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- Chiam See Tong is a politician and lawyer from Singapore. He is the country's longest-serving opposition Member of Parliament (MP). Since 1984, he has represented the constituency of Potong Pasir in Singapore's Parliament, where he is currently one of only two elected opposition MPs. He was a member of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) up to 1997, when he left the party to join the Singapore People's Party (SPP). He subsequently spearheaded the formation of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), of which he is currently the de facto leader. Chiam founded the Singapore Democratic Party in 1980, and was the party's Secretary-General (leader) until 1993. When Chiam was first elected to Parliament in 1984, he was only the second opposition politician ever to be elected to Singapore's Parliament after J.B. Jeyaretnam of the Workers' Party. After Jeyaretnam was expelled from Parliament in 1986, Chiam was Singapore's sole elected opposition MP until 1991. At the 1991 general elections, two other SDP members, Ling How Doong and Cheo Chai Chen, were also elected to Parliament. Low Thia Khiang of the Worker's Party was also elected, making a total of four opposition MPs, with Chiam effectively the leader of the opposition. In 1992, Chiam recruited Dr Chee Soon Juan, a psychology lecturer at the National University of Singapore, to be an SDP candidate for a by-election in the Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency. Although the SDP was unsuccessful in the by-election, the recruitment of Chee as a candidate generated considerable public interest. However differences between Chiam and Chee soon emerged. Chee was sacked from his job as a university lecturer in 1993, and publicly claimed that he had been the victim of a political vendetta by the governing People's Action Party (PAP). Chiam wanted to censure Chee for these comments, but the party's Central Executive Committee backed Chee and voted oust Chiam as Secretary-General and to replace him with Chee. They also appointed Ling How Doong to replace Chiam as the party's parliamentary leader. The Central Executive Committee attempted to expel Chiam from the party, but he won a court case to prevent them from doing so on procedural grounds. Shortly before the 1997 general elections, Chiam left the SDP and accepted an invitation to join the recently-formed Singapore People's Party and become its Chairman. Standing for his new party, he was re-elected as MP for Potong Pasir. The negative publicity generated by the disputes with Chiam affected the SDP's electoral prospects, and both Ling and Cheo lost their seats, leaving Chiam and Low Thia Khiang as the only two elected opposition MPs. Chiam and Low have remained the only two opposition MPs elected at all subsequent general elections to date. In the 2001 General Election, Chiam won Potong Pasir for the fifth time. In the 2006 General Election, he won 55.82% of the votes to claim his sixth term, defeating the PAP's Sitoh Yih Pin. He had secured 8,245 votes against 6,527 for Sitoh. For many, this was a surprise victory for Chiam, as the PAP had offered an S$80 million upgrading package for the residents of Potong Pasir and had brought in Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong to help the PAP's campaign in the constituency. In 2008, Chiam suffered a stroke which led to the suspension of his 'Meet-the-People' sessions.
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