wow..just did a wiki search on this chap...comes from pap related family
Lim Tean - Wikipedia
Lim Tean (born 17 November 1964) is a Singaporean opposition politician and a lawyer.
[1] He is the founding leader of
Peoples Voice[2], the 11th political party in Singapore, and previously served as Secretary-General of the
National Solidarity Party from 30 August 2015 to 18 May 2017.
[3][4][5] Lim is currently the representing lawyer of prominent anti-government critic and blogger
Leong Sze Hian in the ongoing high profile case brought by current Singaporean
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
[6][7][8][9][10]
Early life and education
Lim Tean was born in 1964 as the eldest son of Lim Chin Teong, a senior Singaporean civil servant and former Chief Executive Director of the People's Association in the late 70's and early 80's, and his mother Aw Eng Lian, a Chinese-language teacher at Zhonghua Girls School for over 40 years. Both of Lim's parents graduated from (the now defunct)
Nanyang University (Nantah).
[11]
At age seven, Lim enrolled in Montfort Junior School for his primary education. However, after being selected to study
Russianin
Moscow by the Singapore Government,
his father accepted a posting as First Secretary for the Singaporean mission to the Soviet Union, and Lim travelled with his family to live in Moscow.
[12] While in the USSR, Lim attended the
Anglo-American School of Moscow from 1971-1974.
After three years in the Soviet Union, Lim's parents became increasingly worried about the future of his children's education. They resolved for Lim's father to return to Singapore and transfer to the
civil service. Consequently, Lim returned to Montfort Junior School in
Primary 4. He continued there and went on to attend
Montfort Secondary School. After graduating from Montfort Secondary School, Lim entered
Hwa Chong Junior College, where he was elected as a student councillor, he took Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Maths for his A-levels.
After his graduation from Junior College, Lim Tean enlisted for two years of
conscription in the
Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and was selected for
Officer Cadet School (OCS) where he was commissioned as an artillery officer.
Legal Career
In 1985 after National Service, Lim went to England to study Law at the
University of Reading. He was conferred a
LLB in 1988 and resided in London as a qualified barrister at the Middle Temple.
[13]He was called to the
Bar of England and Wales in 1989. He further studied a Master of Law (
LLM) degree at the
University of Cambridge,
Gonville and Cauis College. Lim remained in Cambridge from 1989-1990.
Upon conferred his LLM, Lim returned to Singapore and was recruited by the noted law firm
Drew & Napier LLC in 1990. He was admitted to the Singapore Bar in June 1991. At Drew and Napier, Lim became the pupil of
Steven Chong, who became the Singaporean
Attorney-General from 2012-2014. Lim joined
Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP on 2 January 1998 and became its Head of the Admiralty & Shipping department in 2000. In 2007, Lim rose to an equity partner in Rajah and Tann, joining the ranks of such noted alumni as
VK Rajah, Steven Chong and
Sundaresh Menon.
Concurrently in 2007, Lim took a sabbatical from the legal practice to explore the business world. He founded an Indonesian mining company based out of
Sulawesi.
[14] His mining company became the first company to produce and ship iron-ore from the island.
[15][16] In 2017, Lim decided to return to Singapore and founded his law firm Carson Law Chambers.[
citation needed]
Bankruptcy Application
In September 2013, a Chinese national, Huang Min and Lim Tean entered into an agreement in which Mr Huang agreed to lend US$150,000 to Lim.
[17] In 2017, Huang filed a bankruptcy application against Lim last year when the sum remained unpaid even after the Chinese national won a court judgement to recover the loan. Lim argued that the sum was not a loan, but a down payment for the sale of iron ore to Huang's company in Hong Kong but failed to persuade a State Courts deputy registrar, who ordered Lim to repay the loan. On appeal, the decision was affirmed by a district judge, who noted that the language of Lim's e-mail amounted to a clear admission that the sum was a loan. Lim appealed to the High Court but withdrew the appeal on 15 January 2019. A day later, he issued two cheques
[18] to settle the debt and legal costs, ahead of a bankruptcy hearing scheduled on 17 January 2019.
Politics
Lim’s first involvement in politics was in 2011, when he joined the National Solidarity Party (NSP). However, he remained relatively inactive within the party until 2015, when the then Secretary-General
Hazel Poa resigned in protest over the party’s policy regarding multi-cornered contests.
[19]
Just a week before the 2015 General Elections, the National Solidarity Party approached Lim Tean and asked if he would serve as the new Secretary-General. Despite the relatively short time before the election, Lim Tean accepted and along with a team of candidates contested
Tampines GRC, receiving 24.9% of the votes cast. He is the only person to ever be appointed to the post of Secretary-General without having held any party office in Singapore.
[20] In May 2017, Lim Tean resigned as Secretary-General of the NSP, citing disagreements with the party.
[21] [22][23]
Despite lacking an official role in Singaporean politics, Lim continued to grow a significant social media following online. He became well known in Singapore for the various speeches and videos made between March 2017 and October 2018.
[24] In the summer of 2018, Lim began to call for an alliance of Singaporean opposition parties.
In 29 October 2018, Lim announced the founding of a new political party, Peoples Voice, headed by himself.
[25][26]
References
- ^ Yuen, Sin (2018-07-28). "7 opposition parties discuss forming a new coalition, invite former PAP MP Tan Cheng Bock to be leader". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ "Former opposition party chief Lim Tean forms new political party, People's Voice". TODAYonline. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ "Yahoo Poll: Will new Peoples Voice political party be good for Singapore's Opposition?". sg.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ "Former National Solidarity Party chief has applied to form new political party". sg.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ "Ex-NSP leader Lim Tean says new Peoples Voice party has been officially registered". sg.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ Lai, Linette (2018-12-26). "Blogger Leong Sze Hian files defence and countersuit against PM Lee". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2018-12-27.
- ^ Stolarchuk, Jewel. "BREAKING: Leong Sze Hian is suing PM Lee for "abusing the process of the court"". The Independent. Retrieved 2018-12-27.
- ^ "Funds raising for Leong Sze Hian's defence and countersuit against PM Lee; Lee Hsien Yang, one of first donors". The Online Citizen. 2018-12-26. Retrieved 2018-12-27.
- ^ "Blogger Leong Sze Hian files defence and counterclaim against PM Lee". TODAYonline. Retrieved 2018-12-27.
- ^ "Blogger Leong Sze Hian files defence and counterclaim in response to PM Lee Hsien Loong's defamation suit". sg.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2018-12-27.
- ^ "People's Association (PA) Executive Director Lim Chin Tiong …". www.nas.gov.sg. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ "Bringing Different Communities Together: The People's Association Story" (PDF). www.clc.gov.sg. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ "NSP chief Lim Tean quits after less than 2 years". TODAYonline. Retrieved 2018-12-26.
- ^ "Opposition leader Lim Tean tells TODAY to do its job and bring up pressing issues faced by S'poreans". The Online Citizen. 2018-12-20. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ Alkhatib, Shaffiq (2018-12-18). "Former NSP chief Lim Tean issued writ of summons over unpaid loan of US$150,000 which he disputed". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ Alkhatib, Shaffiq (2018-12-19). "Former NSP chief Lim Tean issued writ of summons over unpaid loan". The New Paper. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ Lum, Selina. "Opposition politician Lim Tean avoids bankruptcy over $200k loan". Straits Times. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
- ^ "Chinese businessman withdraws bankruptcy application against Lim Tean". todayonline.com. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
- ^ Sim, Walter (2015-08-19). "NSP acting sec-gen Hazel Poa resigns, says she strongly disagrees with decision to contest MacPherson". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ "Lim Tean announces resignation from National Solidarity Party". The Online Citizen. 2017-05-22. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ "NSP chief Lim Tean quits after less than 2 years". TODAYonline. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ Cheong, Danson (2017-05-23). "NSP sec-gen Lim Tean quits party". The Straits Times. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ "NSP gets new acting secretary-general". TODAYonline. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ Rajah, Obbana. "This Is Not Masak Masak! It Has Affected 1.5 Million Singaporeans!! : Ex-NSP Chief Lim Tean on SingHealth data breach". The Independent. Retrieved 2018-12-24.
- ^ "Former opposition party chief Lim Tean forms new political party, People's Voice". TODAYonline. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
- ^ Rajah, Obbana. "Is the People's Voice Party planning to contest at PM Lee's Ang Mo Kio GRC?". theindependent.sg. Retrieved 23 August 2019.