Richard Hu Tsu Tau ( zh, s=胡赐道; 30 October 1926 – 8 September 2023) was a Singaporean politician who served as Minister for Finance between 1985 and 2001. A 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) for Kreta Ayer SMC between 1984 and 1997, and Kreta Ayer–Tanglin GRC between 1997 and 2001. Hu was Singapore's longest-serving finance minister and gave a record number of 16 Budget speeches. He served as chairman of the

Monetary Authority of Singapore The Monetary Authority of Singapore or (MAS), is the central bank and financial regulatory authority of Singapore. It administers the various statutes pertaining to money, banking, insurance, securities and the financial sector in general, as ...

between 1985 and 1997.

Early life and education

Hu was born in Singapore to , a physician, and Margaret Kwan Fu Shing. Through his father, he was related to the Singaporean American author Kevin Kwan. He was educated at the Anglo-Chinese School before graduating from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, in 1952 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

. He subsequently went on to complete a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

Career

Hu joined the

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...

Group of Companies in 1960 and rose to the position of chairman and chief executive in Singapore, where he served from 1977 to 1983. In 1983, Hu was appointed managing director of the

(MAS) and

Government of Singapore Investment Corporation GIC Private Limited is a Singaporean sovereign wealth fund that manages the country's foreign reserves. Established by the Government of Singapore in 1981 as the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, from which the acronym "GIC" is ...

(GIC), where he served until 1984 concurrently. He was chairman of the

from 1985 to 1997. Hu made his political debut in the 1984 general election as a

(PAP) candidate contesting in Kreta Ayer SMC and won. He was later appointed

Minister for Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

in 1985, where he served until 1987. He was also Minister for Finance from 1985 to 2001. He had also briefly served as Minister for National Development from 1992 to 1993. As Minister for Finance, Hu was known for his signature on the 'Ship' series of legal tender notes issued after his appointment. He introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 1993. As part of deregulation and reform of its financial and banking sectors, Hu oversaw the privatisation of the government-linked Post Office Savings Bank (POSB) and the sale of POSB to the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) in 1998. On 13 April 2004, Hu was appointed CapitaLand's chairman of the board, where he served until his retirement in 2012. He was also chairman of GIC Real Estate Pte Ltd and Asia Financial Holdings Pte Ltd, and director of the

(GIC) and Buildfolio.Com.Inc. Hu served as the

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

of the Singapore Management University from July 2002 to August 2010. Hu retired from GIC in 2012. In 2013, he was appointed senior advisor of the Fraser and Neave board.

Personal life

Hu was married to Irene Tan Dee Leng, with whom he had two children. He was of

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

Chinese ancestry. Hu died on 8 September 2023, at age 96.

References

External links

AIMR Conference Proceedings May 1996, Volume 1996 Issue 5
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hu, Richard 1926 births 2023 deaths Members of the Cabinet of Singapore Members of the Parliament of Singapore Finance ministers of Singapore Chairmen of the Monetary Authority of Singapore People's Action Party politicians Singaporean people of Hakka descent People from Yongding District, Longyan Singaporean politicians of Chinese descent Anglo-Chinese School alumni Alumni of the University of Birmingham Academics of the University of Manchester Ministers for health of Singapore