Leon Perera

Leon Perera is a Singaporean politician and is a member of the Workers' Party (WP). He co-founded and is the CEO of Spire Research and Consulting, an international business research and consulting agency. He is a member of the Economic Society of Singapore, the EDB Society and the Singapore Institute of Directors.[1]

The Right Honourable

Leon Perera

NCMP
贝理安
Non-constituency Member of the 13th Parliament of Singapore
In office
16 September 2015 – 23 June 2020
Personal details
Born
Leon Perera
CitizenshipSingapore
NationalitySingaporean
Political partyWorkers' Party
Children2
EducationDouble First Class degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics
Alma materExeter College, Oxford
OccupationCEO of Spire Group

Education and early career

Perera studied at Anglo-Chinese School, Hwa Chong Junior College, and obtained a Double First Class Honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University.[2]

Perera began his career as a Senior Officer with the Singapore Economic Development Board’s International Business Development Division, serving first in the policy planning function supporting Singapore’s regional investments. He later served as Assistant Head in the EDB’s Enterprise Development Division, assisting in the growth of large Singaporean companies in the service sector spanning logistics, education and health care, to information technology (IT) services, engineering and retail.[3]

Political career

Prior to contesting in elections, Perera was a WP grassroots activist at Aljunied Group Representation Constituency's (GRC) Paya Lebar division.[4]

At the 2015 Singapore general election, Perera contested as a member of the WP team for the East Coast GRC alongside A/Prof Daniel Goh, Gerald Giam, and Mohamed Fairoz Bin Shariff. His team received 39.27% of the votes cast, with the People's Action Party garnering 60.73% of votes to win the GRC. The WP East Coast GRC team was the best performing opposition team among and one of the team members was thus eligible to take up the Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seat. The Workers' Party nominated Perera to be an NCMP for Singapore's 13th Parliament.

NCMP term

Following the Hepatitis C outbreak at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) in October 2015 which contributed to the deaths of five patients, Perera called on the government to convene a Committee of Inquiry (COI) to help "restore confidence" in Singapore's public health institutions.[5] He also requested that the names of SGH and Ministry of Health staff responsible for the outbreak be released, and questioned what penalties or warnings were imposed on these staff.

On the debate over 'Fake News Laws', Perera highlighted how the proposed tool "is a cure worse than the disease" as too much power is given to individual Ministers and the potential for the law to stifle free speech.[6]

Political offices
Parliament of Singapore
Preceded by
Gerald Giam		 Non-Constituency Member of Parliament
2016 - present
Served alongside: Dennis Tan, Daniel Goh		 Incumbent

2020 General Election

Perera will be contesting Aljunied GRC (Paya Lebar Division) in the 2020 Singapore general election, taking over from Chen Show Mao.[7]

Personal life

Perera is married, and has a daughter and a son.[8]

References
  1. "WP potential candidates make appearance at public event". Retrieved 2015-09-01.
  2. "Leon Perera CV - Parliament of Singapore". Parliament of Singapore. Retrieved 2017-04-02.
  3. "Leon Perera | Spire Research and Consulting". www.spireresearch.com. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
  4. "Leon Perera CV - Parliament of Singapore" (PDF). Parliament of Singapore. Retrieved 2017-04-02.
  5. "SGH Hep C cluster: WP reiterates call for COI to be formed". Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved 2017-04-02.
  6. "Fake news law is 'a cure worse than the disease' - WP NCMP Leon Perera". The Online Citizen. 2019-05-09. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  7. hermesauto (2020-06-26). "Singapore GE2020: Workers' Party confirms Aljunied GRC slate, introduces second batch of candidates". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  8. "Leon Perera | The Workers' Party". www.wp.sg. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
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