Dinesh Vasu Dash

Dinesh Vasu Dash (born 11 November 1974)

Dinesh grew up in a one-room Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat at the police quarters in Pearl's Hill. He lived with his parents, brother and grandmother. They later moved to a three-room flat along Telok Blangah Rise. He attended the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington, Tamil Nadu for a year between 2006 and 2007.

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 also served as a Brigadier General commanding the 2nd People's Defence Force in the Singapore Armed Forces. 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.

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. His team went on to defeat the WP team with 58.76% of the votes making Dash an MP-elect. He was appointed as Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth, Minister of State for Manpower and Mayor of South East District on 23 May 2025.

Personal life Dash 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.

Dash is of Malayalee descent, and he also speaks Malayalam and Tamil fluently.