Low Thia Khiang

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Low Thia Khiang (Traditional Chinese: 劉程強, Simplified Chinese: 刘程强, Pinyin: Liú Chéngqiáng) is an opposition Member of Parliament for Hougang, Singapore since 1991. Born in 1956, he is married with two sons and a daughter.

[edit] Background

He studied at Lik Teck Primary School and Chung Cheng High School (Main) for his primary and secondary school education. He graduated from Nanyang University in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Chinese Language & Literature, and Government & Public Administration. The following year, he read Chinese Studies at the National University of Singapore and graduated with a BA (Honours) degree.

In 1981, Thia Khiang enrolled at the Institute of Education and graduated in 1982 with a Diploma in Education. He became a teacher for a few years before venturing into his own business.

Believing that joining an opposition party would increase democracy in Singapore, Thia Khiang joined The Workers' Party of Singapore in 1982 and was subsequently appointed its Organising Secretary. In 1984 he was J. B. Jeyaretnam's election agent for the Anson Constituency. In 1988 he represented The Workers' Party in a television debate with the PAP government where he engaged the late Singapore ex-president Ong Teng Cheong and current Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on the issue of the elected presidency. In the general election of the same year, Low together with Gopalan Nair and Lim Lye Soon, he contested in the Tiong Bahru GRC and the team obtained 43.3% of the votes.

In 1991, Thia Khiang, as The Workers' Party's Assistant Secretary-General, won the Hougang constituency and was elected into Parliament.

In 1992, he was appointed by the then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong as a member of the Cost Review Committee. After a year of intensive study, Thia Khiang decided to produce his own independent report as he had a different perspective from the other members of the committee.

In 1997 Low was re-elected as the MP of Hougang in the 1997 general elections. In 2001, he became the Secretary-General for the Workers' Party, replacing J. B. Jeyaretnam, this caused some of the J. B. Jeyaretnam loyalists to leave the party.

As of the 2006 general elections, Low and Chiam See Tong are the only two opposition members of the 84-seat Parliament.

In the polling day Coverage of the 2006 election on May 6, 2006, the parliamentary elections department announced that Low managed to secure 62.74% of the votes in Hougang against his PAP opponent Eric Low. Low's votes had increased by 7.76% from the 2001 election.

[edit] Current posts in Workers' Party

• Secretary-General, The Workers' Party of Singapore
• Chairman, Hougang Constituency Committee (HGCC)
• Chairman, Hougang Town Council (HGTC)

Election	Seats	Voters	Party		Candidate(s)	Votes	Votes %
Electoral record of Low Thia Khiang
Singapore general election, 1991	1	21,476	WP		Low Thia Khiang	10,621	52.8
			PAP		Tang Guan Seng	9,487	47.2
Singapore general election, 1997	1	24,423	WP		Low Thia Khiang	13,458	58.0
			PAP		Heng Chee How	9,736	42.0
Singapore general election, 2001	1	23,320	WP		Low Thia Khiang	12,070	55.0
			PAP		Eric Low Siak Meng	9,882	45.0
Singapore general election, 2006	1	23,741	WP		Low Thia Khiang	13,989	62.74
			PAP		Eric Low Siak Meng	8,308	37.26