New chairman for Public Service Commission from Aug 1
Mr Lee Tzu Yang (left), the current deputy chairman of the PSC, will take over as Mr Eddie Teo (right) as chairman from Aug 1.
SINGAPORE — After 48 years of public service, Public Service Commission (PSC) chairman Eddie Teo will retire on July 31. Mr Lee Tzu Yang, the current deputy chairman of the PSC, will take over as chairman from Aug 1.
In a statement on Friday (July 13), the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) announced the retirement of Mr Teo, who is concurrently the chairman of the Presidential council for religious harmony, the Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship Fund, The Lee Kuan Yew Exchange Fellowship, the Dr Goh Keng Swee Scholarship Fund, the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies Board of Governors, as well as a member of the Legal Service Commission.
The 71-year-old, a former President's Scholar, started his career in the public service in 1970 in the Security and Intelligence Division (SID), where he rose to become director in 1979.
Besides holding that post till 1994, he was concurrently director of the Internal Security department between 1982 to 1986, becoming the only person in Singapore to have had concurrently headed both of Singapore's external and internal intelligence organisations.
Mr Teo, a Philosophy, Politics and Economics graduate from Oxford University, went on to hold Permanent Secretary appointments from 1994 to 2000 in defence, and from 1998 to 2005 in the PMO. After his retirement from the administrative service, he was high commissioner to Australia from 2006 to 2008 before assuming the role of PSC chairman on Aug 1, 2008.
In his decade serving in the PSC, he championed greater diversity in the public service leadership. During his tenure as chairman, the PSC awarded scholarships to more recipients from different backgrounds and schools, and the President's Scholarship was extended to a wider pool of applicants.
In 2011 and 2017, Mr Teo also chaired the Presidential Elections committee, and served as a member of the Constitutional Commission on the Elected Presidency in 2016.
In a letter thanking Mr Teo for his nearly half century of service in public service, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said: "Your able leadership of the Commission has contributed to the Singapore Public Service's continued high international standing. It has been my privilege to work closely with you over more than three decades."
PM Lee added Mr Teo "exemplif(ies) the best traditions" of the public service and has done the Republic proud.
For his contributions, Mr Teo was awarded The Order of Nila Utama First Class in November 2017. He was also a recipient of the Public Service Administration Medal (Gold) in 1983, the Meritorious Service Medal in 1997, and the Distinguished Service Order in 2006.
He will be succeeded by Mr Lee Tzu Yang. Mr Lee was chairman of Shell companies from 1979 to 2014, and is currently a member of the Council of Presidential Advisers and the Legal Service Commission of Singapore.
