Lim Yew Hock

Lim Yew Hock (15 October 1914 – 30 November 1984) was a Singaporean-born Malaysian politician and diplomat who served as Chief Minister of Singapore between 1956 and 1959.

Lim Yew Hock was born to Kinmen Hokkiens in Singapore of the Straits Settlements on 15 October 1914.

He part of third generation of overseas Chinese in Singapore, and son of Lim Teck Locke.

Lim was the eldest son in his family and has a brother and two sisters.

He attended English language schools; the Pearl's Hill School and Outram School from a young age.

He obtained excellent results and received a four-year scholarship.

He was admitted to the prestigious Raffles Institution and completed his secondary education in 1931.

Lim had planned to study law in the United Kingdom upon graduation, and was ready to sit for Cambridge entrance examinations.

However, his father's sudden death made it impossible.

He was only 37 years old when he died, so the assets he left behind was put under supervision of Lim's uncle, while Lim was being mistreated.

As the Great Depression greatly impacted Singapore's economy, he had to earn a living by provision of "private tuition" during his post- secondary education years to support his family, made up of his mother and younger siblings.

Soon, he was employed as a junior clerk of the Imperial Chemical Industries in 1934, he transferred to Cold Storage as a junior clerk, which enabled him to earn a stable income.

He was promoted as stenographer because of his outstanding performance in shorthand.

During World War II, Japan launched the Pacific War in December 1941, leading to the fall of Singapore in February 1942.

Lim lived on selling charcoal, until the end of Japanese occupation and Singapore's revert to British rule in 1945, when he returned to Cold Storage as private secretary.

Lim became involved in trade union activities right after the war.

He resigned from Cold Storage and worked as full-time Secretary-General of the Singapore Clerical and Administrative Workers' Union (SCAWU).

Following the end of World War II, he joined the labour movement and later began his political career, joining the Progressive Party (PP) in 1947.

In March 1947, he became the first Singaporean to receive the British Council scholarship, to study local trade unions in Britain.

With his trade union background, Lim joined the newly formed Singaporean Progressive Party (PP) led by Tan Chye Cheng to start off his political career.

In fact, there was a major change in politics of post-war Singapore.

In 1949, he became a member of the Labour Party.

He founded the Labour Front (LF) with David Marshall.

The Rendel Constitution was implemented in 1955 due to political instability and greater demands for independence in post-war Singapore.

The LF won the Legislative Assembly election, with Marshall as Chief Minister.

Lim was appointed Minister for Labour and Welfare, and served as his deputy during his term of office.

However, after talks with Government in London for self-rule authority failed, Marshall resigned as Chief Minister, and Lim took over.

In order to gain trust from the British, Lim suppressed leftist movements.

He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cairnhill between 1959 and 1963 and previously a Member of the Legislative Council and later Legislative Assembly between 1948 and 1963.

He was de facto Leader of the Opposition between 1959 and 1963.

He and his family elected to take up Malaysian citizenship after Singapore's independence from Malaysia.

In his early years, Lim worked as a clerk after he graduated from the Raffles Institution.

He led an all-party delegation to re-negotiate in talks for self-rule, eventually reaching an agreement with the British for a new constitution granting internal self-rule in 1959.

However, Lim lost the support of the Chinese majority due to his oppression of pro-communists, especially the crackdown of teachers and students in Chinese schools for being left-wing.

This led to the increase in support for the People's Action Party (PAP), then opposition, led by Lee Kuan Yew.

Lim's Singapore People's Alliance (SPA) was defeated by the PAP in the 1959 election, causing him to step down as Chief Minister, while Lee succeeded him as Prime Minister.

After that, he was less involved in Singaporean politics and left the Assembly in 1963.

He was appointed Malaysian High Commissioner in Australia by the then-Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.

However, he dropped out of Malaysian politics entirely shortly after his disappearance in 1966 during his term of office.

Lim converted to Islam and moved to Saudi Arabia in his late years.