Lim Chuan Poh

Lim Chuan Poh
Lim Chuan Poh
Simplified Chinese	林泉宝
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Lín Quánbǎo

Lim Chuan Poh
Lim Chuan Poh
Singapore Ambassador to Israel
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 19 January 2021
Personal details
Born	1961 (age 62–63); Singapore
Alma mater	St John’s College, Cambridge; Cornell University
Awards	See awards
Military service
Allegiance	Singapore
Branch/service	Singapore Army
Years of service	1979–2003
Rank	Lieutenant-General
Commands	Chief 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 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

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

Public Administration Medal (Gold) (Military), in 1999.
Commander of the Legion of Merit, in 1999 and 2001.
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the White Elephant, in 2001.
Bintang Yudha Dharma Utama (The Grand Meritorious Military Order – 1st Class), in 2001.
Meritorious Service Medal (Military), in 2003.
Honorary Doctor of Science, by Loughborough University in 2008.
Honorary Doctor of Laws, by Monash University in 2009.
Fellowship of Imperial College, in 2010.
Fellowship under the Invitation Programme for Leaders, by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2010.
Honorary Doctor of Laws, by the Arizona State University in 2012.

^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b "Changes of Chief of Army and Chief of Air Force". MINDEF. 3 April 1998. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
^ ^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.
^ "Change of Chief of Defence Force and Service Chiefs". MINDEF. 6 February 2003. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
^ 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

[Changes_of_Chief_of_Army_and_Chief_of_Air_Force-1] "Changes of Chief of Army and Chief of Air Force". MINDEF. 3 April 1998. Retrieved 22 September 2013.

[A*-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.

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