Wee Kim Wee

Wee Kim Wee GCB (; 4 November 1915 – 2 May 2005) was the fourth President of Singapore from 2 September 1985 to 1 September 1993.

Early life

Born into a humble family, Wee Kim Wee was the son of a clerk, Wee Choong Lay and his wife Chua Lay Hua. His father died when he was eight. Wee studied at Outram School, and he started out as a clerk working for The Straits Times, before becoming a reporter focusing on political issues. He eventually became one of the paper's main reporters. In 1941 he joined the United Press Associations, and was its chief correspondent in the 1950s. He returned to The Straits Times in 1959, and was appointed deputy editor in Singapore. In 1966, he interviewed the former Indonesian president, General Suharto, reporting Suharto's intention to end the three-year confrontation with Malaysia (see Konfrontasi). He broke the news with a front-page headline using Suharto's own words: "Suharto: 'Peace: The sooner the better'" .

Later career

Wee was editorial manager when he retired in 1973 to become the High Commissioner to Malaysia, a position he held for seven years. He was appointed ambassador to Japan in September 1980, and to South Korea in February 1981. At the end of his diplomatic career in 1984, he was appointed chairman of the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation – the predecessor of the current MediaCorp Studios – and became president a year later.

Presidency

Up until Wee's second term as President, the...
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