Lim Hwee Hua ( Tan; zh, s=陈惠华, p=Chén Huìhuá; born 26 February 1959) is a former politician who served as

Minister in the Prime Minister's Office A Minister in the Prime Minister's Office ( he, שר במשרד ראש הממשלה, ''Sar BeMisrad Rosh HaMemshala'') is a minister and member of the Cabinet of Israel appointed by the Prime Minister of Israel to handle various issues on behalf o ...

, Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for Transport concurrently between 2009 and 2011. She is also the first woman to had served in the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

. A former member of the 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 was the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Serangoon division of

Aljunied GRC The Aljunied Group Representation Constituency is a five-member group representation constituency (GRC) in the north-eastern and eastern region of Singapore. The GRC consists of five divisions: Eunos, Bedok Reservoir-Punggol, Kaki Bukit, Sera ...

between 2006 and 2011 and

Marine Parade GRC The Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) located in the central, eastern and north-eastern areas of Singapore. The constituency consists of a section of Bedok, Chai Chee, Geylan ...

between 1996 and 2006. Lim had also served as Deputy Speaker of Parliament between 2002 and 2004, Senior Minister of State for Finance and Senior Minister of State for Transport concurrently between 2008 and 2009 and Minister of State for Finance and

Minister of State for Transport The Minister of State for Transport is a mid-level ministerial position in the Department for Transport of the Government of the United Kingdom who deputises for the Secretary of State for Transport. There is also a list of Parliamentary Under-S ...

concurrently between 2004 and 2008.

Early life and career

Lim was educated at

Raffles Institution Raffles Institution (RI) is an independent educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1823, it is the oldest school in the country. It provides secondary education for boys only from Year 1 to Year 4, and pre-university education for both ...

, before graduating from

Girton College Girton College is one of the Colleges of the University of Cambridge, 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1 ...

at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 1981, majoring in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

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 ...

, under the Overseas Merit Scholarship. She subsequently went on to complete a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

degree in

finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

at Anderson School of Management at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

in 1989. Lim began her career as an administrative officer in the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Eco ...

(MOF),

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

(MOE) and the Ministry of Law (MinLaw). In 1989, she joined

Swiss Bank Corporation Swiss Bank Corporation was a Swiss investment bank and financial services company located in Switzerland. Prior to its merger, the bank was the third largest in Switzerland with over CHF300 billion of assets and CHF11.7 billion of equ ...

as an investment analyst before moving on to

Jardine Fleming Jardine Fleming was a Hong Kong–based investment bank founded in 1970 as a joint venture between Jardine Matheson and Robert Fleming & Co. It was acquired by JP Morgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank ...

in 1992, where she served as Head of Research and Director of Business Development. In 2000, she joined

Temasek Holdings Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited, or simply Temasek, is a Singaporean state holding company owned by the Government of Singapore. Incorporated on 25 June 1974, Temasek owns and manages a total of US$496.59 billion (S$671 billion) in assets u ...

as Managing Director of Corporate Stewardship and later, Managing Director of Strategic Relations. While she was at Temasek Holdings, she sat on boards including

Port of Singapore Authority PSA International Pte Ltd is a port operator and supply chain company, with flagship operations in Singapore and Antwerp. One of the largest port operators in the world, PSA has terminals across 26 countries, including deepsea, rail and inland f ...

Keppel Corporation Keppel Corporation (also known as Keppel Corp) is a Singaporean conglomerate headquartered in Keppel Bay Tower, HarbourFront. The company consists of several affiliated businesses that specialises in offshore & marine, property, infrastructure ...

and Mapletree.

Political career

Lim was elected 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) for

at both 1997 general election and the 2001 general election. From 1 April 2002 to 11 August 2004, she was the Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. Lim was appointed the Minister of State for Finance and Transport on 12 August 2004. At the 2006 general election, Lim contested in

and was elected along with

George Yeo George Yeo Yong-Boon ( zh, s=杨荣文, p=Yáng Róngwén; 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 an ...

, Cynthia Phua, Yeo Guat Kwang and

Zainul Abidin Bin Mohamed Rasheed Zainul Abidin bin Mohamed Rasheed (born 17 March 1948) is a Singaporean diplomat, former politician and journalist. A former member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he was the Member of Parliament (MP) representing Eunos ward of Alj ...

. She was promoted to Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport on 1 April 2008. On 1 April 2009, Lim become the first woman to serve in Singapore's Cabinet when she was made a Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for Transport. Between 2002 and 2011, Lim was a member of the Central Executive Committee of the PAP, and the Chairman of the party's Women's Wing. She was inducted into the Singapore Council of Women's Organisation (SCWO) Hall of Fame on 31 March 2010, and she received the ''

Her World ''Her World'' is a monthly English-language magazine published in Singapore targeted at the female professionals reading market. It is also the first English-language women's magazine to be published in Malaysia and Singapore. History and profil ...

'' Woman of the Year Award on 23 April 2010. Lim contested the 2011 general election in Aljunied GRC, but her team (led by George Yeo) was defeated by the team fielded by the Workers' Party (WP) led by its

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

Low Thia Khiang Low Thia Khiang (; born 5 September 1956) is a Singaporean former politician who served as Secretary-General of the Workers' Party (WP) between 2001 and 2018. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hougang SMC between 1991 and 2011 and Aljuni ...

. She subsequently stepped down from the Central Executive Committee of the PAP, and announced that she was retiring from politics and would not be contesting the next general election, saying she was surprised by the depth of resentment felt by citizens towards the government.

Post-political career

Following her retirement from politics, Lim was appointed Non-Executive Director at

Jardine Cycle & Carriage Jardine Cycle & Carriage Limited () is the investment holding company of the Jardine Matheson Group in Southeast Asia. It is currently 75%-held by the conglomerate. The company was listed on the Singapore Exchange in 1969 as Cycle & Carriage Lim ...

in July 2011. In October 2011, Lim was appointed as a senior advisor at

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strate ...

. In November 2011, Lim was appointed Independent Non-Executive Director on the Global Advisory Council at

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...

. She had also served as Honorary Chairman of the Securities Investors Association Singapore between 2013 and 2017. She published a book, ''Government In Business: Friend Or Foe?'', with the Straits Times Press in 2013.

Personal life

Lim grew up in family of nine children in Tiong Bahru. Her father was a tea merchant. Lim is married to Andy Lim, a partner and founder of Tembusu Partners, a private equity firm. They have a son and two daughters.

References

External links

Parliament of Singapore CVs of MPs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lim, Hwee Hua 1959 births Living people Members of the Cabinet of Singapore Members of the Parliament of Singapore People's Action Party politicians Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean people of Teochew descent Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge Raffles Institution alumni Women government ministers of Singapore Singaporean women in politics Government ministers of Singapore Women legislative deputy speakers