Lee Siew Choh (; 1 November 1917 – 18 July 2002) was a Singaporean politician and physician. He was the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for
Queenstown from 1959 to 1963 and served as the
NCMP from September 1988 to August 1991.
Initially a member of the
People's Action Party
The People's Action Party (abbreviation: PAP) is a major conservative centre-right political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and ...
(PAP), he became a leader of the breakaway faction of
Barisan Sosialis
Barisan Sosialis ( eng, Socialist Front) was a political party in Singapore. It was formed on 29 July 1961 and officially registered on 13 August 1961 by left-wing members of the People's Action Party (PAP) who had been expelled from the PAP. ...
(BS) in 1961. After the
BS merged with the
Workers' Party (WP) in 1988, Lee stood as a
WP candidate in the
1988 election and became Singapore's first
Non-constituency Member of Parliament
A Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) is a member of an opposition list of political parties in Singapore, political party in Singapore who, according to the Constitution of Singapore, Constitution and Parliamentary Elections Act, is ...
(NCMP) due to his best performance among the opposition candidates. He served as the
NCMP from September 1988 to August 1991.
Biography
Lee was born in
Kuala Lumpur
, anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera''
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, pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia
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and was educated at
Victoria Institution
The Victoria Institution is the oldest secondary school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is a memorial school, so-called because it was partly funded by public subscription intended for the erection of a permanent memorial to commemorate the Golden ...
. He came to Singapore in 1934 and was trained as a medical doctor at
King Edward VII College of Medicine
King Edward VII Medical College (KEMC) was a medical school from 1905 to 1949 in Singapore, the first one in what was then Malaya. It was officially named King Edward VII Medical College in 1921 and subsequently became the Faculty of Medicine, Un ...
. After graduating in 1942, he joined
Kandang Kerbau Hospital
KK Women's and Children's Hospital (abbreviation: KKH) is the largest public hospital specialising in healthcare for women and children in Singapore, located at 100 Bukit Timah Road.
From its humble beginnings as a small general hospital in 18 ...
as a doctor. He married a volunteer nurse Kathleen Fam Yin Oi (1919 – 20 April 2018) in 1943 during the
Japanese occupation of Singapore
, officially , was the name for Singapore when it was occupied and ruled by the Empire of Japan, following the fall and surrender of British military forces on 15 February 1942 during World War II.
Japanese military forces occupied it after ...
, he was later sent to work as a medical officer at the
Thai-Burmese border for two years, where the
Death Railway
The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a railway between Ban Pong, Thailand and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). It was built from 1940 to 1943 ...
was constructed.
Political career
Lee served in Singapore's
Legislative Assembly as a representative of the PAP following the 1959 election. In 1960 he served as the
Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs. In 1961, Lee and 13 other members of the assembly broke away from the PAP and formed the Socialist Front. Lee was noted for his pro-
leftist
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
stance and oratory skills. In 1961, he made the longest speech in the history of Singapore's Legislative Assembly which lasted seven hours on the subject of Singapore's proposed merger with
Malaya
Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia:
Political entities
* British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...
. Lee led the party in the 1963 elections, in which they won 13 of the 51 seats.
In 1988, Socialist Front merged with the
Workers' Party and Lee stood as a Workers' Party candidate in the
Eunos Group Representation Constituency
Eunos Group Representation Constituency (Simplified Chinese: 友诺士集选区;Traditional Chinese: 友諾士集選區) is a defunct Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the north-eastern region of Singapore. This GRC existed for the 1988 a ...
at the
1988 Singaporean general election
General elections were held in Singapore on 3 September 1988. President of Singapore, President Wee Kim Wee dissolved parliament on 17 August 1988 on the advice of Prime Minister of Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The result was a victory ...
, along with
Francis Seow
Francis Seow, born Seow Tiang Siew ( zh, s=萧添寿, p=Xiāo Tiānshòu; 11 October 1928 – 21 January 2016), was a Singaporean lawyer who was Solicitor-General of Singapore and later the President of the Law Society of Singapore.
Seow started ...
and Mohd Khalit bin Mohd Baboo. They lost to the PAP's team in the constituency by 49.1% of the votes to 50.9%. As the Workers' Party's team in Eunos had garnered a higher percentage of the vote than any other opposition losing candidates, the party was eligible to nominate two members of its team from Eunos to become Non-constituency MPs. The party had refused to nominate NCMPs in the past, but this time they nominated Lee and Seow to become NCMPs. Seow was subsequently accused of
espionage
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...
and fled to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
before he could take up his NCMP seat. Lee became Singapore's first-ever NCMP, serving until the 1991 general election. In Parliament, he raised several issues, including the
Internal Security Act Internal Security Act may refer to:
* Internal Security Act 1960, former Malaysian law
*Internal Security Act (Singapore)
* McCarran Internal Security Act, a United States federal law
*Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, a South African law, rename ...
, living costs and welfare.
Lee again stood in Eunos GRC at the
1991 Singaporean general election
General elections were held in Singapore on 31 August 1991. President Wee Kim Wee dissolved parliament on 14 August 1991 on the advice of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.
The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won 77 of th ...
. He and fellow party members
Jufrie Mahmood
Mohamed Jufrie bin Mahmood ( Jawi: محمد جفرياي بن مهمود) is a Singaporean politician who was a prominent opposition political figure in the country in the 1980s and 1990s, when he stood in elections as a candidate for both the Sin ...
, Neo Choon Aik and Wee Han Kim again lost narrowly to the PAP's team by 47.6% of the votes to 52.4%. However no NCMP seats were offered following that election as the opposition parties won a combined total of four elected seats.
Lee left the Workers' Party in 1996, citing differences with the party's leader,
Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam
Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam ( ta, ஜோசுவா பெஞ்சமின் ஜெயரத்தினம்; 5 January 1926 – 30 September 2008), better known as J. B. Jeyaretnam or by his initials JBJ, was a Singaporean politician, law ...
.
Personal life
Lee married Kathleen Fam and had three sons, Victor Lee Yew Kwong, Peter Lee Yew Chung and David Lee Yew Keong, and a daughter, Lee Yu Lian.
His eldest son, Victor Lee Yew Kwong, died in 1992.
Lee died of
lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...
on 18 July 2002.
See also
*
Lim Chin Siong
Lim Chin Siong (; 28 February 1933 – 5 February 1996) was a Singaporean politician and union leader active in Singapore in the 1950s and 1960s. He was one of the founders of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), which has governed the ...
*
Chia Thye Poh
Chia Thye Poh (born 1941) is a Singaporean former politician. A former member of the Barisan Sosialis, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Jurong SMC between 1963 and 1966.
A leftist populist, Chia is most notable for being detained ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Siew-Choh
Members of the Parliament of Singapore
Singaporean Non-constituency Members of Parliament
Workers' Party (Singapore) politicians
Barisan Sosialis politicians
People's Action Party politicians
Singaporean people of Cantonese descent
Malaysian emigrants to Singapore
People who lost Malaysian citizenship
Naturalised citizens of Singapore
1917 births
2002 deaths
20th-century Singaporean physicians