Melvin Yong

The Honourable Melvin Yong
杨益财
Yong in 2015
Member of Parliament for Radin Mas SMC
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 July 2020
Preceded by	Sam Tan
Majority	10,929 (48.06%)
Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC (Moulmein–Cairnhill)
In office 11 September 2015 – 23 June 2020
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Alvin Tan
Personal details
Born	1972 (age 51–52)[1] Singapore
Political party	People's Action Party
Children	2
Alma mater	Nanyang Technological University (BAcy) University of Leicester (MS)
Occupation	Politician trade unionist police officer
Police career
Department	Singapore Police Force
Service years	1995–2015
Rank	Assistant Commissioner

In this Chinese name, the family name is Yong.

Melvin Yong Yik Chye (Chinese: 杨益财; pinyin: Yáng Yìcái; born 1972)^[1] is a Singaporean politician, union leader and former police officer. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing Radin Mas SMC since 2020 and previously the Moulmein–Cairnhill division of Tanjong Pagar GRC between 2015 and 2020.^[1]

Prior to entering politics, Yong had served in the Singapore Police Force (SPF) between 1995 and 2015. He is currently an assistant secretary-general and director at the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), as well as the executive secretary of the National Transport Workers' Union and United Workers of Electronics & Electrical Industries.

Education

Yong attended The Chinese High School and National Junior College^[2] before he was awarded a scholarship from the Singapore Police Force in 1992 to study at Nanyang Technological University, from which he graduated in 1995 with a Bachelor of Accountancy degree.^[2]

He subsequently went on to complete a Master of Science degree in criminal justice at the University of Leicester in 2005.^[2]

Police career

Yong started his career in the Singapore Police Force (SPF) in 1995 and retired in 2015 with the rank of Assistant Commissioner. During his service, he held various key appointments, including Deputy Director (Planning & Organisation), Director (Administration & Finance), Commander of Clementi Police Division, Deputy Director (Operations), and Director (Public Affairs).^[2]

In 2011, Yong started the Delta League, a youth engagement programme using football to keep youths out of trouble during the June and December school holidays. In 2015, he was appointed as special adviser to the Delta League and continues to provide guidance on the development of the league.^[3]

Yong also served on the National Crime Prevention Council and the National Police Cadet Corps Council. He was also Vice Chairman of the Police Sports Association, and Vice Chairman of the POLWEL Cooperative Society.^[4]

Political career

On 19 August 2015, Yong was introduced as one of the People's Action Party (PAP) candidates to be fielded in Tanjong Pagar GRC during the 2015 general election. On 11 September 2015, the PAP team for Tanjong Pagar GRC consisting of Chan Chun Sing, Indranee Rajah, Chia Shi-Lu, Joan Pereira and Yong won with 77.7% of the total votes.^[5]

On 7 October 2015, Yong was appointed chairman of the Tanjong Pagar Town Council and an advisor to the Radin Mas Grassroots Organisation.^[6]

As a trade union-affiliated Member of Parliament, Yong delivered his maiden parliamentary speech at the debate on the President's address, focusing on the importance of tripartism as Singapore's key economic advantage.^[7]

Yong is the Vice Chairman of the Transport Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) and in 2023, he seats as the Chairperson on the Social and Family Development GPC.^[8]

Other career

Yong became a People's Association grassroots leader in 2002 when he joined the newly formed Punggol Cove Residents’ Committee as a member. He later became the committee's chairman from 2005 to 2008 before stepping down to take on appointments in the Punggol North Citizens' Consultative Committee (CCC). Yong was the CCC's treasurer and secretary between 2008 and 2015.^[9]

In September 2015, Yong joined the National Trades Union Congress as Director of Industrial Relations Field.^[10]

On 1 January 2016, Yong joined the United Workers of Electronics & Electrical Industries as its deputy executive secretary^[11] and subsequently took over from Heng Chee How as the executive secretary on 1 June 2016. In 2018, Yong was elected president of the IndustriALL Singapore Council.^[12]

Yong was appointed a Member of the National Wages Council since 2016.^[13]

After a spate of lift breakdowns in late 2016, Yong wrote on the struggles of lift technicians in Singapore on the NTUC's blog Labourbeat.^[14] He subsequently became the chairman of the Lift & Escalator Sectoral Tripartite Committee^[15] to work on a Manpower Development Plan for the lift and escalator industry.

On 1 September 2017, Yong was appointed a board member of the Land Transport Authority.^[16]

Yong, along with Desmond Choo, were appointed as assistant secretaries-general of the National Trades Union Congress on 1 April 2018.^[17]

Yong was elected to the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) Central Committee in June 2018 and was subsequently elected as Vice President in November 2019.^{[citation needed]} He was later elected President of CASE on 11 June 2021, taking over from Lim Biow Chuan who was President of CASE since 2012.^[18]

In September 2021, Yong shared that CASE would be working with major online marketplaces to establish a standardised dispute management framework under which consumer complaints could be resolved fast and equitably.^[19] The framework was jointly launched by Yong and Minister for Trade and Industry, Gan Kim Yong, on 26 November 2021 at a conference which also marked CASE’s 50th anniversary.^[20] As at September 2023, Lazada and Shopee are adopters of the framework and committed to dispute resolution.^[21]

Yong has also advocated for stronger consumer safeguards against unfair practices such as misleading and false claims and pressure sales tactics by calling for more powers to be granted to the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore to impose financial penalties and for a mandatory cooling-off period for beauty-related contracts.^[22]

Following the increasing popularity of buy now, pay later (BNPL) services among consumers in Singapore, Yong called for limits to be set on both consumers and BNPL service providers, where consumers could set purchase limits for themselves and where there is a limit on the maximum quantum that BNPL providers can levy on consumers in the event of defaults.^[23]

Personal life

Yong is married and has two children with his wife Connie.^[4]

References

1. "MP | Parliament Of Singapore". www.parliament.gov.sg.
2. "MELVIN YONG YIK CHYE 杨益财" (PDF). Parliament of Singapore.
3. "Delta League" (PDF). National Crime Prevention Council. 2013.
4. "MELVIN YONG YIK CHYE" (PDF). PAP. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
5. "New MP and Aljunied candidate take up senior posts at NTUC". The Straits Times. 22 September 2015.
6. "Tanjong Pagar Town Council Annual Report 2015/2016" (PDF). Tanjong Pagar Town Council. 21 October 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2018. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
7. "Speech by Melvin Yong (MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC) at the Debate on President's Address on 25 January 2016". Melvin Yong's Facebook. 2016.
8. "Melvin Yong to chair the Social and Family Development Government Parliamentary Committee". People's Action Party. 4 August 2023.
9. "MELVIN YONG YIK CHYE CV" (PDF).
10. "Opening of Singapore's Parliament: Who are the new MPs making their debut?". AsiaOne. 15 January 2016.
11. "New MP and Aljunied candidate take up senior posts at NTUC". The Straits Times. 22 September 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
12. "How Singapore is Tackling the Fourth Industrial Revolution".
13. "National Wages Council". Singapore Tripartism Forum.
14. "Melvin Yong: Uplifting the Lift Industry - LabourBeat". LabourBeat. 7 October 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2018.
15. "First Lift & Escalator Sectoral Tripartite Committee (STC) meeting". Facebook. 20 March 2017.
16. "6 new members appointed to board of Land Transport Authority". The Straits Times. 31 August 2017.
17. "Melvin Yong and Desmond Choo to move up as NTUC assistant secretaries-general". The Straits Times. 23 February 2018.
18. Tan, Adeline (11 June 2021). "Melvin Yong takes over as Case president from Lim Biow Chuan". The Straits Times. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
19. Tan, Adeline (30 September 2021). "Consumer watchdog Case set to better shield online shoppers, deter unfair practices: Melvin Yong". The Straits Times. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
20. Kurohi, Rei (26 November 2021). "Consumer watchdog Case launches dispute management framework for e-marketplaces". The Straits Times. ISSN 0585-3923. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
21. "Shopee to process refunds, return requests within average of 2.5 working days". CNA. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
22. "Committee of Supply 2022 debate, Day 2: Melvin Yong on protection for consumers". CNA. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
23. "Case calls for stronger safeguards for BNPL consumers including recourse avenues, advertisement regulation". Business Times. 24 June 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2023.

External links

• Melvin Yong on Parliament of Singapore

Parliament of Singapore
Preceded by Lui Tuck Yew as MP for Moulmein–Kallang GRC (Moulmein)	Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC (Moulmein–Cairnhill) 2015 – 2020	Succeeded by Alvin Tan
Preceded by Sam Tan	Member of Parliament for Radin Mas SMC 2020 – present	Incumbent