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Chiam See Tong

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In this Chinese name, the family name is Chiam.
Chiam See Tong
詹时中
Chiam speaking at an election rally in 2006
2nd Secretary-General of the Singapore People's Party
In office
December 1996 – 16 October 2019[1]
Prime Minister
ChairmanLina Loh
Preceded bySin Kek Tong
Succeeded bySteve Chia
Member of the Singapore Parliament
for Potong Pasir SMC
In office
22 December 1984 – 19 April 2011
Preceded byHowe Yoon Chong (PAP)
Succeeded bySitoh Yih Pin (PAP)
ConstituencyPotong Pasir SMC
Majority1,718 (11.6%)
6th and 8th Leader of the Opposition (de facto)
In office
26 May 1997 – 20 April 2006
Preceded byLing How Doong (SDP)
Succeeded byLow Thia Khiang (WP)
ConstituencyPotong Pasir SMC
In office
10 November 1986 – 17 May 1993
Preceded byJ. B. Jeyaretnam (WP)
Succeeded byLing How Doong (SDP)
ConstituencyPotong Pasir SMC
1st Secretary-General of the Singapore Democratic Party
In office
6 August 1980 – 17 May 1993
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byChee Soon Juan
Personal details
Born (1935-03-12) 12 March 1935 (age 89)[2]
Singapore
Other political
affiliations		SPP
(since 1996)
SDP
(1980–1996)
SDA
(2001-2011)
Spouse
​
(m. 1975)​
ChildrenCamilla Chiam (daughter)
OccupationPolitician, Lawyer
Chiam See Tong
Simplified Chinese詹时中
Traditional Chinese詹時中
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhān Shízhōng

Chiam See Tong (born 12 March 1935)[2] is a Singaporean retired politician. Formerly the secretary-general of the opposition Singapore People's Party (SPP), he had been a Member of Parliament representing Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency (SMC) from 1984 to 2011, and had been the second longest-serving opposition Member of Parliament after Workers' Party former secretary-general Low Thia Khiang. Chiam retired after 39 years in politics at the age of 80 prior to the 2015 general election, citing health reasons.[3][4][5] At the time of his retirement from politics, Chiam was the longest-serving de facto Leader of the Opposition until Low surpassed his record in 2018.[6]

Formerly a lawyer, Chiam entered politics during the 1976 general election when he contested in Cairnhill SMC as an independent candidate, but did not win.[7][2] He stood for election in Potong Pasir SMC in the 1979 by-elections as an independent but lost to the PAP candidate Howe Yoon Chong.[8] In 1980, he founded the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) and became its secretary-general, contesting in Potong Pasir SMC again in the general election that year but lost again to Howe.[9] In the 1984 general election, he had his first electoral victory in Potong Pasir SMC after garnering 60.28% of the vote against the PAP's Mah Bow Tan,[10] joining the Workers' Party's J. B. Jeyaretnam as the second of only two opposition Members of Parliament. Since then, he had retained his parliamentary seat in Potong Pasir SMC after winning every general election from 1988 to 2006. In 1996, he left the SDP after a falling-out with his protégé Chee Soon Juan and joined the Singapore People's Party (SPP).[11] In 2001, Chiam convinced three other opposition parties (NSP, PKMS and SJP) to join the SPP in forming the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), and served as the SDA's chairman from 2001 to 2011.[12]

In 2011, after the SPP withdrew from the SDA, Chiam left Potong Pasir SMC to join four other SPP members to contest in Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC during the 2011 general election. The SPP team ultimately lost the PAP team, garnering 43.07% of the vote.[13][14] Chiam's wife, Lina Loh, who had contested as a SPP candidate in Potong Pasir SMC, also lost to the PAP candidate Sitoh Yih Pin with 49.64% of the vote,[13] but later served as a Non-constituency Member of Parliament from 2011 to 2015.[15]

History

Chiam was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in London in 1974.[16] He then joined Philip Wong and Company as a lawyer, before starting his own law firm, Chiam and Company, in 1976.

Political career

Independent

Chiam first entered politics in 1976 when he contested as an independent candidate in Cairnhill constituency, where he lost to Minister for Communications and National Development Lim Kim San. In the 1979 by-election, Chiam contested the Potong Pasir seat for the first time, again as an independent, and got 33% of the votes against the People Action Party (PAP)'s candidate Howe Yoon Chong.[5]

Singapore Democratic Party

Chiam founded the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) on 6 August 1980, and was the party's Secretary-General until 1993. He contested the Potong Pasir seat again in 1980 and lost to Howe again, but his vote share increased to 41%. In 1984, Chiam contested the seat against Mah Bow Tan, and won with 60.3% of the votes, on a swing of 19 percent against the PAP.[5]

In 1981, Chiam initiated defamation action against S Dhanabalan and Howe Yoon Chong after they disparaged his professional competence during election rallies in 1980.[17][18] Dhanabalan made a public apology.[17] Howe offered compensation which Chiam accepted and dropped the case against him.[18]

When Chiam was first elected to Parliament in 1984, he was only the second opposition politician ever to be elected to Singapore's Parliament after J. B. Jeyaretnam of the Workers' Party (WP), in 1981. After Jeyaretnam was expelled from Parliament in 1986, Chiam was Singapore's sole elected opposition MP until 1991, in which two other SDP members, Ling How Doong and Cheo Chai Chen, alongside Low Thia Khiang of the WP were elected, making a total of four opposition MPs, with Chiam effectively the leader of the opposition. At that time of the 1991 election, their party's performance attained its best result (having all nine candidates polled in the top 10), scoring 48.6% of the party's popular vote, including Chiam's best-performing opposition result to date at 69.6%.[5]

In 1992, Chiam recruited Chee Soon Juan, a psychology lecturer at the National University of Singapore, to be an SDP candidate for a by-election in the Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency. Although the SDP was unsuccessful in the by-election, the recruitment of Chee as a candidate generated considerable public interest. The following year, conflicts between Chiam and Chee emerged after Chee was expelled from his job as a lecturer from NUS for citing about the misuse of funds to pay the courier fees for his wife, and also publicly claimed that he had been the victim of a political vendetta by the governing People's Action Party (PAP).

Chiam wanted to censure Chee for these comments, but the party's Central Executive Committee (CEC) backed Chee. Chiam then resigned as Secretary-General of the party and proceeded to sue the party. The CEC, after convening a disciplinary hearing, voted to expel Chiam from the party (which would have cause himself to lose his Parliamentary seat) after he publicly criticised them. Chiam filed a lawsuit against the SDP and won the court case to prevent them from doing so on procedural grounds.

Singapore People's Party

Chiam left the SDP in December 1996 and accepted an invitation to join the Singapore People's Party (which was formed by a breakaway faction of the SDP in 1994) and became its leader. Standing for his new party, he was re-elected as MP for Potong Pasir at the 1997 general election.[5] Chiam with Low would remained the only two opposition MPs elected at all the subsequent general elections until 2011. At the 2001 general election, Chiam won Potong Pasir for the fifth time. Chiam retired from his law practice in 2002 to become a full-time politician.[citation needed]

At the 2006 general election, he won 55.82% (or 8,245) of the votes to claim his sixth term, defeating PAP's candidate, Sitoh Yih Pin, who got the other 44.18% or 6,527 votes. For many, this was a surprise victory for Chiam, as the PAP had offered an S$80 million upgrading package for the residents of Potong Pasir and had brought in then-Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong to help the PAP's campaign in the constituency.[citation needed]

In early 2008, Chiam suffered a mild stroke[5] which led to the suspension of his 'Meet-the-People' sessions. In 2011, Chiam said "there's still remnants of the stroke which I suffered".[19]

In 2009, Chiam celebrated his 25th year as MP for Potong Pasir.[20] That year, he also announced that he did not plan to stand as a candidate for Potong Pasir at the next general election (due to be held in May 2011), and would instead be a candidate in a Group Representation Constituency (GRC).[21]

In 2010, Chiam tried to bring the Reform Party into the SDA. He reportedly accepted the conditions the Reform Party set out for joining the alliance, however the terms of entry were opposed by other members of the SDA's Council who blocked the move. In 2010 and early-2011, it was also reported that some members of the SDA's Council felt that Chiam was unable to properly fulfil his role of Chairman of the alliance, after he had cut back his political activities following his stroke in 2008. On 28 February 2011, the SDA's Council voted to relieve Chiam of his role as chairman, however the Council stressed that they still hoped to field Chiam as a candidate at the next general election. But two days later, on 2 March 2011, Chiam announced that the Singapore People's Party was withdrawing from the SDA, and that he would stand under the banner of the SPP instead of the SDA at the next general election.[22][23]

For the 2011 general election, Chiam's wife, Lina Loh Woon Lee (sometimes referred to as Lina Chiam), the SPP candidate in Potong Pasir. Chiam himself became a candidate in the Bishan–Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency. Chiam's team in Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC finished with 43% of the votes, and was defeated by the PAP team led by then-Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng. His wife Lina Chiam (Lina Loh) failed to retain his old Potong Pasir seat and was defeated by his opponent in the last two elections, the PAP's Sitoh Yih Pin, by a margin of 114 votes (0.72%). A week later, the Singapore People's Party (SPP) announced that Lina Chiam would accept an offer to become a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament as one of the best-performing losing opposition candidates.

In October 2014, the biography of Chiam, Let the People Have Him, by Loke Hoe Yeong revealed that Chiam's grandfather, Chiam Seng Poh, was a revolutionary who helped Sun Yat-sen overthrow the Qing dynasty. In addition, Let the People Have Him revealed that one of Chiam's maternal aunts, Mabel, married Kwa Soon Siew – a brother of Kwa Geok Choo, the wife of Singapore's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew.[24]

On 30 August 2015, Chiam announced that he chose not to stand in the 2015 general election.[3] At the same election, his party, SPP, lost to PAP again and with WP having the closest result instead of SPP, Lina Chiam was not offered the NCMP position, ending their presence in the parliament after 31 years.

On 4 September 2019, the SPP announced that he would step down from the secretary-general post due to declining health.[25][26] Chiam stepped down on 16 October 2019.[1] Steve Chia took his place as SPP's new Secretary-General

Education

Date Qualification Institution
1955 GCE Advanced Level Anglo-Chinese School
1961 Bachelor of Science University of Canterbury & Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
1967 Certificate in Education Teachers' Training College
1974 Barrister-at-Law Inner Temple, United Kingdom

Career

Date Workplace
1962 to 1963 Mahmud Secondary School, Raub Pahang, Malaysia
1964 to 1972 Cedar Girls' Secondary School
1974 to 1976 Philip Wong & Co (Advocates & Solicitors)
1976 Advocate & Solicitor, Chiam & Co
2002 (Advocates & Solicitors) (Retired)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Koh, Fabian (16 October 2019). "Chiam See Tong steps down as SPP chief, ending storied political career that spanned more than four decades". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  2. ^ a b c Loke, Hoe Yeong (2014). Let the People Have Him: Chiam See Tong: The Early Years. Singapore: Epigram Books. ISBN 9789810791735.
  3. ^ a b Ong, Justin (30 August 2015). "SPP, DPP announce candidates for joint Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC team". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 2 September 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  4. ^ "New opposition candidate expected in Potong Pasir" Archived 4 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Zul Othman. Channel Newsasia. 4 November 2009.
  5. ^ a b c d e f The Straits Times (print edition) 9 December 2009, page B6.
  6. ^ "Low Thia Khiang will be the longest-serving opposition MP in Singapore's history by end of 2017". Mothership.sg. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  7. ^ https://www.eld.gov.sg/elections_past_parliamentary1976.html
  8. ^ https://www.eld.gov.sg/elections_past_by1979.html
  9. ^ https://www.eld.gov.sg/elections_past_parliamentary1980.html
  10. ^ https://www.eld.gov.sg/elections_past_parliamentary1984.html
  11. ^ Loke, Hoe Yeong (2019). The First Wave: JBJ, Chiam & the Opposition in Singapore. Singapore: Epigram Books. ISBN 9789814845427.
  12. ^ "Singapore Democratic Alliance is formed - Singapore History". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  13. ^ a b https://www.eld.gov.sg/elections_past_parliamentary2011.html
  14. ^ hermes (16 August 2015). "Battle for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC". The Straits Times. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  15. ^ "Lina Chiam to take up NCMP offer". Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  16. ^ Loke Hoe Yeong (5 February 2019). Let the People Have Him: Chiam See Tong: The Early Years. Epigram Books. pp. 59–60, 73. ISBN 978-981-07-9174-2. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  17. ^ a b "Dhana apologises to SDP's Chiam". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  18. ^ a b "Election remarks; Chiam accepts Howe's apology". eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  19. ^ "We're 'not that small-minded'" Archived 25 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine 25 March 2011
  20. ^ "Dinner bash for Chiam". The Straits Times. 9 December 2009.
  21. ^ "Channel News Asia : Chiam See Tong marks 25 years as opposition MP".
  22. ^ GE: SDA says Chiam pulling SPP out of alliance Archived 5 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine, channelnewsasia.com, 2 March 2011
  23. ^ Chiam pulls party out of alliance Archived 6 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Today, 3 March 2011
  24. ^ Leong, Weng Kam (26 October 2014). "New book traces Chiam's road to Parliament". Singapore Press Holdings. The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 31 October 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  25. ^ "Singapore People's Party". Facebook. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  26. ^ "Chiam See Tong to step down as Singapore People's Party secretary-general next month: reports". Yahoo. Archived from the original on 8 September 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
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