Irene Ng Phek Hoong (born 24 December 1963) is a Malaysian-born Singaporean former politician who represented Tampines Group Representation Constituency (GRC) from 2001 to 2015. Before politics, she was a journalist for The Straits Times. During and after her time in office, Ng wrote a two-volume biography of S. Rajaratnam, Singapore's first Foreign Minister. Ng is also a Writer-in-Residence at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS).
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Education and early career
From 1969–1979, Ng studied at Primary Convent Primary and Convent Secondary in Bukit Mertajam, Penang. She attended Nanyang Junior College, Singapore for two years and then did her Bachelor of Arts & Social Science at the National University of Singapore, obtaining her degree in 1986 studying sociology, English language and philosophy. She obtained her M.Sc in International Relations at the London School of Economics & Political Science in 1998.
In 1986, Ng was the editor of Kyoto Publication and later joined the Straits Times Press as a journalist. Ng was active as a journalist in Singapore by the late 1980s, with published reporting in The New Paper as early as 1988.
Before joining politics in 2001, Ng was the Senior Political Correspondent of The Straits Times. Irene has won several journalism and writing awards. After joining politics, she worked as director of programmes and senior research fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, and later, as a director at National Trades Union Congress.