MFA Press Statement: Appointments of Singapore’s Non-Resident Ambassador to the Argentine Republic and Singapore’s Non-Resident High Commissioner to the United Republic of Tanzania

               The Government has appointed Mr Sydney Michael Hwang as Singapore’s Non-Resident Ambassador to the Argentine Republic and Mr Tan Puay Hiang as Singapore’s Non-Resident High Commissioner to the United Republic of Tanzania.

Non-Resident Ambassador to the Argentine Republic

               Mr Sydney Michael Hwang is a Senior Counsel and Alternative Dispute Resolution practitioner in his own practice of Michael Hwang Chambers LLC. Among his other appointments, he is the non-resident Chief Justice of the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts in Dubai.  He is also the Chairman of the Singapore Dance Theatre and the former Chairman of Lasalle College of the Arts and has served as an Independent Director of Port of Singapore Authority Ltd. Mr Hwang was Singapore’s Non-Resident Ambassador to Switzerland from January 2004 to January 2013.

Non-Resident High Commissioner to the United Republic of Tanzania                                      

              Mr Tan Puay Hiang is Chairman and CEO of Contemporara Holdings.  Among his other appointments, Mr Tan is Member of the President’s Advancement Advisory Council of the National University of Singapore and  Advisory Board of EFG Bank.  He is a Panel Member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for the Ministries of Trade and Industry and Finance.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

23 SEPTEMBER 2015

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BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY OF MR TAN PUAY HIANG 

                   Mr Tan Puay Hiang is Chairman and CEO of the Contemporara Holdings, a diversified investment group.

                   Mr Tan graduated from New York University, with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and also attained a Diploma from the Chartered Institute of Bankers London in 1970. He held senior positions in international financial institutions for 20 years before joining the management of his 90-year-old family business, which was a prominent commodities trading, plantations, finance and logistics group.

                   Apart from his other appointments, Mr Tan serves as member of the National University of Singapore President’s Advisory Council and the Advisory Board of EFG Private Bank (Zurich).  He is on the Panel of the Government Parliamentary Committee for the Ministries of Trade and Industry and Finance.  A Board Governor of St Joseph’s Institution International School, he is also retained as Honorary Chairman of the Singapore National Shippers Council.  Mr Tan is a Patron of the constituencies of Bedok Reservoir - Punggol and Kampong Chai Chee. 

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BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY OF MR SYDNEY MICHAEL HWANG

               Mr Sydney Michael Hwang is a Senior Counsel and Alternative Dispute Resolution practitioner in his own practice of Michael Hwang Chambers LLC.

               Mr Hwang graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree in Jurisprudence from Oxford University, United Kingdom, in 1965 (having won an entrance scholarship to Oxford by competitive examination).  He also obtained a Bachelor of Civil Law Degree in 1966 and a Master of Arts in 1969 from the same university.  In 2014, he was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Sydney.

               Upon his graduation from law school, Mr Hwang took up a teaching appointment at the Faculty of Law at the University of Sydney before returning to commence private practice in 1968. Over the period of his practice, he has worked both as a transactional as well as a disputes lawyer, practising in corporate, commercial and banking law, real and intellectual property, commercial crime, litigation and arbitration law.  Between 1991 and 1992, he served as a Judicial Commissioner (a Judge for a fixed period) of the Supreme Court.  He returned to private practice at the beginning of 1993, where he was a Senior Partner and Executive Committee Member at the law firm of Allen and Gledhill, Singapore (now Singapore’s largest law practice), until his retirement at the end of 2002. He then established his own law practice, mainly practising as a Senior Counsel in court and also in the field of alternative dispute resolution.  Mr Hwang is a former Adjunct Professor of the National University of Singapore, Vice President of the Singapore Academy of Law and President of the Law Society of Singapore.

               Mr Hwang has been the non-resident Chief Justice of the Dubai International Financial Centre since 2010.  He has also been Chairman of Lasalle College of the Arts, a tertiary educational institution offering degree and diploma courses in the Arts. He has served as an Independent Director of several publicly listed companies over different business sectors, including the Port of Singapore Authority Ltd, which operates one of the largest container ports in the world.  Mr Hwang was Singapore’s Non-Resident Ambassador to Switzerland from January 2004 to January 2013. 

               Mr Hwang was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2000 for his services to the Singapore Dance Theatre (of which he has been Chairman for over 20 years).

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