Sylvia Lim

Sylvia Lim Swee Lian
At a Workers' Party of Singapore rally at Bedok Stadium on 30 April 2011 for the Singaporean general election, 2011
Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 May 2011
Preceded by	Lim Hwee Hua
Majority	12,460(9.42%)
Member of Parliament for Non-Constituency
In office 6 May 2006 – 7 May 2011
Preceded by	Steve Chia
Succeeded by	Lina Chiam Yee Jenn Jong Gerald Giam
Personal details
Born	(1965-03-28) 28 March 1965 Singapore
Nationality	Singaporean
Political party	Workers' Party
Alma mater	National University of Singapore University College London
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Lawyer, law lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic
Religion	Roman Catholic[1]

Sylvia Lim Swee Lian (simplified Chinese: 林瑞莲; traditional Chinese: 林瑞蓮; pinyin: Lín Ruì Lián; born 28 March 1965) is a Singaporean politician, lawyer and academic. She is currently the Chairperson of the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and an elected Member of Parliament (MP) representing Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (Aljunied GRC). She is in charge of Serangoon division.^[2] Lim previously served in the Singapore Police Force and taught as a law lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic. She is currently a senior associate in Peter Low LLC.

Education and early career

Lim had her early education at CHIJ Our Lady of Good Counsel, CHIJ St Joseph's Convent and National Junior College. She then read law at the National University of Singapore (NUS), graduating with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) in 1988. She obtained a Master of Laws from the University of London (University College London) in 1989,^[3] and was called to the Bar in Singapore in 1991.

During her undergraduate and postgraduate studies, Lim did volunteer work with the Spastic Children's Association, Salvation Army Home for the Aged and University College Hospital. She later did voluntary editorial work for the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme of the Law Society of Singapore.

In 1991, Lim joined the Singapore Police Force for three years as a police inspector. She initially did investigation work at the Central Police Division Headquarters, and then became a staff officer under the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Lim joined the law firm M/s Lim & Lim in 1994. She handled both civil and criminal cases in the High Court, Subordinate Courts and Juvenile Court between 1994 and 1998.

Lim joined Temasek Polytechnic in 1998 as a law lecturer. She also became the Manager of Professional Development and Manager of Continuing Education and Training at the polytechnic's School of Business. Her main areas of teaching and research are in civil and criminal procedure, criminal justice and private security. During her time at Temasek Polytechnic, Lim has contributed to the volume on Criminal Procedure for Halsbury's Laws of Singapore (2003), a legal practitioners' reference series, and has also collected and published primary research on private security in Singapore.

In March 2006, Temasek Polytechnic modified its staffing policies to enable Lim to run as a candidate in the general election without having to resign her teaching position at the institution.

Political career

Lim joined the Workers' Party (WP) in 2001 and quickly rose to become the Chairman of the party in 2003.

2006 General Election

At the 2006 general election, Lim was a member of the WP team which contested the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (Aljunied GRC). The WP team lost to the team from the governing People's Action Party (PAP) by 58,593 votes (43.9%) to 74,843 (56.1%).^[4] This was the highest percentage of the vote garnered by any losing opposition candidates in the election, and therefore meant that the WP was entitled to select one of its team members from Ajunied GRC to become a Non-constituency Member of Parliament. The party chose Lim to become its NCMP.^[5]

During her term in Parliament, Lim spoke out against ministers' salaries, and also against means testing in hospitals, which resulted in the PAP deferring a decision on this for a period of two years from 2006 to 2008. In addition, she also called for a reduction in the Goods and Services Tax, arguing that it was a regressive tax, and urged the government to do more to help retrenched workers.

2011 General Election

In the 2011 general election, Lim again contested in Aljunied GRC, along with Muhamad Faisal Manap, Pritam Singh, Chen Show Mao and party leader Low Thia Khiang, who vacated his seat of Hougang to lead the charge in Aljunied. Lim was returned as an elected Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC after her team won 54.71% of the votes (54.72% including overseas votes), the first time that an opposition party won a GRC since the system's introduction on 1 June 1988. In addition, the defeat of the incumbent PAP team marked the first time in Singapore's electoral history that a serving cabinet minister lost his seat. She has been assigned to look after the Serangoon ward previously held by the PAP's Lim Hwee Hua and has also been appointed Chairman of the combined Aljunied-Hougang Town Council.

Lim's victory also made her the first female opposition MP in Singapore's post-independence history.

One week after the election, she announced that she would be resigning from her lecturing job at Temasek Polytechnic after 12 years of service. She said that her political activities had already led to her having to take significant time off from her teaching duties in the past, and that she did not think it would be fair to the polytechnic if she stayed on seeing as her Parliamentary duties would take up even more of her time.

Since then she has returned to the legal profession and is now a senior associate with Peter Low LLC.

Current appointments

Lim's current appointments are as follows:

• Chairman, Workers' Party of Singapore
• Co-Chairman, Aljunied Constituency Committee (AJCC)
• Chairman, Aljunied-Hougang Town Council

References

External links

• Sylvia Lim's CV at the Singapore Parliament website