Dr. Lee Siew Choh was a
politicianA politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and medical doctor from
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. Initially a member of the
People's Action PartyThe People's Action Party is the leading political party in Singapore. It has been the city-state's ruling political party since 1959....
(PAP), he became a leader of the breakaway
Barisan SosialisThe Barisan Sosialis is a former Singaporean left-wing political party formed in 1961, by left-wing members of the People's Action Party and led by Dr Lee Siew Choh and Lim Chin Siong.-Formation:...
in 1961. After the Barisan Sosialis merged with the
Workers' PartyThe Workers' Party of Singapore is a centre-left opposition political party in Singapore. The party currently has six elected seats in Parliament, with the party's Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang, Chairman Sylvia Lim, Chen Show Mao, Muhamad Faisal Manap and Pritam Singh serving as Members of...
in 1988, Lee stood as a Workers' Party candidate in the 1988 general election and became Singapore's first
Non-Constituency Member of ParliamentNon-Constituency Members of Parliament are members of the opposition parties who are appointed as members of the Parliament of Singapore even though they had lost in the parliamentary election....
(NCMP), serving in this role until 1991.
Biography
Lee was born in
Kuala LumpurKuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
and was educated at
Victoria InstitutionVictoria Institution is a premier secondary school for boys and one of the oldest schools in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The school is widely known as V.I. and a student of Victoria Institution bears the name Victorian....
. He was trained as a medical doctor, but spent most of his life as a political leader.
Lee served in Singapore's
Legislative AssemblyThe Legislative Assembly of Singapore was the legislature of the government of Singapore from 1955 to 1965 and the predecessor of the Parliament of Singapore. The Rendel Constitution, proposed in 1953, sought to give the local population more self-governance as the Merdeka independence movement grew...
as a representative of the PAP following the 1959 election. In 1960 he served as the
Parliamentary SecretaryA Parliamentary Secretary is a member of a Parliament in the Westminster system who assists a more senior minister with his or her duties.In the parliamentary systems of several Commonwealth countries, such as the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, it is customary for the prime minister to...
for Home Affairs.
In 1961, Lee and 13 other members of the assembly broke away from the PAP and formed the Barisan Sosialis. Lee led the party in the 1963 elections, in which they won 13 of the 51 seats.
Lee was noted for his pro-
leftistIn politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
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
MalayaThe Federation of Malaya is the name given to a federation of 11 states that existed from 31 January 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957...
.
The Barisan Sosialis was Singapore's main
oppositionIn politics, the opposition comprises one or more political parties or other organized groups that are opposed to the government , party or group in political control of a city, region, state or country...
party at the time of the country's independence in 1965. But the party boycotted the first post-independence general election in
1968General elections were held in Singapore on 19 April 1968, the first after independence from Malaysia. The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won all 58 seats, the first of four consecutive elections in which they repeated the feat...
, allowing the PAP to win all 51 of the seats in
ParliamentThe Parliament of the Republic of Singapore and the President jointly make up the legislature of Singapore. Parliament is unicameral and is made up of Members of Parliament who are elected, as well as Non-constituency Members of Parliament and Nominated Members of Parliament who are appointed...
. The Barisan Sosialis never managed to regain a significant role in Singapore's political scene after this, and in 1988, the party merged with the
Workers' PartyThe Workers' Party of Singapore is a centre-left opposition political party in Singapore. The party currently has six elected seats in Parliament, with the party's Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang, Chairman Sylvia Lim, Chen Show Mao, Muhamad Faisal Manap and Pritam Singh serving as Members of...
.
At the 1988 general election, Lee stood as a Workers' Party candidate in the
Eunos Group Representation ConstituencyEunos Group Representation Constituency is a defunct Group Representation Constituency in the north-eastern region of Singapore...
along with fellow party members
Francis SeowFrancis Seow is a Singapore-born political dissident who is in exile from Singapore after lawsuits by the former Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew. He was educated at Saint Joseph's Institution in Singapore and at the Middle Temple in London...
and Mohd Khalit bin Mohd Baboo. They lost very narrowly to the PAP's team in the constiuency by 49.1% of the votes to 50.9%. Only one opposition MP was returned to Parliament at that election (
Chiam See TongChiam See Tong is a politician and lawyer from Singapore. He is the country's longest-serving opposition Member of Parliament . Between 1984 and 2011, he represented the constituency of Potong Pasir in Singapore's Parliament....
of the
Singapore Democratic PartyThe Singapore Democratic Party is an opposition political party in Singapore.The party was founded in 1980 by Chiam See Tong, who as Secretary-General became the party's first Member of Parliament in 1984 when he was elected as MP for Potong Pasir...
). 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
espionageEspionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
and fled to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
before he could take up his NCMP seat. But Lee became Singapore's first-ever NCMP, serving until the 1991 general election. In Parliament, he raised several issues, including the
Internal Security ActThe term Internal Security Act is often given to a piece of legislation laying down regulations that enable the executive government of a jurisdiction to preserve the internal security of the nation...
, living costs and welfare.
Lee again stood in Eunos GRC at the 1991 general election. He and fellow party members
Jufrie MahmoodMohamed Jufrie bin Mahmood is a politician from Singapore. He 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 Singapore Democratic Party and the Workers' Party...
, 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 JeyaretnamJoshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam was a politician and lawyer from Singapore. He was the leader of the Workers' Party from 1971 to 2001...
.
Lee died of natural causes on 18 July 2002.
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