Yaacob Ibrahim

Yaacob Ibrahim
Yaacob Ibrahim
Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 May 2011
Preceded by	Lui Tuck Yew
Minister for the Environment and Water Resources
In office 12 August 2004 – 20 May 2011
Preceded by	Lim Swee Say
Succeeded by	Vivian Balakrishnan
Personal details
Born	October 3, 1955 (1955-10-03) Singapore
Political party	People's Action Party
Alma mater	University of Singapore, Stanford University

This is a Malay name; the name Ibrahim is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Yaacob.

Yaacob bin Ibrahim (born 3 October 1955) is a politician from Singapore. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he is currently the country's Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs. A Member of Parliament (MP) since 1997, he was the Minister for Community Development and Sports from 2003 to 2004, and as the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources from 2004 to 2011.

Personal life

Yaacob's wife is a US citizen who grew up in Puerto Rico. This confers dual citizenship on his two children up to the age of 18.

Yaacob was a youth member of Muslim Missionary Society of Singapore (Jamiyah). Initially a volunteer tutor, became the Chairman of the Council for the Development of Singapore Muslim Community (Yayasan Mendaki) in March 2002. He was a member of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) from 1992 to 1996, and is on the Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP).

Education and early career

Yaacob graduated from the University of Singapore with an honours degree in civil engineering in 1980 and in 1989 obtained a PhD from Stanford University. He was a postdoc at Cornell University. He returned to Singapore in 1990 and joined the National University of Singapore faculty in 1991. He received his department's teaching excellence award in 1994.

Political career

A Member of Parliament since 1997, he represented the Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency (GRC) (1997-2011) and the Moulmein-Kallang GRC since the 2011 general election. Within both GRCs, he has been responsible for the Kolam Ayer ward. In April 2001 he became the first Mayor of Central District of Singapore until November 2001.

Yaacob was Parliamentary Secretary and Senior Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. He became a Minister of State for at the Ministry of Community Development and Sports in November 2001. In March 2002, Yaacob became the Acting Minister for Community Development and Sports and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs and made a full member of the Cabinet in May 2003. He became the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources in 2004.

In May 2011, in a cabinet rearrangement, he became Minister for Information, Communication and the Arts. He continues to serve as the Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs. Yaacob is on the powerful PAP Central Executive Committee as Vice-Chairman. In November 2011, Yaacob proposed the creation of an "online code of conduct" for guiding proper online behaviour.

External links

• Profile of Yaacob Ibrahim at cabinet.gov.sg

Political offices
Preceded by Abdullah Tarmugi	Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs 2002 – present	Incumbent
	Minister for Community Development and Sports 2003–2004	Succeeded by Vivian Balakrishnan
Preceded by Lim Swee Say	Minister for the Environment and Water Resources 2004-2011	Succeeded by Vivian Balakrishnan
Preceded by Lui Tuck Yew	Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts 2011-present	Incumbent