Irene Ng (politician)

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Ng (Chinese: 伍; pinyin: Wǔ).

Irene Ng

Irene Ng Phek Hoong (Chinese: 伍碧虹; pinyin: Wǔ Bìhóng; born 24 December 1963 in Penang, Malaysia) is a Singaporean Member of Parliament who represented Tampines GRC since 2001.^[1] She is also a Writer-in-Residence at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS).

Political career

Before joining politics in 2001, Ng was the Senior Political Correspondent of The Straits Times. Irene has won several journalism and writing awards. After joining politics, she worked as Director of Programmes and Senior Research Fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, and later, as a Director at National Trades Union Congress.

In the 2001 and 2006 general elections, Ng's party, the People's Action Party, were up against the Singapore Democratic Alliance over Tampines GRC. On both occasions, her team won with 73.34% and 68.51% of the votes respectively. At the 2011 general election, she was re-elected with 57.22% of the votes against the National Solidarity Party.

Ng is currently writing the second volume of the biography on Mr S. Rajaratnam, Singapore's first Foreign Minister. The first volume, The Singapore Lion: A Biography of S. Rajaratnam, was published in early 2010.^[2] It recently won the Excellence Award for the ‘Best Book/Best Writer’ on Asian socio-economic or media scene’ at the prestigious Asian Publishing Awards 2010. On 11 August 2011, she produced another book "The Short Stories and Radio Plays of S. Rajaratnam", which she edited with an introduction. It was launched by President SR Nathan. ^[3]

She is in the Government Parliamentary Committees of Education, Information and the Arts.

Ng has Master of Science in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. In June 2006, Ng was awarded an Honorary Professorial Fellowship at the Edinburgh University. She is currently the Southeast Asian representative in the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians Steering Committee.

A long-time advocate of the arts, Ng sits on the Board of Directors of The Esplanade. She is the Patron of the Singapore Amateur Cycling Association. A member of both the Advisory Board and Council of National Youth Achievement Award (NYAA), she also plays a key role in engaging women and youth.

Personal life

Ng was married in her mid-twenties but got an annulment. ^[4] In 2007, Ng married Graham Berry, the chief executive of the Scottish Arts Council.^[4] Ng is a Christian.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Irene Ng". http://www.parliament.gov.sg/mp/ng-phek-hoong-irene?viewcv=Irene%20Ng%20Phek%20Hoong. Retrieved 2010-12-28. 
2. ^ "PM Lee launches biography of S Rajaratnam". Channel NewsAsia. http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1035398/1/.html. 
3. ^ "Book Launch". http://www.istana.gov.sg/content/istana/news/speeches/launch_of_book_onrajaratnamsshortstories.html. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "MP Irene Ng finds 'man worth waiting for'". AsiaOne. http://justwoman.asiaone.com/Just%2BWoman/News/Women%2BIn%2BThe%2BNews/Story/A1Story20070612-14465.html. 

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Name	Ng, Irene Phek Hoong
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Date of birth	24 December 1963
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