View source for Lee Siew Choh

{{short description|Singaporean politician (1917–2002)}}

{{More citations needed|date=August 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Lee Siew Choh
| native_name         = {{nobold|李绍祖}}
| image               = Dr Lee Siew Choh.jpg
| caption             = 
| office              = Member of the [[Legislative Assembly of Singapore]] for [[Queenstown Constituency|Queenstown]]
| parliament          = Singapore
| term_start          = 30 May 1959
| term_end            = 21 September 1963
| predecessor         = Lee Choon Eng
| successor           = [[Jek Yeun Thong]]
| office2             = [[Non-constituency Member of Parliament|Non-constituency Member]] of the [[7th Parliament of Singapore]]
| term_start2         = 16 September 1988
| term_end2           = 14 August 1991
| predecessor2        = ''Vacant''
| successor2          = ''Vacant''
| pronunciation       = 
| birth_name          = Lee Siew Choh
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=y|1917|11|1}}
| birth_place         = [[Kuala Lumpur]], [[Selangor]], [[Federated Malay States]], [[British Malaya]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=y|2002|7|18|1917|11|1}}
| death_place         = [[Singapore]]
| resting_place       = Mount Vernon Sanctuary, [[Singapore]]
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| citizenship         = [[Singaporean]]
| education           = 
| alma_mater          = [[Victoria Institution]] <br> [[King Edward VII College of Medicine]]
| occupation          = Physician, politician
| profession          = 
| party               = [[Workers' Party (Singapore)|Workers' Party]] (1988–1993)<br />[[Barisan Sosialis]] (1961–1988)<br /> [[People's Action Party]] (1957–1961)
| otherparty          = <!--For additional political affiliations-->
| height              = <!-- "X cm", "X m"  or "X ft Y in" plus optional reference (conversions are automatic) -->
| spouse              = {{marriage|Kathleen Fam-Lee|1943|18 July 2002}}
| relations           = [[Michael Fam]]<br />(brother-in-law)<br />[[Ivan Polunin]]<br />(brother-in-law)
| children            = 4
| parents             = 
| known_for           = 
| salary              = 
| cabinet             = 
| committees          = 
| portfolio           = 
| awards              = <!-- For civilian awards - appears as "Awards" if |mawards= is not set -->
| blank1              = 
| data1               = 
| data2               = 
| data3               = 
| data4               = 
| data5               = 
| signature           = 
| signature_alt       = 
| website             = 
}}
{{Infobox person
| module             = {{Infobox Chinese|child=yes|hide=no
| t           = 李紹祖
|s=李绍祖
|j=Lei5 Siu6 Zou2
| p           = Lǐ Shàozǔ}}
}}

{{family name hatnote|[[Li (surname)|Lee]]|lang=Chinese}}
'''Lee Siew Choh''' ({{zh|s=李绍祖|t=李紹祖|j=Lei5 Siu6 Zou2|p=Lǐ Shàozǔ}}; 1 November 1917 – 18 July 2002) was a Singaporean politician and physician. He was the [[Parliament of Singapore#Members of Parliament|Member of the Legislative Assembly]] for [[Queenstown Constituency]] between 1959 and 1963 and the [[non-constituency Member of Parliament]] (NCMP) of the [[7th Parliament of Singapore|7th Parliament]] between 1988 and 1991.{{Efn|Two NCMP seats were offered; however, [[Francis Seow]], who had been slated to be the other NCMP, was expelled before the opening of the 7th Parliament after being convicted for tax evasion.}}

Lee first entered Parliament during the [[1959 Singaporean general election|1959 general election]] representing Queenstown in [[Singapore in the Straits Settlements|colonial Singapore]], consistent with the initial rise to power of the now-dominant [[People's Action Party]] (PAP); however, he left for [[Barisan Sosialis]] (BS) in 1961 when it was created as a defection from the PAP. After BS merged with the [[Workers' Party (Singapore)|Workers' Party]] (WP) in 1988, Lee stood as a WP candidate for [[Eunos Group Representation Constituency]] (GRC) during the [[1988 Singaporean general election|general election in the same year]], becoming Singapore's first NCMP after obtaining the best result among defeated opposition candidates. He remained in the position until the [[1991 Singaporean general election|1991 general election]].

==Biography==
Lee was born in [[Kuala Lumpur]] (then located in [[Selangor]] in the [[Federated Malay States]], the precursor to [[Malaysia]]) to Chinese parents of [[Cantonese people|Cantonese]] descent and was educated at [[Victoria Institution]], the city's premier school. He came to Singapore in 1934 and was trained as a medical doctor at [[King Edward VII College of Medicine]] (now the [[National University of Singapore]]'s Medical Faculty). 

After graduating in 1942, Lee joined [[Kandang Kerbau Hospital]] as a doctor. He then married a volunteer nurse, Kathleen Fam Yin Oi (1919 –⁠ 20 April 2017) who was also the elder sister of [[Michael Fam]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=23 July 2002 |title=Lee Siew Choh remembered as caring doctor and family man |work=[[The Straits Times]] |page=5}}</ref> a fellow [[Chinese Singaporeans|Singaporean Chinese]] of [[Hakka]] descent and [[Malaysian Chinese]] ancestry hailing from the town of [[Sandakan]], [[Sabah]], Malaysia located in [[Borneo]] island in 1943 during the [[Japanese occupation of Singapore]], he was later sent to work as a medical officer at the [[Thai-Burmese border]] for two years, where the [[Death Railway]] was constructed.

Lee was the secretary of the [[British Medical Association]] (Southern Branch).<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sit |first=Yin Fong |date=16 October 1953 |title='VOLUNTEERS' MAY ANSWER NIGHT CALLS |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/freepress19531016-1.2.22 |access-date=18 September 2025 |work=[[The Singapore Free Press]] |page=3 |via=[[NewspaperSG]]}}</ref>

== Political career ==
In 1959, Lee contested in the [[1959 Singaporean general election|Singaporean general election]] for the [[Legislative Assembly of Singapore|Legislative Assembly]] under the PAP banner for the [[Queenstown Constituency|Queenstown]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 April 1959 |title=194 TO CONTEST COLONY GENERAL ELECTIONS |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitsbudget19590429-1.2.80 |access-date=18 September 2025 |work=[[The Straits Budget]] |page=16 |via=[[NewspaperSG]]}}</ref> He was successfully elected and served as the [[Parliamentary Secretary]] for Home Affairs in 1960. In 1961, Lee and 13 other members of the assembly broke away from the PAP and formed the Barisan Sosialis. Lee was noted for his pro-[[Left-wing politics|leftist]] stance and oratory skills. In 1961, he made the longest speech in the history of Singapore's Legislative Assembly which lasted seven hours on the subject of Singapore's proposed merger with [[Federation of Malaya|Malaya]]. Lee led the party in the [[1963 Singaporean general election|1963 elections]], in which they won 13 of the 51 seats, although he himself failed to gain a seat.

In 1988, Socialist Front merged with the [[Workers' Party of Singapore|Workers' Party]]<ref>{{cite web|title=He's trying to rewrite history|url=http://ourstory.asia1.com.sg/merger/headline/yakref3.html|publisher=Singapore Press Holdings|access-date=8 January 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706003916/http://ourstory.asia1.com.sg/merger/headline/yakref3.html|archive-date=6 July 2015}}</ref> and Lee stood as a Workers' Party candidate in [[Eunos Group Representation Constituency|Eunos GRC]] at the [[1988 Singaporean general election]], along with [[Francis Seow]] and Mohd Khalit bin Mohd Baboo. They lost to the PAP's team in the constituency by 49.1% of the votes to 50.9%. As the Workers' Party's team in Eunos had garnered a higher percentage of the vote than any other opposition losing candidates, the party was eligible to nominate two members of its team from Eunos to become Non-constituency MPs. The party had refused to nominate NCMPs in the past, but this time they nominated Lee and Seow to become NCMPs. Seow was subsequently accused of [[espionage]] and fled to the [[United States]] before he could take up his NCMP seat. Lee became Singapore's first-ever NCMP,<ref>{{cite web|title=Lee Siew Choh, Dr|url=http://www.parl.gov.sg/mp/lee-siew-choh-dr|publisher=GOVERNMENT OF SINGAPORE|access-date=8 January 2015|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150112014021/http://www.parl.gov.sg/mp/lee-siew-choh-dr|archive-date=12 January 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> serving until the 1991 general election. In Parliament, he raised several issues, including the [[Internal Security Act (Singapore)|Internal Security Act]], living costs and welfare.

Lee again stood in Eunos GRC at the [[1991 Singaporean general election]]. He and fellow party members [[Jufrie Mahmood]], Neo Choon Aik and Wee Han Kim again lost narrowly to the PAP's team by 47.6% of the votes to 52.4%. However no NCMP seats were offered following that election as the opposition parties won a combined total of four elected seats.

Lee left the Workers' Party in 1993, citing differences with the party's leader, [[Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam]].

== Personal life ==
Lee married Kathleen Fam and had three sons.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dr. Lee Siew Choh has left us|url=http://www.thinkcentre.org/article.cfm?ArticleID=1591|access-date=8 January 2015|website=Think Centre}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Tien |first=Jenny |title=Lee Siew Choh |url=https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/article-detail?cmsuuid=29c5db7c-b9ca-44c8-9c3c-1237f43daa2c |access-date=2018-06-13 |website=[[National Library Board]]}}</ref> His eldest son died in 1992.

Lee died of [[lung cancer]] on 18 July 2002.<ref>{{cite web|title=Lee Siew Choh|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_706_2005-01-12.html|access-date=8 January 2015|publisher=National Library Board}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Seow|first1=Francis T.|title=Tribute to Dr Lee Siew Choh 1917-2002|url=http://www.singapore-window.org/sw02/020723fs.htm|access-date=8 January 2015}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Lim Chin Siong]]
*[[Chia Thye Poh]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-par|sg}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Lee Choon Eng]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Member of Parliament]] for [[Queenstown, Singapore|Queenstown]]|years=1959 &ndash; 1963}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Jek Yeun Thong]]}}
{{s-new|first|reason=New office}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Non-Constituency Member of Parliament]]|years=1988 &ndash; 1997}}
{{s-vac|next=[[Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam|J.B. Jeyaretnam]] (1997 – 2001)}}
{{end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Siew-Choh}}
[[Category:People from Selangor]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of Singapore]]
[[Category:Singaporean people of Chinese descent]]
[[Category:Singaporean Non-constituency Members of Parliament]]
[[Category:Workers' Party (Singapore) politicians]]
[[Category:Barisan Sosialis politicians]]
[[Category:People's Action Party politicians]]
[[Category:Singaporean people of Cantonese descent]]
[[Category:Malaysian emigrants to Singapore]]
[[Category:People who lost Malaysian citizenship]]
[[Category:Naturalised citizens of Singapore]]
[[Category:1917 births]]
[[Category:Malaysian people of Chinese descent]]
[[Category:2002 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Singaporean physicians]]
[[Category:Malaysian people of Cantonese descent]]
[[Category:Medical doctors from Kuala Lumpur]]