Ong Teng Cheong

Ong Teng Cheong (22 January 1936 – 8 February 2002) was a Singaporean statesman, architect and union leader who served as the fifth president of Singapore from 1993 to 1999.

Born to Ong Keng Wee and Chung Lai Heng on 22 January 1936 in Singapore, Ong was the second of five children from a middle-class family.

His English-educated father Ong Keng Wee, felt that the Chinese language was important if one ever want to become successful in business at the time and thus sent all of his children to Chinese-medium schools.

Ong graduated with distinctions from The Chinese High School in 1955.

Having received a Chinese-language education, Ong saw little opportunity for advancing his studies in the University of Malaya, as English was the university's language medium.

In 1956, with the help of his father's friends, Ong ventured abroad.

Those years were to shape both his beliefs and passions.

Ong studied architecture at the University of Adelaide along with his childhood sweetheart and future wife, Ling Siew May.

Both Ong and Ling met each other during a Christmas party while they were still studying in secondary school.

Upon graduation, Ong worked as an architect in Adelaide, Australia, and married Ling in 1963.

Ong and his wife occasionally recite Chinese poetry and verses they learnt during their younger days.

In 1965, Ong received a Colombo Plan scholarship to pursue a master's degree in urban planning at the University of Liverpool and graduated in 1967.

In 1967, Ong joined the Ministry of National Development (MND) as a town planner.

The origins of the MRT was first derived from a forecast by the country's planners back in 1967 which stated the need for a rail-based urban transport system by 1992.

However, opposition from the government on the feasibility of the MRT from prominent ministers, among them Finance Minister Goh Keng Swee and Trade and Industry Minister Tony Tan, nearly shuttered the programme due to financial grounds and concerns of jobs saturation in the construction industry.

Following a debate on whether a bus-only system would be more cost-effective, Ong came to the conclusion that an all-bus system would be inadequate, as it would have to compete for road space in a land-scarce country.

Ong was an architect and town planner by training and through his perseverance and dedication became the main figure behind the initial construction of the system.

After four years of civil service, Ong resigned in 1971, and started his own architectural firm, Ong & Ong Architects & Town Planners, with his wife.

Ong's political career spanned 21 years.

He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kim Keat SMC between 1972 and 1991 and the Kim Keat division of Toa Payoh GRC between 1991 and 1993, when the constituency was absorbed into the GRC.

The People's Action Party (PAP) subsequently fielded him as a PAP candidate contesting in Kim Keat SMC during the 1972 general election.

His first political appointment came just three years later when he was appointed Senior Minister of State for Communications.

At that time, he was notable for pushing for an extensive rail network in the country, now known as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), the largest construction project in Singapore's history.

During his tenure as Minister for Communications, Ong continued to be a proponent and advocate of the MRT system, often coming at odds with his fellow political colleagues who were against such an idea.

His ministerial positions include Minister for Communications between 1978 and 1981, Minister for Labour between 1981 and 1983, and Deputy Prime Minister between 1985 and 1993.

During his tenure in Parliament, Ong was known for being the main advocate behind the construction of an extensive rail network in the country, known as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), the largest construction project in Singapore's history.

Ong served as Chairman of the PAP between 1981 and 1993, after Toh Chin Chye stepped down from the position in 1981.

Ong and other pro-rail advocates eventually won the argument, with the MRT being green-lit in May 1982.

In 1983, Ong succeeded Lim Chee Onn as Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).

He was subsequently appointed Second Deputy Prime Minister in 1985.

He was the first president to be directly elected in a popular vote in Singapore's history after winning the 1993 presidential election.

Prior to his presidency, he was a member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP).

In 1993, Ong resigned from the PAP and his ministerial positions to contest in the 1993 presidential election, winning 58.7% of the vote.

Ong was nicknamed the "People's President".

He was sworn on 1 September 1993 as the fifth president of Singapore.

He was a Member of Parliament (MP), Cabinet minister and Deputy Prime Minister, before he resigned to become the first elected President of Singapore in 1993.

Ong's political beginnings started when he got involved in the grassroots activities in Seletar and was then introduced to Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

He decided not to run for a second term as president in 1999, in part due to the death of his wife.

He was succeeded by S. R. Nathan on 1 September 1999.

Ong died in his sleep from lymphoma at the Singapore General Hospital on 8 February 2002, at the age of 66.