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Dinesh Vasu Dash
Singaporean politician From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Dinesh Vasu Dash (born 1974 or 1975)[1] is a Singaporean politician, former civil servant and brigadier-general. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he has been serving as Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth, Minister of State for Manpower and Mayor of South East District since 2025.
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Early life
Dinesh is a third-generation Singaporean with ancestral roots in Varkala, Kerala. His paternal grandfather ran a small business servicing the British naval base in Sembawang in the 1960s, while his maternal family lived in Malaysia before settling in Singapore.[2]
Dinesh grew up in a one-room flat at the police quarters in Pearl's Hill. He lived with his parents, brother and grandmother. They later moved to a three-room Housing and Development Board flat along Telok Blangah Rise.[3]
Dinesh's father, a former police officer, had served as the personal security officer to former President Devan Nair and as an alternate officer to former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.[3]
Dinesh graduated from the Anglo-Chinese Junior College in 1992, and went on to study electrical engineering at the National University of Singapore.[4] He attended the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington, Tamil Nadu for a year between 2006 and 2007.[5][2]
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Career
A member of the People's Action Party (PAP), he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Bedok division of East Coast GRC since 2025.[6]
Prior to entering politics, he served as the chief executive of the Agency for Integrated Care, Senior Director in the Ministry of Health (Singapore). He oversaw national vaccination operations during the COVID-19 pandemic and the rollout of Healthier SG, a preventive health programme. He served as a Brigadier General commanding 2nd People's Defence Force in the Singapore Armed Forces.[1] During his time in the military, he was deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 for eight months. He was the ground commander during the Trump-Kim summit in Singapore in 2018. He also served as the lead coffin bearer, the only Indian, in the state funeral of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in 2015.[5]
He served as a member of the Advisory Council on Community Relations in Defence (ACCORD). He was also an EXCO member of SINDA and a Board member of the Hindu Advisory Board.[7]
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Personal life
Dinesh is married to Rathiga Velaithan, a former cancer researcher in the public sector, and they have three children. He is a fan of heavy metal music and rock music, and plays golf.[7][3]
References
External links
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