Early years Lim Yew Hock was born to
Kinmen Hokkiens in
Singapore of the Straits Settlements on 15 October 1914. He was a part of the third generation of
overseas Chinese in Singapore, and son of Lim Teck Locke. Lim was the eldest son in his family and has a brother and two sisters. He attended English language schools; the Pearl's Hill School and
Outram School from a young age. He was only 37 years old when he died, so the assets he left behind was put under supervision of Lim's uncle, while Lim was being mistreated. In March 1947, he became the first Singaporean to receive the
British Council scholarship, to study local trade unions in Britain. With his trade union background, Lim joined the newly formed
Singaporean Progressive Party (PP) led by
Tan Chye Cheng to start off his political career. Lim did not participate in the election, but was appointed as an unofficial member in April, representing the trade union in the council. In May 1951, Lim founded the
Singapore Trades Union Congress (STUC) and appointed himself as chairman. 25 out of 32 seats would be elected by the general populace, four seats would be allocated to
Governor-appointed unofficial members, three seats taken by
ex officio members, respectively the
Chief Secretary,
Attorney-General and Financial Secretary, while the remaining seat would be for the unofficial Speaker of the Assembly nominated by the Governor. The existing Executive Council was replaced by the newly formed
Council of Ministers, chaired by the Governor, composed of the three
ex officio members (Chief Secretary, Attorney General, Financial Secretary) and the remaining six unofficial members, inclusive of the Chief Minister and five other members from the Assembly. , representing
Havelock constituency, and was appointed Minister for Labour and Welfare. The photograph shows the former
Legislative Assembly House of Singapore In April 1955, in the subsequent
Legislative Assembly election, the Marshall-led LF won in the election with 10 seats. After the election, Marshall became Singapore's first Chief Minister, but as the LF did not obtain
absolute majority, he formed a coalition government with the Singapore Alliance, and appointed two pro-LF unofficial nominated members into the Assembly under the help of Governor
Sir John Nicoll. Lim was elected as
Havelock constituency's Assemblyman. He was the only popularly elected Legislative Councillor who transited over to the Legislative Assembly. Then, workers were
on strikes one after another, often escalating into civil unrest incidents, so Lim, as Labour and Welfare Minister, had to meditate and assist in subsiding such strikes. May–July 1955
Singapore Harbour Board Staff Association strikes, and also strikes from hotels,
City Council of Singapore,
Singapore Traction Company, etc. The Hock Lee bus strikes turned into a riot in May 1955, killing four and injuring many, including two police officers who died. Soon after, Marshall led an all-party delegation with Governor
Sir Robert Black to
London,
UK in March 1956, to negotiate with the British for self-rule in Singapore. Lim's Council of Minister was similar to that of Marshall's. Besides continuing to serve as Labour and Welfare Minister, while the other members include his deputy
Abdul Hamid bin Haji Jumat (Minister for Local Government, Lands and Housing),
J. M. Jumabhoy (Minister for Commerce and Industry),
Francis Thomas (Minister for Communications and Works),
Chew Swee Kee (Minister for Education), and
A. J. Braga (Minister for Health). In March 1958, Lim was chosen as LF's president. Though
Sir Robert Black, the then-Governor, had taken a more open and friendly approach to self-governance for Singapore, as compared to his predecessor
Sir John Nicoll, he believed in gradual self-governance. If the handover of power were to be carried out too hastily, self-governing political leaders might not have sufficient experience in governing. in October 1956 broke out at
The Chinese High School When Marshall led a delegation in March to May 1956 to negotiate talks with the British for self-rule, Black emphasised the priority of internal security issues, In addition, alleged pro-communist organisations such as the Singapore Women's Association, the Chinese Musical Gong Society and the Singapore Chinese Middle School Students Union were banned by the authorities. The series of raids prompted the teachers and students from Chinese schools in October 1956 to launch
sit-in protests at
Chung Cheng High School and
The Chinese High School, eventually
escalating into riots. Hundreds were arrested, including
assemblymen Lim Chin Siong,
Fong Swee Suan and
Devan Nair, who were
radicals from the opposition
PAP. They were released when the PAP came to power in 1959. They reached a consensus in April, while Lim signed a new constitutional agreement with
Secretary of State for the Colonies Alan Lennox-Boyd on behalf of Singapore. Representatives from Singapore drafted a new constitution; In August 1958, the
British Parliament passed the State of Singapore Act, 1958. In recognition of his performance, the
University of Malaya conferred Lim the Honorary
Doctor of Laws degree in September 1957, Nanyang was the first
university with
Chinese as its main
medium of instruction, which was funded and set up by
Tan Lark Sye and other Singaporean businessmen with
Fujian ancestry in 1953. However, Nanyang had been disfavoured by the Government due to the latter's
English-first policies and the former's alleged
CPM involvement.
Loss of support Even though Lim had successfully achieved
self-rule from the British, he lost the support of the Chinese
majority due to his tough stance in the crackdown of teachers and students from Chinese schools. There was a rapid decline in support for the Lim's
LF due to several other factors: His government was not able to crack down the rapid growth of
secret societies, and gang fights occurred frequently, resulting in the deterioration of law and order; The lives of the people had not improved and there was no economic growth; The
PAP exposed
Chew Swee Kee, the then-Education Minister in early 1959 for being accused of accepting large sums of money. Conversely, under the leadership of Chairman
Toh Chin Chye and Secretary-General
Lee Kuan Yew, the PAP, then opposition, won the support of the people by accusing the LF as being the puppet of the British Government. In the following year, the LF was defeated once again by the PAP in the
Kallang by-election held in July. In November 1958, Lim founded the
Singapore People's Alliance (SPA), with himself as chairman. However, he failed in his attempts to re-gain support from the people. Under the new constitution, the
legislature was officially dissolved on 31 March 1959. On 3 June 1959, he officially stepped down as Chief Minister. A reporter in
Sydney claimed to have seen Lim taking a domestic flight to Sydney, with the alias of 'Hawk'. There were also rumours that he patronised the Paradise Club in
Kings Cross, New South Wales and Sandra Nelson, a 19-year-old
stripper was his all-time favourite.
Malaysian Parliament opposition members even invited her to Malaysia to answer queries about her relationship with Lim, which she declined; but she said that she could send a pile of photographs of her to them if they wanted. Lim resigned from the Foreign Ministry in August 1968, putting an end to his political career in Malaysia. According to his autobiography published after his death, he chose to go missing because his relationship with his wife had broken down and he was emotionally overwhelmed. Despite having made a full recovery, he had occasional health problems. For instance, before his disappearance in June 1966, he had undergone two months of medical treatment earlier on. He died on 30 November 1984 at his Jeddah home, at the age of 70, and was buried in Mecca that night. His autobiography,
Reflections, was published after his death in
Kuala Lumpur in 1986. ==Legacy and reputation==