Lee Bee Wah ( zh, s=李美花, p=Lǐ Měihuā; born 6 October 1960), also known as ''Huajie'' ( zh, s=花姐, p=Huājiě, l=Sister Flower), is a Malaysian-born Singaporean retired politician and engineer. A member of the country's governing

People's Action Party The People's Action Party (abbreviation: PAP) is a major conservative centre-right political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and ...

(PAP), she also served as MP for

Ang Mo Kio GRC The Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the north eastern region of Singapore. The constituency encompasses the majority of Ang Mo Kio (Teck Ghee, Cheng San-Seletar, portio ...

(Nee Soon South) from 6 May 2006 until her ward was carved out from

for the formation of

Nee Soon GRC The Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the north region of Singapore. The GRC includes most of Yishun town, the private residential areas along Sembawang Road and Upper Thomso ...

in 2011. She served as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) of

Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency The Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the north region of Singapore. The GRC includes most of Yishun town, the private residential areas along Sembawang Road and Upper Thoms ...

(GRC) for Nee Soon South from 7 May 2011- 23 June 2020. Lee announced her retirement from politics on 29 June 2020.

Early life

Lee was born on 6 October 1960 in

Batu Pahat The Batu Pahat District is a district in the state of Johor, Malaysia. It lies southeast of Muar, southwest of Kluang, northwest of Pontian, south of Segamat and Tangkak District. The capital of the district is Bandar Penggaram. Geography ...

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan ...

, Malaysia but grew up in

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

. She is the eldest among seven siblings. Both her parents were rubber tappers.

Education

Lee received her primary education at Kiow Min Chinese Primary School and subsequently studied at Sekolah Dato' Dol Said, Notre Dame Convent, and Gajah Berang. She attended the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

(NUS) between 1981 and 1982 before attending the

Nanyang Technological University The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a national research university in Singapore. It is the second oldest autonomous university in the country and is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in the world by various inte ...

(NTU) where she graduated with a

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university. In the UK, a Bache ...

degree in

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

in 1985. She then attended the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

between 1989 and 1990 where she attained a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

degree in

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

. Described by her university as a "passionate" alumna, Lee started the Class of 1985 Pioneer Fund, a fundraising scheme which generated a few million dollars for academic incentives. In 1997, she became the NTU School of Civil & Environmental Engineering Alumni Association (NTU CEEAA)'s President until 2008. She was the recipient of the 2000 Nanyang Technological University Alumni Service Award by NTU. In 2006, Lee received the Nanyang Alumni Achievement Award from NTU. The same year, the Cambodian Government presented to her the Royal Government Gold Medal. In 2011, the

presented to her an Honorary Doctorate. She was awarded the Nanyang Distinguished Alumni Award from NTU in 2012.

Career

Lee was the president of the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) from 2008 till 2014.

Engineering career

An engineer by training, in 1996, Lee established LBW Consultants LLP. Her firm was acquired by global engineering consultancy Meinhardt Group in 2014 where she is currently Group Director. Prior to joining politics, Lee was also a senior engineer at ST Construction and an assistant project manager at Wing Tai. She served as president of the Institution of Engineers Singapore from 2008 to 2010. She serves as Non Executive Chairman of listed company TEE Land Pte Ltd and Independent Director of Koh Brothers Group.

Political career

Lee served as MP for

from 2006 till 2011, and

from 2011 to 2020. She was previously the Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for National Development as well as for the Environment and Water Resources. On 27 February 2019, Lee was criticized online for telling a story in

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

about an "Ah Gong" during a budget debate in Parliament. In her story, she referred to Singaporeans as "Si Gui Kia", which is translated as ungrateful brats, for not being appreciative of what Ah Gong, i.e. the Singaporean government, has done for them. The video of her parliamentary speech quickly went viral.

Personal life

Lee is married with two children. She is a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

References

External links

Lee Bee Wah's profile – Parliament of Singapore
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Bee Wah Singaporean women in politics Singaporean women engineers People from Johor 1960 births Living people Singaporean Buddhists People's Action Party politicians Members of the Parliament of Singapore Singaporean people of Hokkien descent Malaysian emigrants to Singapore People who lost Malaysian citizenship Naturalised citizens of Singapore National University of Singapore alumni Alumni of the University of Liverpool Nanyang Technological University alumni 21st-century women engineers