The Terminal Chief Minister

• Published in: Singapore pp. 131 - 158
• Main Author: Lee, Edwin Siew Cheng
• Format: Book Chapter Reference
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Institute of Southeast Asian Studies 24.07.2008
• Subjects: History (general), world history; History - other areas; Minister of Labour Lim Yew Hock; Lennox-Boyd, Alan; Chinese-educated; Internal Security Council; Chinese High School; Marshall, David; Toh Chin Chye; pro-communists; University of Malaya Students' Union; London Talks; communist revolution's roots; Cairnhill; Chang Yuen Tong; Maoism; The Plen; Fong Swee Suan; Puthucheary, James; Labour Front; Nanyang University; Nanyang University Students' Union; united front; Cheng Yuet Tong; communists; Ong Pang Boon; Singapore Chinese Middle School Students' Union; Chinese diaspora; Chung Cheng High School; Lim Chin Joo; Nair, C.V. Devan; Lee Kuan Yew; Goh Keng Swee; Singapore; Liberal Socialists; Lim Yew Hock; Singapore General Employees' Union; trade unionism; Malayan Communist Party (MCP); China; general election; Lim Chin Siong; Chew Swee Kee; Thomas, Francis; Black, Robert; Workers' Party; Hokkien Association support for Chinese High School students; Singapore Factory and Shop Workers; Tan Lark Sye; Chinese schools; Radio and Wireless Technicians' Union; People's Action Party (PAP); Singapore People's Alliance (SPA); Chinese-educated workers; Woodhull, Sandrasegeram; Labour Code; Labour Front-Alliance; Singapore Trade Union Congress (STUC); Singapore revolution

Lim Yew Hock succeeded Marshall as chief minister in June 1956 and served for the remainder of the tenure of the Rendel Constitution. He went out as chief minister together with the constitution in June 1959.A Straits Chinese educated in English in local schools, he had worked successively as a clerk, stenographer, private secretary, and trade unionist. He was the general secretary and then president of the Singapore Trade Union Congress (STUC). He went on a British Council scholarship to England and Wales to study the trade union and cooperative movements. The unions grouped under his STUC represented the English-educated workforce of multiracial Singapore, comprising mainly the Chinese, Malays, Indians, and Eurasians. Lim hoped to bring these workers into a “new era” of trade unionism. He “introduced a new Labour Code to give them a better deal”.But for all his striving for modernity, Lim was also prone to thinking and acting in a traditional Chinese way. He was paternalistic, and set great store on building consensus and bridging differences. When he became chief minister, he chose to hold concurrently the post of Minister of Labour and Social Welfare (his previous portfolio) so as to continue using his personal influence to settle trade disputes, calling both sides to his presence, and making it impossible for them to refuse a compromise without serious embarrassment or loss of face.He was capable of behaving like a triad boss. Francis Thomas recalled: “There was an attempt to intimidate PAP helpers by a thug attack” during one by-election.Chinese high school student rebels soon got a taste of his robust methods. On one occasion, students in a certain Chinese high school decided to boycott classes and camp out in their school field instead. Lim requested the governor to send for the police commissioner. He then got the police commissioner, who was to take no action, to cooperate with his plan. “From my own sources,” Lim wrote, “I found out that there were only two really active ringleaders in the particular school. I had their photographs, their names, and their addresses. I selected two tough and hefty men and assigned them the task of assaulting and frightening the two ringleaders away from the school”.