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

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 2001 and 2011 and

Cheng San GRC Cheng San Group Representation Constituency (Simplified Chinese: 静山集选区;Traditional Chinese: 靜山集選區) was a Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the North-eastern region in Singapore. The GRC consisted of the eastern part ...

representing Punggol East ward from 1997 to 2001. He previously served as Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs between 2006 and 2011 and the Mayor of North East District from 2001 to 2009. He has been serving as Singapore Ambassador to the

State of Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

and Special Envoy to the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

Education

Zainul attended Jalan Daud Primary School and

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 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 ...

where he majored in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

. He was also awarded the Gold Outstanding Young Singaporean Award in 1974.

Career

Journalistic career

Zainul Abidin was a journalist with Singapore Press Holdings between 1976 and 1996, working as an editor for the '' Asia News Bulletin,'' ''Berita Harian'' and ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'', and then Associate Editor of ''

The Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was established ...

'', before being seconded to the government sector.

Political career

Zainul Abidin first stood for the 1997 Singapore general elections under the

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) under

Cheng San Group Representation Constituency Cheng San Group Representation Constituency (Simplified Chinese: 静山集选区;Traditional Chinese: 靜山集選區) was a Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the North-eastern region in Singapore. The GRC consisted of the eastern part ...

(GRC), against the Workers' Party (WP), whose notable candidates were J. B. Jeyaratnam and

Tang Liang Hong Tang Liang Hong (; born 1935) is a politician and lawyer from Singapore. Tang stood as a candidate for the opposition Workers' Party in the Cheng San Group Representation Constituency at the 1997 general election. The Worker's Party team i ...

. The PAP won that constituency. Zainul Abidin was appointed Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1998 – 2001. Zainul Abidin later moved to

for the 2001 general elections where there is a walkover. He was then appointed Minister of State for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2004. He remained in Aljunied GRC for the 2006 general elections where the WP also contested in the ward. The PAP team won the elections with 56.09% of the votes. He was subsequently given a Senior Minister of State role in 2006 to 2011. He also held the post of Mayor of the Northeast Community Development Council from 2001 to 2008. In the 2011 general elections, Zainul Abidin was part of the PAP team which lost Aljunied GRC to the WP. In a post-election interview, he suggested that

Lee Kuan Yew Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean lawyer and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990, and Secretary-General o ...

's remarks on Malays, Muslims and integration in his book, ''Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going'', may have had some influence over the Malay votes, and "many were hurt by those remarks and remain so."

Corporate and public service appointments

Zainul Abidin was a member of the

Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura The Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS), also known as the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (IRCS), is a statutory board of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth of the Government of Singapore. As a majlis, its role is to look afte ...

(MUIS) from 1986 to 1988. He then served in Mendaki from 1990 to 1993. He has held various appointments, among them being: * Member of the National University of Singapore Council, * Member of the board of trustees, NTUC Healthcare Co-operative Ltd * Member of the Board of directors of Mendaki Holdings * Member of the RI Board of Governors * Advisor of the Singapore Port Workers Union * Ex-deputy Chairman of the Malay Heritage Foundation * Member of the National Medical Ethics Committee In September 2011, after the general elections, Zainul Abidin was appointed as the chairman SPH UnionWorks, owned by the Singapore Press Holdings, which operates two Singapore radio stations 91.3FM and 100.3FM. He was also named as the consultant of the book publishing arm SPH's book publishing arm, Straits Times Press (STP). Zainul Abidin also serves on the boards of various local and international companies including Chairman of Diamond Energy Corporation, deputy chairman, lead independent director of Australian-listed OM Holdings, Director of Mediacorp, Board Member of National Volunteer Philanthropy Centre and Director of Temasek Cares. He also serves as a corporate adviser to Temasek International.

Diplomatic career

On 27 October 2011, Zainul Abidin was appointed non-resident Ambassador to Kuwait and a special envoy of the

Minister for Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between coun ...

to the Middle East.

Personal life

Zainul Abidin is married and has 3 sons and a daughter.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Zainul Abidin Bin Mohamed 1948 births Living people Singaporean people of Malay descent Singaporean Muslims People's Action Party politicians Members of the Parliament of Singapore Raffles Institution alumni National University of Singapore alumni