Zainul Abidin bin Mohamed Rasheed (born 17 March 1948) is a Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

an politician and former Member of Parliament

Members of the Singapore Parliament

The following is a historical list of members for the current and past ten Parliaments of Singapore:-See also:*1st Parliament of Singapore*2nd Parliament of Singapore*3rd Parliament of Singapore*4th Parliament of Singapore*5th Parliament of Singapore...

 who last represented Aljunied GRC from 2001 to 2011.

Education

He attended the Jalan Daud Primary School, followed by Raffles Institution and then the National University of Singapore, where he read Economics. He was awarded the Gold Outstanding Young Singaporean Award in 1974.

Career

Zainul Abidin worked for a long time in Singapore Press Holdings (Asia News Bulletin, Sunday Times,Straits Times, Berita Harian) before being seconded to the government sector, to Mendaki (1990 - 1993) and MUIS (1991-1996).

He has held various appointments, among them being:

• Member of the National University of Singapore Council,
• Member of the board of trustees, NTUC Healthcare Co-operative Ltd
• Member of the Board of directors of Mendaki Holdings
• Member of the RI Board of Governors
• Advisor of the Singapore Port Workers Union
• Ex-deputy Chairman of the Malay Heritage Foundation
• Member of the National Medical Ethics Committee

He first stood for the Singapore General Election under the PAP in 1997, under the then newly formed Cheng San GRC, against the Workers' Party, whose notable candidates were Mr JB Jeyaratnam and Tang Liang Hong

Tang Liang Hong

Tang Liang Hong is a politician and lawyer from Singapore.Tang stood as a candidate for the opposition Workers' Party in the Cheng San Group Representation Constituency at the 1997 general election...

. The PAP won that constituency.

Zainul Abidin later moved to Aljunied GRC for the 2001 General Elections. In the 2006 General Elections

Singapore general election, 2006

The 2006 Singapore parliamentary general election was held on 6 May 2006. 1.22 million out of the 2.16 million eligible Singaporeans voted for Members of Parliament and elected their next government. The People's Action Party , in its first election under Lee Hsien Loong, won 66.6% of the overall...

, his party, the PAP

People's Action Party

The People's Action Party is the leading political party in Singapore. It has been the city-state's ruling political party since 1959....

, contested Aljunied GRC against the Workers' Party of Singapore

Workers' Party of Singapore

The Workers' Party of Singapore is a centre-left opposition political party in Singapore. The party currently has six elected seats in Parliament, with the party's Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang, Chairman Sylvia Lim, Chen Show Mao, Muhamad Faisal Manap and Pritam Singh serving as Members of...

. The PAP garnered 56.09% of the votes in this GRC.

He was appointed Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1998 - 2001. He also held the post of Mayor of the NorthEast Community Development Council from 2001 to 2008. He was then appointed Minister of State for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2004 and given a Senior Minister of State role in 2006.

In the 2011 General Elections, Zainul Abidin was part of the 5-man PAP team which lost the hotly-contested Aljunied GRC constituency to the Workers' Party.