Education
Lee was educated at Queenstown Secondary Technical School and Raffles Institution, before being awarded a President"s Scholarship to study at Imperial College London where he completed a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Chemical Engineering. He subsequently completed a Diploma in Business Administration at the University of Singapore.
Career
Lee worked at Singapore"s Economic Development Board from 1969 to 1980, initially as a projects officer before becoming Divisional Director (Industry). From 1980 to 1981, he served as Deputy Managing Director of the Petroleum Corporation of Singapore. Political career Lee was first elected to Parliament at the 1980 general election.
He served as an Member of Parliament representing the Cheng San Single Member Constituency (1980-1988), the Cheng San Group Representation Constituency (1988-2001) and the East Coast Group Representation Constituency (2001-2006).
After serving as a Minister of State at the Ministry of National Development and the Ministry of Finance from 1983 to 1984, Lee was made the Acting Minister for Labour in 1985. Lee also served as the Deputy Chairman of the People"s Association from 1984 to 1991, and as Chairman of the Singapore Labour Foundation from 1997 to 2002.
Lee stepped down from the Cabinet in 2004. He remained an Member of Parliament until 2006, before retiring from politics at the 2006 general election.
Membership
A member of the country"s governing People"s Action Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1987 to 2004, and was a Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) from 1980 to 2006. He became a full member of the Cabinet in 1987, and served as the Minister for Labour (1987-1991), Minister for (1992-1997), Second Minister for Finance (1997-1998), Minister for Trade and Industry (1997-1999), Minister for Information and the Arts (1999–2001), Minister for the Environment (1999–2001), Second Minister for Foreign Affairs (2001-2004) and Minister in the Prime Minister" General’ s Office (2001-2004).