Tan See Leng ( zh, s=陈诗龙, p=Chén Shīlóng; born 1964) is a Singaporean politician and former medical practitioner who has been serving as Minister for Manpower since 2021 and Second Minister for Trade and Industry since 2020. A 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), he has been the

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) representing the

Marine Parade Marine Parade is a planning area and residential estate located in the Central Region of Singapore. Straddling the tip of the southeastern coast of Pulau Ujong, Marine Parade serves as a buffer between the Central and East regions of the c ...

division of

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 ...

since 2020. Before entering politics, Tan was a medical practitioner by profession. He founded Healthway Medical Group and had served in top positions in Parkway Holdings,

Parkway Pantai Parkway Pantai, Ltd. is a medical company based in Singapore and is Southeast Asia's largest private healthcare provider, and one of the largest in Asia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kuala Lumpur-based IHH Healthcare, whose largest sharehol ...

and

IHH Healthcare IHH Healthcare Berhad () is an international private healthcare group focused on upmarket health services, and is Asia's largest private healthcare group. It offers a full spectrum of integrated healthcare services from clinics to hospitals to ...

. He made his political debut in the 2020 general election as part of a five-member PAP team and won about 57% of the vote in Marine Parade GRC.

Early life

Tan was born in Singapore in 1964. As the only child, he grew up with his father, Tan Seow Chiap, an SBS bus timekeeper, and a homemaker mother who took up as many odd jobs as possible to alleviate the family's financial constraints. He had been fostered out to a

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

-speaking nanny to be cared for, staying at Sam Leong Road, next to Desker Road with her on weekdays. Only on weekends did he stay with his parents at a rented flat in

Toa Payoh Toa Payoh (, ta, தோ பாயோ) is a planning area and matured residential town located in the northern part of the Central Region of Singapore. Toa Payoh planning area borders Bishan and Serangoon to the north, the Central Water Catc ...

. This arrangement continued until he was five or six years old.

Education

Tan attended Monk's Hill Primary School,

Monk's Hill Secondary School The former Monk's Hill Secondary School ( Abbreviation: MHSS; ) was a secondary school in Newton, Singapore. History Founding Monk's Hill Secondary School was founded in 1958 on a plot of land that was once the site of a Chinese monastery. ...

and

National Junior College National Junior College (NJC) is a government junior college located in Bukit Timah, Singapore. Established in 1969, it was the first government junior college in Singapore. NJC offers a two-year course for pre-university students and a six-year ...

before graduating from the

Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine The Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, established in 1905, is the first institution of higher learning in Singapore and the genesis of the National University of Singapore. The School is one of many who offer medical programmes in the Asia Pacif ...

at 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 ...

in 1988 with a

Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

(MBBS). While in National Junior College, he joined the choir as part of his

Co-Curricular Activity In Singapore, a co-curricular activity (CCA), previously known as an extracurricular activity (ECA), is a non-academic activity that all students must undertake as part of their education. Introduced by the Ministry of Education (MOE), CCAs ar ...

(CCA). Tan funded his university education all by himself, with an annual school fee of S$3,000, by tutoring

junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...

students in subjects like

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 ...

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

. With up to eight students at a time, he earned about S$800 to S$1,000 per month. He subsequently went on to complete a

Master of Medicine Master of Medicine (MMed) is a postgraduate professional clinical degree awarded by medical schools to physicians following a period of instruction, supervised clinical rotations, and examination. The degree usually takes three years to complete, ...

degree in

family medicine Family medicine is a medical specialty within primary care that provides continuing and comprehensive health care for the individual and family across all ages, genders, diseases, and parts of the body. The specialist, who is usually a primary ...

at the National University of Singapore in 1998. In 2003, he was awarded the Fellow of College of Family Physicians by the College of Family Physicians Singapore. In 2004, he obtained 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 from the

University of Chicago Booth School of Business The University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Chicago Booth or Booth) is the graduate business school of the University of Chicago. Founded in 1898, Chicago Booth is the second-oldest business school in the U.S. and is associated with 10 N ...

. In 2014, he became a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine Singapore.

Career

In 1992, at the age of 27, Tan founded Healthway Medical Group with a group of friends, through a bank loan of S$90,000 and an initial capital investment of S$5,000 from each of the initial stakeholders. As co-founder and chairman of the company, he grew the group to become the second largest private primary care group in Singapore. In 2004, he successfully divested the group to British United Provident Association Healthcare. In 2004, Tan joined Parkway Holdings as the

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

Mount Elizabeth Hospital Mount Elizabeth Hospital, known colloquially as Mount E, is a 345-bed private hospital in Singapore operated by Parkway Health. Construction began in 1976 and the hospital officially opened on 8 December 1979. The hospital specialises in cardi ...

and was eventually promoted to as the executive director of Pantai Holdings,

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Pantai Hospitals Division and the head of Malaysia operating division of Parkway until 2008. From 2010 to 2019, Tan was the group chief executive officer and managing director of Parkway Holdings and

Limited. From 2014 to 2019, he was also the chief executive officer and managing director of

BHD. During his tenures, some of his contributions included delisting Parkway Holdings in 2010 and relisting IHH Healthcare in 2012 into one of the largest initial public offerings in the world in 2012, expanding and growing the group from 15 hospitals in 2009 to 84 hospitals as of the end of 2019, leading the mergers and acquisitions of Acibadem Healthcare (Turkey), Fortis Healthcare (India), and multiple hospitals across Asia. Under his leadership, IHH Healthcare Berhad has won multiple awards, including the Best Managed and Best Overall Corporate Governance Poll awards by Asiamoney in 2016. In 2019, he retired from the position of group chief executive officer and managing director of Parkway Holdings and Parkway Pantai Limited. Over the years, Tan has held numerous ministerial advisory and medical committee appointments. For instance, since 2009, he has been a member of the board of trustees of the College of Family Physicians Singapore (CFPS). He also served in various capacities with CFPS Holdings Pte Ltd, including as its chairman from 2008 to 2010 and vice president from 2011 to 2013. In November 2013, he was appointed by the Ministry of Health as a member of the MediShield Life review committee. Moreover, he has maintained active involvement in academia through board memberships and appointments. From 2011 to 2019, he was adjunct assistant professor of Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore, Office of Education. He has also sat on the Advisory Board of

Lee Kong Chian School of Business The Lee Kong Chian School of Business is the business school of the Singapore Management University (SMU). Established in 2000, the school was the first to be established under the Singapore Management University's charter. It is a research-dr ...

Singapore Management University The Singapore Management University (SMU) is a public autonomous university in Singapore. The university is the only city campus in Singapore. It ranks third in Asia as a specialist university, behind Hong Kong University of Science and Techn ...

. Apart from the medical field, he has also contributed to the business scene. In 2012, Tan was appointed a council member of the Singapore-Guangdong Collaboration Council. The council aims to deepen Singapore's engagement with China's

Guangdong province Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

and benefit Singapore businesses through joint exploration of new opportunities in the region.

Political career

Tan made his political debut in the 2020 general election as part of a five-member PAP team contesting in

and won. Since 10 July 2020, he has been serving as the

(MP) representing the Marine Parade ward of Marine Parade GRC. He was subsequently appointed Second Minister for Trade and Industry and Minister for Manpower on 27 July 2020 and 15 May 2021 respectively. On 3rd Oct 2022, Tan See Leng, responding in Parliament to questions by 6 MPs on how the foreign workforce was complementing the local talent pipeline and how locals were getting fair consideration for jobs, replied that it is not a zero-sum game and that bringing in global talents create jobs for locals.

Volunteer experience

A passionate supporter of improving healthcare provision through innovations and private-public collaboration, Tan has guest-lectured at many international symposiums, including the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

's series on healthcare entrepreneurship. He has also previously provided advisory inputs as an expert panel member for the Department of Health,

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

in the United Kingdom. Since Tan retired in 2019, he has been active in the community. He acts as patron of WeCare Community Enabling Network in

and attends weekly

Meet-the-People sessions The Meet-the-People Sessions (MPS) is a series of one-to-one meetings between elected Members of the Singapore Parliament, Members of Parliament (MPs) and their constituents in Singapore. The sessions are usually held once a week at a local cons ...

at the Marine Parade constituency. He also actively reaches out to the Marine Parade community to connect with and understand them better. For example, Tan has set up and is helming a Caregivers Support Network in Marine Parade. This network aims to serve as “a conduit” that can facilitate help for caregivers of the sick and elderly, against the backdrop of an older demographic in Marine Parade.

Accolades

2004: Tan was awarded the Long Service Award from the People’s Association Singapore. 2007: Tan was awarded the prestigious College of Family Physicians Singapore Albert and Mary Lim Award, the highest accolade awarded for contribution and services rendered to the college and to the discipline of Family Medicine. This was in appreciation of his contribution to CFPS, where he successfully organised the 18th Wonca World Conference in Singapore, which netted CFPS a net profit of more than US$1.3 million. 2015: Named Asia Innovator of the Year at the 14th CNBC Asia Business Leaders Awards (ABLA) 2015 2016: Asiamoney Best Executive in Malaysia, Asiamoney best CEO in Investor Relations 2017: Won the ABLA Corporate Social Responsibility Award 2019: Singapore Medical Association Merit Award 2019

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tan, See Leng 1964 births Living people National University of Singapore alumni People from Singapore People's Action Party politicians Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean people of Teochew descent Members of the Parliament of Singapore Members of the Cabinet of Singapore Ministers for Manpower of Singapore