Desmond Choo

Desmond Choo MP
朱倍庆
Member of Parliament for Tampines GRC (Tampines Changkat)
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 September 2015
Preceded by	Irene Ng Phek Hoong
Personal details
Born	1978 Singapore
Nationality	Singapore
Political party	People's Action Party
Spouse(s)	Pamela Lee (m. 2011)
Children	Sarah (b. 2015)
Education	Ai Tong Primary School
Alma mater	University of Chicago

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Choo.

Desmond Choo Pey Ching (simplified Chinese: 朱倍庆; traditional Chinese: 朱倍慶; pinyin: Zhū Béi Qìng) is a Singaporean politician and Director (Progressive Wage Model) of the Industrial Relations Department, and concurrently Director of the Youth Development Unit at the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC). He is also the Executive Secretary of the Attractions, Resorts and Entertainment Union (AREU) and Union of Telecoms Employees of Singapore (UTES).

Choo stood as a candidate for Singapore's governing People's Action Party (PAP) at the 2011 general election in the single-member constituency of Hougang, where he was defeated by Yaw Shin Leong of the Workers' Party by 14,850 votes (64.8%) to 8,065 (35.2%). (The constituency had previously been represented in Parliament by the Workers' Party's leader, Low Thia Khiang, from 1991 to 2011.) After Yaw was expelled from the Workers' Party and lost his seat in Parliament in 2012, the PAP announced that Choo would be the party's candidate in the 2012 Hougang by-election. He was defeated in the by-election by Png Eng Huat of the Workers' Party by 13,460 votes (62.1%) to 8,223 (37.9%).

Career

Choo began his career in the Singapore Police Force, where he served for 13 years in various roles including Commanding Officer of the Woodlands Neighbourhood Police Centre, Head of the Special Investigation Section and Deputy Commander of the Clementi Police Division. He also served a period on secondment to the Ministry of Manpower, where he was the Deputy Director of the Foreign Workforce Policy Department and was also a bodyguard assistant for the swearing-in of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and other new cabinet ministers at the Istana on 12 August 2004.[5]

Choo left the Singapore Police Force to join the NTUC in 2010. After initially serving as the Deputy Director of the NTUC's Youth Development Unit, he later became Deputy Director of the Industrial Relations Unit. He also previously served as the Executive Secretary of the Union of Security Employees and the Singapore Shell Employees Union.

After a stint in 2013 in the private sector with Kestrel Capital Pte Ltd, an investment firm, Desmond rejoined NTUC in April 2014. The 37-year-old is now a Director of Youth Development at NTUC, Director (Progressive Wage Model) of Industrial Relations and also the Executive Secretary of the Attractions, Resorts and Entertainment Union (AREU) and the Union of Telecoms Employees of Singapore (UTES).

Education

Choo was educated at Ai Tong School, Catholic High School and National Junior College, before being awarded a Singapore Police Force Overseas Merit Scholarship to study Economics at the University of Chicago.

Personal life

Choo married in July 2011.

Choo's uncle, Choo Wee Khiang, was a PAP Member of Parliament from 1988 to 1999.