, in the 2011 general election (held 7 May), the WP team (which now led by then secretary-general Low Thia Khiang) won the election 54.7% to 45.3%, resulting in his election defeat as well as the loss of his ministerial appointment. Yeo, along with a co-anchor minister Lim Hwee Hua, were the first two cabinet ministers in post-independence Singapore, and after the 1963 election, to be defeated in the election and consequently losing their parliamentary seats to the opposition. According to Yeo, he was offered to rejoin Cabinet by then-Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew through a by-election in Lee's Tanjong Pagar GRC. Yeo declined.
On 5 October 2011, Yeo stepped down from the PAP's Central Executive Committee (the party's governing body). However, he continues to be a member of the PAP. During his announcement, Yeo stated that he declined running for presidency later that year, cited that he was a "free spirit" and he was not "temperamentally suited for such a job", despite being popular in online and have "a flood of support" on post-election. He although stated on his Facebook page that he was "thinking hard" about the possibility of becoming a candidate on 1 June, but however, on 15 June, Yeo confirmed that he declined standing for presidency.