Lim Yew Hock

Tun Lim Yew Hock ( Pinyin : Lin Youfu; * 1914 in Singapore ; † November 30, 1984 in Saudi Arabia ) was a Singaporean politician and, between 1956 and 1959, the second and last Chief Minister of the then British Crown Colony of Singapore.

Life

Lim initially worked as a trade unionist and, among other things, represented on the legislative council of a trade union. In 1955 he became a member of the legislative assembly and represented the constituency of Havelock in this until 1959 .

On April 6, 1955, he was appointed minister in his cabinet by Chief Minister David Saul Marshall , and on June 8, 1956, he became Marshall's successor as Chief Minister, after he had resigned from the United Kingdom because of the failed talks on Singapore's sovereignty .

In 1957 he took part in a conference on the Singapore Constitution in Lancaster House in London , where he was granted extensive self-government . During his tenure, he suppressed both communist and anti-British movements in Singapore.

In the elections to parliament in 1959, the Singapore People's Alliance led by him suffered a defeat against the People's Action Party (PAP) led by Lee Kuan Yew , who then became Singapore's first prime minister on June 5, 1959 . However, he himself was again appointed member of parliament and now represented the constituency of Cairnhill as the successor to David Saul Marshall until 1963 .

In 1963 he was appointed by Prime Minister Lee as High Commissioner of the Federation of Malaysia, of which Singapore was a member, in Australia and held this position until the end of the Federation on August 9, 1965.

Lim later converted to Islam and settled in the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah , where he worked for the Islamic Development Bank located there.

Web links

• Biography on rulers.org (English)