Lee made his political debut in the
1968 general election as a PAP candidate contesting in Farrer Park SMC and won 84.91% of the vote. Lee contested in Farrer Park SMC again during the
1972 general election and won 73.8% of the vote. During the
1976 general election, Lee contested in Farrer Park SMC and won by an uncontested walkover. In the
1980 general election, when Farrer Park SMC was abolished, Lee contested Tanah Merah SMC and won by an uncontested walkover. In 1972, Lee was appointed Minister of Education and was tasked to overhaul the school and university system. In 1975, in a bid to clear political and cultural obstacles, Prime Minister
Lee Kuan Yew appointed Lee as Vice-Chancellor of
Nanyang University, taking over from Hsueh Shou Sheng. Lee only served as Vice-Chancellor from March 1975 to August 1976 after failing to convert the Chinese-medium Nanyang University into an English-language university, as required by Lee. From 1975 to 1976, Lee briefly served as Minister for Science and Technology. In 1984, Lee left politics and started his own engineering firm, Dr. Lee Chiaw Meng & Associates. ==Personal life==