Tony Tan Keng Yam DUT GCB (Chinese: 陈庆炎; pinyin: Chén Qìngyán; born 7 February 1940) is a Singaporean banker and politician who served as the seventh president of Singapore from 2011 to 2017.

[3] He subsequently went on to complete a Master of Science degree in operations research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, under the Asia Foundation Scholarship.

[8] Tan was appointed as Deputy Chairman and Executive Director of GIC, the country's sovereign wealth fund, following his second retirement from Cabinet in 2005.

As the Minister for Education, Tan scrapped a policy that favoured children of more well-educated mothers ahead of children of less-educated mothers in primary school placement in response to popular discontent and public criticism of the policy which saw PAP receiving the lowest votes since independence during the 1984 general election.

[3] Tan espoused a cut in the Central Provident Fund (CPF) in the 1980s, which Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew had said would not be allowed except "in an economic crisis".

[19] As Minister for Trade and Industry, Tan was concerned about investors' reactions to a perceived deterioration of labour relations and the impact on foreign direct investment.

[19] In his analysis, historian Michael Barr explains that older [grassroots] union leaders bore "increasing disquiet" at their exclusion from consultation in NTUC's policies, which were effectively managed by "technocrats" in the government.

Unlike the previous NTUC secretary-general Lim Chee Onn, Lee Kuan Yew's protégé Ong Teng Cheong in 1983 had an "implicit pact" with the trade unions—involving grassroots leaders in top decisions and "working actively and forcefully" in the interests of the unions "in a way Lim had never seen to do"—in exchange for the unions' continued "cooperation on the government's core industrial relations strategies".

)[20] Although striking was prohibited and trade unions were barred from negotiating such matters as promotion, transfer, employment, dismissal, retrenchment, and reinstatement, issues that "accounted for most earlier labour disputes", the government provided measures for workers' safety and welfare, and serious union disputes with employers were almost always handled through the Industrial Arbitration Court, which had powers of both binding arbitration and voluntary mediation.

"[22] However the fact that the strike only lasted two days before "all the issues were settled" was cited by Ong in a 2000 interview with Asiaweek as proof that "management was just trying to pull a fast one".

Tan held the view that the local construction industry was overheated at the time, and public housing should take priority.

[3] He later persuaded Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan to abandon plans to demolish an old mosque in his constituency of Sembawang.

[30] Tan joined other dissenting colleagues in opposing the implementation of Integrated Resorts (IRs) with their attached casinos to Singapore.

[33] As deputy prime minister, Tan was instrumental in the establishment of the Singapore Management University (SMU) and shaped its direction and early history.

[8] On 22 December 2010, Tan announced that he would step down from his government-linked positions at GIC and SPH to run for the office of President of Singapore.

[44][45] Tan also noted that he had served as Minister for Defence from 1995 to 2003, while Patrick Tan said that it was in 1988 that he been permitted by the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) to disrupt his NS for premedical studies in Harvard University,[46] where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and chemistry, and an MD-PhD program at Stanford University under the President's Scholarship and Loke Cheng Kim Scholarship.

[48] In response to a question in Parliament on the subject of deferments, Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen stated on 20 October 2011 that Patrick Tan had not been given any special treatment.

[49] Describing himself as "Tested, Trusted, True", Tan said his past experiences will help him steer Singapore through the financial uncertainty lying ahead.

[50] During the Nomination Day on 17 August 2011, Tan unveiled his election symbol—a pair of black glasses which resembles the trademark spectacles he has steadfastly worn for years.

He added that the temptation to make populist decisions was affecting the presidential election, "with some candidates appealing to the public in ways that could go beyond the parameters of the Singapore's Constitution".

Speaking in English, Chinese and Malay, Tan said,[68] "Some people argue that the president must take a public stand on current issues.

[69] An example of this, he said, was the way that he had expanded Singapore's President's Challenge charity event to go beyond fund-raising to promote volunteerism and social entrepreneurship.

[81] On 21 November 2017, GIC, the country's sovereign wealth fund, announced that Tan will be appointed Director and Special Advisor from 1 January 2018.

[86] In 2005, Tan was presented the NUS Eminent Alumni Award in recognition of his role as a visionary architect of Singapore's university sector.

[89] In 2014, Tan was conferred an honorary doctorate by his alma mater, the University of Adelaide, for his "long record of outstanding achievements both as a leader in the Singapore government and in the business sectors.