Chiam See Tong

Chiam See Tong (born 12 March 1935) is a Singaporean retired politician and lawyer who served as the Secretary-General of Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) between 1980 and 1993 and Secretary-General of Singapore People's Party (SPP) between 2011 and 2019 and the chairman of Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) between 2001 and 2011.

He completed his A Level examinations in 1955 and graduated from the Victoria University of Wellington in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree.

After graduation, he worked as a teacher at Mahmud Secondary School in Raub, Pahang between 1962 and 1963, and later at Cedar Girls' Secondary School in Singapore between 1964 and 1972.

During this time, he underwent training at the Teachers' Training College and obtained a Certificate in Education in 1967.

For a career change, Chiam read law at the Inner Temple and qualified as a barrister-at-law in 1974.

When he returned to Singapore, he was called to the bar as an advocate and solicitor.

He worked at Philip Wong & Co between 1974 and 1976 before leaving to set up his own law firm, Chiam & Co, in 1976.

A lawyer by profession, Chiam contested in the 1976 general election and 1979 by-elections as an independent candidate in Cairnhill SMC and Potong Pasir SMC but lost both.

Chiam first entered politics in the 1976 general election when he contested as an independent candidate in Cairnhill SMC against Lim Kim San, a candidate from the governing People's Action Party (PAP) who had been a Cabinet minister since 1965.

He lost after garnering 31.83% of the vote against Lim's 68.17%.

During the 1979 by-elections, Chiam contested in Potong Pasir SMC as an independent candidate against Howe Yoon Chong, then a new PAP candidate.

However, he lost to Howe after garnering 33.15% of the vote against Howe's 66.85%.

He founded, and became the secretary-general of, the SDP in 1980, contesting in the 1980 general election only to be defeated again.

Chiam founded the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) on 6 August 1980, ahead of the 1980 general election held on 23 December 1980, and served as the party's secretary-general.

He contested in the election as a SDP candidate in Potong Pasir SMC, but lost to Howe Yoon Chong again with 40.95% of the vote against Howe's 59.05%.

In 1981, Chiam sued Minister for Defence Howe Yoon Chong and Minister for Foreign Affairs S. Dhanabalan for slandering him during the speeches they made in 1980.

Howe had called Chiam a "twice unsuccessful lawyer" and "a lawyer who is not even very good at law", while Dhanabalan had called Chiam "a two-bit lawyer orchestrating a three-piece band whose members only appear once every four or five years".

J. B. Jeyaretnam, a lawyer who was also a MP from the opposition Workers' Party (WP), represented Chiam in filing a writ in the High Court seeking damages from Howe and Dhanabalan.

Dhanabalan eventually publicly apologised to Chiam, while Howe publicly withdrew his imputations against Chiam's professional capacity and competence and offered compensation.

Chiam accepted their apologies and withdrew the lawsuits against them.

He was the de facto Leader of the Opposition when he became the Member of Parliament (MP) for Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency (SMC) and served between 1984 and 2011.

Chiam was elected on his fourth attempt during the 1984 general election, winning Potong Pasir SMC against People's Action Party candidate Mah Bow Tan.

He joined J. B. Jeyaretnam from the Workers' Party as one of only two opposition members of parliament at the time.

During the 1984 general election, Chiam contested as an SDP candidate in Potong Pasir SMC again, this time against a new PAP candidate Mah Bow Tan.

In the lead-up to the election, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew compared Chiam and Mah's O Level results in a rally speech: "Mah Bow Tan, age 16, took his 'O' Levels—six distinctions, two credits. Mr Chiam, age 18—six credits, one pass."

The Prime Minister's Office later conveyed an apology from Lee for making an error about Chiam's results; Chiam had actually gotten seven credits.

Chiam eventually won the election with 60.28% of the vote against Mah's 39.72%, and was elected as the MP representing Potong Pasir SMC.

When Chiam was first elected into Parliament in 1984, he was one of only two opposition MPs, the other being J. B. Jeyaretnam, the Workers' Party secretary-general.

After Jeyaretnam was removed from his seat in 1986, Chiam became the sixth de facto Leader of the Opposition and the only opposition MP at the time.

He retained his parliamentary seat in Potong Pasir SMC following the 1988 and 1991 general elections after garnering 63.13% and 69.64% of the vote in those two elections against PAP candidates Kenneth Chen and Andy Gan respectively.

He continued his de facto leadership after the 1991 general election, where he led his party into three SMCs.

In 1993, after a falling-out with the SDP's central executive committee, Chiam resigned his title of secretary-general, in so doing losing his leadership of the opposition.

Chiam later joined and successfully ran as a member of the Singapore People's Party, regaining his de facto position in 1997.

In 2001, Chiam convinced three other opposition parties—National Solidarity Party, Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura and Singapore Justice Party—to join the SPP in forming the Singapore Democratic Alliance, and served as SDA's chairman between 2001 and 2011.

He closed Chiam & Co in 2002 to serve as a full-time Member of Parliament.

He withdrew the SPP from the SDA in the lead up to the 2011 general election, leading the SPP in a contest in Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC, but eventually losing to the PAP team.

Chiam retired after 39 years in politics at the age of 80 prior to the 2015 general election, citing health reasons.

He was the longest-serving opposition MP until surpassed by Low Thia Kiang in 2018.

He remains the longest-serving de facto Leader of the Opposition.

Chiam was educated at Anglo-Chinese School, where he was a competitive swimmer who was part of the ACS relay team of star swimmers.