Sylvia Lim

Sylvia Lim Swee Lian (born 28 March 1965) is a Singaporean politician, lawyer, former police officer and Temasek Polytechnic law lecturer.

Lim attended CHIJ Our Lady of Good Counsel, CHIJ St. Joseph's Convent and National Junior College before graduating from the National University of Singapore in 1988 with a Bachelor of Laws degree with honours.

She went on complete a Master of Laws at the University College London in 1989, and was called to the bar in Singapore in 1991.

In 1991, Lim joined the Singapore Police Force for three years as a police inspector.

She initially did investigation work at the Central Police Division Headquarters, and then became a staff officer under the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department.

Lim joined the law firm M/s Lim & Lim in 1994.

She handled litigation work both civil and criminal cases in the High Court, Subordinate Courts and Juvenile Court between 1994 and 1998.

Lim joined Temasek Polytechnic in 1998 as a law lecturer.

She was also the Manager of Professional Development and Manager of Continuing Education and Training at the polytechnic's School of Business.

Her main areas of teaching and research were in civil and criminal procedure, criminal justice and private security.

Lim was cited as feeling "distressed" that opposition parties could contest only one-third of the parliamentary seats during the 2001 general election.

Lim has been the chairwoman of the Workers' Party since 2003.

Before entering politics, Lim had served in the Singapore Police Force and worked in Temasek Polytechnic as a law lecturer.

During her time at Temasek Polytechnic, Lim contributed to the volume on Criminal Procedure for Halsbury's Laws of Singapore (2003), a legal practitioners' reference series, and has also collected and published primary research on private security in Singapore.

Ten days after the election, she joined the Workers' Party (WP) and within 18 months quickly rose to become the chairwoman of the party in 2003.

A member of the opposition Workers' Party (WP), she had been a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament between 2006 and 2011 of the 11th Parliament of Singapore.

In March 2006, Temasek Polytechnic modified its staffing policies to enable Lim to run as a candidate in the general election without having to resign her teaching position at the institution.

At the 2006 general election, Lim led the five-member Worker's Party team to contest the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (Aljunied GRC), campaigning on the slogan "You have a Choice".

Means testing in hospitals, as well as the James Gomez fiasco became hot button issues during the election campaign.

The WP team ultimately lost to the team from the governing People's Action Party (PAP) by 58,593 votes (43.9%) to 74,843 (56.1%).

This was the highest percentage of the vote garnered by any losing opposition candidates in the election, and therefore meant that the WP was entitled to select one of its team members from Aljunied GRC to become a Non-constituency Member of Parliament.

The party chose Lim to become its Non-constituency Member of Parliament.

During her term in Parliament, Lim spoke out against ministers' salaries, and also against means testing in hospitals, which resulted in the PAP deferring a decision on this for a period of two years from 2006 to 2008.

In addition, she also called for a reduction in the Goods and Services Tax, arguing that it was a regressive tax, and urged the government to do more to help retrenched workers.

She noted that in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries in 2006 about 37% of each age cohort received a degree-level education, and that a sizeable number of Singaporean students who failed to gain entry into local universities had done well in reputable universities overseas.

She also suggested giving concessionary fares to disabled individuals who make up 2% of the adult population under 60 years.

In 2009, Parliament debated the Human Organ Transplant (Amendment) Bill which would permit an organ donor to receive a reasonable amount of payment as a reimbursement for medical checks, insurance and other medical expenses, and loss of income.

Lim spoke of her worry that the bill might lead to a backdoor organ trading and profiteering.

In 2010, Lim mooted the idea that the proportion of each Primary 1 cohort that would be seeking a university education should be increased beyond the 30% by 2015 that the Government was planning.

Lim expressed concerns about a proposed constitutional amendment introduced in April 2010 that would allow magistrates to hear what are called "first mentions" through video conferencing.

A first mention is a hearing that must be held within 48 hours of a person's arrest.

She felt it failed to adequately assure accused people that they were allowed to complain to magistrates about injuries they had sustained or acts of misfeasance against them by the authorities.

In response, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng assured MPs that processes would be in place to ensure that accused people are treated fairly.

She represented the Serangoon division of Aljunied GRC between 2011 and 2020, and has been Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Paya Lebar division of Aljunied GRC since 2020.

One week after the 2011 general election, she announced that she would be resigning from her job at Temasek Polytechnic after 12 years of service by what she anticipated to be an increased workload after being elected as part of the Workers' Party team for Aljunied GRC.

During the same year, Lim also re-entered the legal sector.

She is currently counsel at Peter Low Chambers LLC.

She later completed a master's degree in criminal justice from the Michigan State University in 2014, online.

During her undergraduate and postgraduate studies, Lim did volunteer work with the Spastic Children's Association, Salvation Army Home for the Aged and University College Hospital.

She later did voluntary editorial work for the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme of the Law Society of Singapore.