Chay Wai Chuen ( zh, s=谢惠泉, p=Xiè Huìquán; born 5 March 1950) is a Singaporean diplomat and former politician.Member's Profile Chay Wai Chuen
Parliament of Singapore 9 June 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2011. A former member of the governing

People's Action Party The People's Action Party (PAP) is a major Conservatism, conservative political party in Singapore and is the governing contemporary political party represented in the Parliament of Singapore, followed by the opposition Workers' Party of Singap ...

(PAP), he was the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Queenstown ward of Brickworks GRC between 1988 and 1997 and later

Tanjong Pagar GRC The Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in Central Region, Singapore, Central and West Region, Singapore, Western Singapore. The five divisions consists: Buona Vista, Telok Bl ...

between 1997 and 2006.

Early life and education

Born on 5 March 1950, Chay attended

St Joseph's Institution St. Joseph's Institution (SJI) is an independent Catholic educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1852 by the De La Salle Brothers, it is the first Catholic school and the third oldest school in the country. SJI has been offering a dual ...

before graduating from the University of Singapore (now the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

) with a

Bachelor of Social Science The Bachelor of Social Science (BSocSc or BSocSci) is an undergraduate degree. It typically requires three to four years of study in the social sciences at an institution of higher education, primarily found in the Commonwealth of Nations. It c ...

s with honours degree in

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

and

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

in 1973 and a

Master of Social Science A Master of Social Science (MSocSc, MSSc or MSS) is a master's degree which has a number of different meanings dependent upon the education system in question. Europe In Finland and Sweden, where the university degree nomenclatura is simply bas ...

s degree in 1978. He was also a Research Scholar in Economics at the University of Singapore between 1973 and 1974 and Council Member at the National University of Singapore between 2000 and 2004. He also completed a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in

development economics Development economics is a branch of economics that deals with economic aspects of the development process in low- and middle- income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural c ...

at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

in 1975 under the Commonwealth Scholarship. He graduated from the Singapore Command and Staff College in 1988 and attended the six-week Advanced Management Program at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

Career

Chay served as the

chief financial officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

and director of supply chain of NTUC Fairprice Co-operative Ltd, a food retailing chain, where he worked from 1996 to 2007. He was also the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of its subsidiary, Grocery Logistics of Singapore Pte Ltd.

Political career

Chay served as a Member of Parliament between 1988 and 2006 and was a member of the Public Accounts Committee between 1993 and 2006. During this period, he served as Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Communications and IT between 1997 and 2001 and Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport between 2002 and 2004. He was also Chairman of the Brickworks Town Council between 1991 and 1997 and later Tanjong Pagar Town Council between 2001 and 2004. He announced his retirement from politics on 11 April 2006.

Personal life

Chay is married to Agnes Tseng and they have two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chay, Wai Chuen 1950 births People's Action Party politicians Members of the Parliament of Singapore Living people National University of Singapore alumni Saint Joseph's Institution, Singapore alumni Singaporean diplomats High commissioners of Singapore to Sri Lanka Singaporean politicians of Chinese descent