Chia Shi-Lu ( zh, s=谢世儒, p=Xiè Shìrú; born 13 October 1971) is a Singaporean medical practitioner and former politician. 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) a ...

, he served as

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 Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

Tanjong Pagar GRC The Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in Central and Western Singapore. The five divisions consists: Buona Vista, Queenstown, Moulmein-Cairnhill, Tanjong Pagar-Tiong Bahru ...

for Queenstown from 7 May 2011 to 23 June 2020.

Early life

Chia was born on 13 October 1971 to a middle-class family and is the older of two brothers. He studied in

Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) (ACS(I)) is an independent Methodist secondary school in Dover, Singapore. Founded in 1886 by Reverend William Fitzjames Oldham, it was recognised as an International Baccalaureate World School in 2005, and ...

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-yea ...

. In 1990, Chia received the

President's Scholar A President's Scholar is a recipient of the academic scholarship awarded by the Government of Singapore annually, to pursue undergraduate education at a university, usually abroad. The scholarship is considered to be the most prestigious public ...

ship to study medicine 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 th ...

; he graduated in 1995.

Career

After graduating, Chia worked overseas in Switzerland, Japan, London and Boston. He joined the

Singapore General Hospital Singapore General Hospital (SGH) is an academic health science centre and tertiary referral hospital in Singapore. It is located next to the Bukit Merah and Chinatown districts of the Central Region, close to the Outram Community Hospital ...

in 2001 and received his qualifications in surgery and orthopedics in 2000 and 2003 respectively. He is also an associate professor at Duke-NUS.

Political career

Chia joined the People's Action Party in 2009. In the

2011 Singaporean general election General elections were held in Singapore on 7 May 2011. President S. R. Nathan dissolved parliament on 19 April 2011 on the advice of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Voting is mandatory in Singapore and is based on the first-past-the-post sy ...

, Chia was fielded as a replacement candidate for

Baey Yam Keng Baey Yam Keng ( zh, s=马炎庆, p=Mǎ Yánqìng; born 31 August 1970) is a Singaporean politician who has been serving as Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and the Environment since 2022 and Senior Parliamentary Secretary for T ...

in the PAP team contesting

; Baey had to replace Steve Tan who dropped out of the election due to personal reasons. The team won by walkover. In the 2015 election, the team successfully defended their constituency against

Singaporeans First Singaporeans First (SingFirst) was a political party in Singapore founded on 25 May 2014 but was dissolved on 25 June 2020. History and political development Formation and contests In 2011, Tan Jee Say, a former civil servant, was known for ...

. In 2014, Chia succeeded

Lam Pin Min Lam Pin Min (; born 1 September 1969) is a Singaporean ophthalmologist and politician and who served as Senior Minister of State for Health and Senior Minister of State for Transport between 2017 and 2020. A member of the governing People's Act ...

as Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health. On 12 April 2020, Chia made a Facebook post detailing his trip to

Alexandra Village Hawker Centre Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "pro ...

to distribute masks amidst the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore The COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first case in :Singapore was confirmed on 23 January 2020. Early cases ...

. He was criticised for apparently violating the ''circuit breaker'' (

stay-at-home order A stay-at-home order, safer-at-home order, movement control order (more common in Southeast Asia), or lockdown restrictions (in the United Kingdom) – also referred to by loose use of the terms (self-) quarantine, (self-) isolation, or lockdow ...

) to campaign. Chia defended himself, stating that he was there to educate the public to wear masks. The PAP announced that it was suspending all ground engagement activities the next day. Chia did not contest in the

2020 general election The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2020. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems maintains a comprehensive list of upcoming elections on its E-Guide Platform. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calend ...

, and hence stepped down as MP.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chia, Shi-Lu People's Action Party politicians Alumni of Imperial College London Anglo-Chinese School alumni 1971 births Alumni of the University of London Singaporean orthopedic surgeons National University of Singapore alumni National Junior College alumni Members of the Parliament of Singapore Living people