Lim Chuan Poh

Lim Chuan Poh
Singapore Ambassador to Israel
Assumed office
19 January 2021
Personal details
Born1961 (age 62–63)
Singapore
Alma materSt John’s College, Cambridge
Cornell University
AwardsSee awards
Military service
Allegiance Singapore
Branch/service Singapore Army
Years of service1979–2003
RankLieutenant-General
CommandsChief of Defence Force
Chief of Army
Chief of Staff, General Staff
Head, Joint Plans Department
Commander, 9th Division
Commander, 10th Singapore Infantry Brigade
Commanding Officer, 3rd Singapore Infantry Regiment
Lim Chuan Poh
Simplified Chinese林泉宝
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLín Quánbǎo

Lim Chuan Poh is a Singaporean civil servant, diplomat and former lieutenant-general who is currently the Singaporean Ambassador to Israel. He previously served as the Chief of Defence Force between 2000 and 2003. After leaving the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in 2003, Lim served as Permanent Secretary for Education until 2007 before serving as Chairman of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. After his retirement in 2019, Lim was appointed Chairman of the Singapore Food Agency.

Education

Upon his graduation from Raffles Institution, Lim was awarded the Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship in 1980.

Lim graduated from St John's College, Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts (later promoted to Master of Arts by seniority) degree in mathematics.

He subsequently attended Camberley Staff College in 1988 and graduated with the Best Overseas Student Award.

Lim also completed a Master of Business Administration degree at Cornell University in 1993 and has attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 2003.[1][2]

Military career

Lim enlisted in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in December 1979.

Throughout his military career, Lim has held various appointments; Commanding Officer, 3rd Singapore Infantry Regiment; Commander, 10th Singapore Infantry Brigade; Head, Joint Plans Department; Commander, 9th Division; Chief of Staff (General Staff); Chief of Army.

On 1 April 2000, Lim succeeded Bey Soo Khiang as Chief of Defence Force, and was promoted from Major-General to Lieutenant-General in June 2001.[1][2]

Lim retired from the SAF on 1 April 2003 and was succeeded by Ng Yat Chung as Chief of Defence Force.[3]

Civil Service career

Lim presenting credentials to President of Israel Isaac Herzog in April 2022 in Israel as Singapore's Non-Resident Ambassador to Israel

After leaving the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), Lim served as Permanent Secretary for Education (MOE) between 2003 and 2007. During his tenure as Permanent Secretary for Education, Lim had overseen the transformation of the publicly funded universities into autonomous universities and reviewed the university research framework to help those universities develop into research-intensive ones. He also guided the establishment of the Duke-NUS Medical School.[2]

Lim served as Chairman of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), a statutory board under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, between 2007 and 2019.[2]

He is Chairman of the National Infocomm Security Committee and Chairman of Governing Board of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

Lim is also a member of various other organisations; NTU, Biomedical Research Council at A*STAR, National Research Foundation, Science and Technology in Society (STS) [ja], and the World Premier International Initiative Programme Assessment and Review Committee in Japan.[2]

Lim was appointed Non-Resident Ambassador to the State of Israel on 19 January 2021.[4]

Awards

[2]

References

  1. ^ a b "Changes of Chief of Army and Chief of Air Force". MINDEF. 3 April 1998. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Mr Lim Chuan Poh biography". A* Agency for Science, Technology and Research. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  3. ^ "Change of Chief of Defence Force and Service Chiefs". MINDEF. 6 February 2003. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  4. ^ Ng, Wei Kai (19 January 2021). "Singapore appoints two new ambassadors to Vietnam and Israel". The Straits Times. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
Military offices
Preceded by
Lieutenant-General Bey Soo Khiang
4th Chief of Defence Force
1 April 2000 - 1 April 2003
Succeeded by
Major-General Ng Yat Chung
Preceded by
Major-General Han Eng Juan
Chief of the Singapore Army
1 July 1998 – 1 April 2000
Succeeded by
Brigadier-General Ng Yat Chung