Lim Chin Siong

Lim Chin Siong (28 February 1933 – 5 February 1996) was an influential leftwing politician and trade union leader in Singapore in the 1950s and 1960s.

Lim joined the then left wing People's Action Party (PAP) in 1954. His popularity raised rapidly and he became the leader of Chinese workers, trade unions and Chinese middle school students in the 1950s. He was slim, youthful, dedicated, and had a handsome boyish face. His oratory as a speaker in Hokkien among the Chinese masses was legendary. In his political memoir The Singapore Story, Lee Kuan Yew offered ungrudging praise to Lim's "hypnotic" oratory: "...a ringing voice that flowed beautifully in his native Hokkien. The girls adored him, especially those in the trade unions. Once he got going after a cold start at the first two meetings, there was tremendous applause every time he spoke. By the end of the campaign, Lim Chin Siong was seen as a charismatic figure and a person to be reckoned with in Singapore politics and, what was of more immediate concern, within the PAP."

In 1955, Lim and Fong Swee Suan instigated a labour strike by bus workers that resulted into the violent Hock Lee bus riots. He later led the Chinese Middle School riots in 1956 with further violence. The Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock suppressed the riots aggressively and Lim Chin Siong, with many other pro-communists, were arrested. He was released in 1959 after PAP won the first General Election. However, he broke off with the Lee Kuan Yew-led PAP (which now tried to get rid of its left-winged allies) and formed the Barisan Sosialis Party in 17 September 1961. After Singapore's merger with Malaysia in 1962, Lim Chin Siong and many opposition party members were detained under the Internal Security Act by the ruling PAP government via the infamous Operation Coldstore on 2 February 1963.

During detention, Lim was reported to be depressed and suicidal. He was finally released from prison on July 28 1969 after renouncing politics and went into exile in London. He returned to Singapore in 1979 with his family before dying of a heart attack on 5th February 1996.

Reference

• Comet in our sky : Lim Chin Siong in history edited by Tan Jing Quee, Jomo K.S., 2001.