50 Singaporeans you need to know

This National Day, we give you an education.

Tan Xing Qi| Jeanette Tan| August 09, 01:22 AM

1. Angeline Yap

angeline-yap-lang-tong

Why you need to know who she is: She boldly appeared in this very raunchy, very violent and very dark film — which, by the way, censors passed uncut, albeit with an R21 rating, for last year's Singapore International Film Festival.

Check out this very frank interview.

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2. Yamaguchi Taro

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Why you need to know who he is: He's been the mainstay cobbler next to Yishun bus interchange for the past 21 years. (By the way, his Japanese name comes from his Japanese father, but he is Singaporean, all right.) He's also fluent in English, Malay and Mandarin.

Not badass enough for you? His daughter's joining him in the business, too.

 

3. Josephus Tan

josephus tan 1

Why you need to know who he is: Because he's Singapore's Pro-Bono King — the lawyer who spends the most number of hours doing pro-bono work every year. Also, because of his very epic story that was turned into a drama series.

 

4. Melvin Chen

linguistic-singaporean

Why you need to know who he is: He starred in a badass film about teenage gangsters called "15", even cutting himself in front of the camera — Royston Tan's film, in fact, was based on his, and his friends', lives too.

 

5. Michael Palmer

michael palmer Source

Why you need to know who he is: He's our disgraced former Speaker of Parliament who resigned after being caught having an affair with one of his grassroots helpers. This triggered the 2013 Punggol East by-election, which propelled the Workers' Party's Lee Li Lian into parliament.

And while we are on the topic...

 

6. Yaw Shin Leong

yaw shin leong Source: YouTube

Why you need to know who he is: Because he is essentially the Michael Palmer of the Workers' Party. Disgraced when he was caught having an affair, and vacated his single seat, triggering the 2012 Hougang by-election that brought current MP Png Eng Huat into parliament.

 

7. Lim Chin

lim chin sleague

Why you need to know who he is: Because he's not the greatest CEO of the perenially-sad S. League, who makes ageist decisions and gets forced to make U-turns on them when players vehemently protest.

 

8. Zeng Guoyan

zeng-guoyan

Why you need to know who he is: Because he is a former acupuncturist-turned-politician (if we can call him that), has a pet parrot, and is a moderately amusing fixture at pretty much every single election and/or national event where he may get people's attention (the most recent one was at the late Lee Kuan Yew's memorial at Singapore General Hospital).

 

9. Ooi Boon Ewe

ooi boon ewe Source: YouTube

Why you need to know who he is: Slightly similar to Zeng (refer to number 8), Ooi is a perennial election candidate, who has since 1999 been trying and failing to run for Singapore's presidency. Little-known fact: he actually set up his own political party — four days after the nomination day for the 2006 election.

 

10. Kuo Pao Kun

Kuo-Pao-Kun

Why you need to know who he is: The late Kuo Pao Kun was regarded as the pioneer of Singapore literature and theatre and wrote 24 plays that included The Coffin is Too Big for the Hole. Interestingly, he was detained under the Internal Security Act for alleged communist activites in March 1976 and was released four and a half years later.

 

11. Paddy Chew

paddy chew

Why you need to know who he is: He's the first Singaporean to publicly come out as being HIV-positive in December 1998. He died in August 1999.

 

12. ASP Ryan Koh

Photo by Jeanette Tan Photo by Jeanette Tan

Why you need to know who he is: He's the living, breathing, 3D Yandao policeman, the real-life person whom all those cardboard standees are modelled after.

 

13. Roland Tay

Roland_Tay

Why you need to know who he is: The 70-year-old is well-known for providing free funerals for murder victims (including Liu Hong Mei and Huang Na) and the poor.

 

14. Hoon Thing Leong

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Why you need to know who he is: The owner of Kim San Leng coffee shop chain, Hoon went from coffee boy to Coffee Shop King. He also co-founded The Bosses' Network, where SME bosses come together to share knowledge and network.

 

15. Phey Yew Kok

PheyYewKok1

Why you need to know who he is: He's the "One That Got Away" — the PAP MP who was rising up the ranks, a promising "potential minister" etc etc who suddenly (now allegedly) grabbed himself some money (a huge sum in those days, certainly) and ran away for more than three decades, until he randomly decided to return home to face the music. Case still ongoing.

 

16. Grace Quek (aka Annabel Chong)

Source Source

Why you need to know who she is: She's a Raffles Girls' School (also a GEPer, by the way) and Hwa Chong alumna, and a King's College law scholar, who also happens to be a legendary former porn star — the first, ever, to have sex with 251 men over 10 hours for "The World's Biggest Gang Bang" in 1995.

Now, she flies under the radar, and was last reported by The New Paper to be a web designer in California.

 

17. Tan Pin Pin

tan-pin-pin

Why you need to know who she is: She's a pretty daring (and also awesome, because she's won a lot of international acclaim for her work) documentary filmmaker, and her most recent piece, To Singapore, with Love, is banned here because the government insists the people featured in it were telling lies.

 

18. Yeoh Lam Keong

Screengrab from YouTube Screengrab from YouTube

Why you need to know who he is: He's a respected high flyer whose last full-time occupation was the GIC (yep, that one)'s chief economist, before he left to settle on fishing and lecturing part-time. He's a badass because he now goes round advocating expansions in social welfare in a host of areas, with the insider knowledge he possesses. Also, he went to school with DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the London School of Economics, stays in an HDB flat and dresses like that to give lectures to hundreds of people at conferences.

 

19. Donald Low

Source Source

Why you need to know who he is: Another high flyer in the civil service who stepped out because he's just too much of a badass for the system. Also a respected economist, he gifts society with his pearls of wisdom in the occasional epic speech or essay challenging existing ideas of meritocracythe rich and advocating dissent, just to name a few. More in the occasional Facebook notes he writes, or in a recent book he co-authored.

 

20. Lynn Lee

Source Source

Why you need to know who she is: She's a badass documentary filmmaker, something like Tan Pin Pin (number 17), except arguably more badass, because she was the one person who discovered that two of the four SMRT bus drivers who went on strike said they were slapped and punched by police interrogation officers. She was also allowed to do a rare and pretty cool documentary in North Korea.

 

21. Sabrina Jabbar

Source Source: Sabrina Jabbar's Facebook page

Why you need to know who she is: She's on a one-woman mission to help Singaporeans understand that killing monkeys is not the solution to the "monkey problem", even running marathons to raise funds for her work with wildlife advocacy group Acres.

 

22. Tan Chade-Meng 

tan-chade-meng-taylor-swift

Why you need to know who he is: He's the Google "Jolly Good Fellow (which nobody can deny)" (in fact, it says this on his name card). Also, he's the person every celebrity who visits the Google campus must take a photo with before leaving.

 

23. Lim Wah Guan

Source Source

Why you need to know who he is: Lim's is the classic academic Cinderella story that teaches us all that we don't necessarily need to succeed in Singapore's academic system to be successful. He flopped his A levels twice, got rejected from NUS four times, went to Australia, excelled there, and went on to both Oxford and Princeton.

 

24. Thng Coeway Boulder (yes, that's his name according to his NRIC)

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Why you need to know who he is: Armed with just a guitar, he manages to sing his way to free ice cream, coffee, tea and even oysters — imagine the possibilities! He happens to be launching an EP next month, and is a third-year med student who runs a programme helping fellow medical students interact with foreign worker patients at a clinic.

 

25. Jolovan Wham

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Why you need to know who he is: He does extensive amounts of work to right injustices suffered by foreign workers here, and also is currently one of the key figures of Singapore's civil society.

 

26. Teresa Hsu

Screengrab from YouTube Screengrab from YouTube

Why you need to know who she is: She passed away in December 2011, but you shouldn't remember her just because she lived to 113, but what you should know is she spent almost all her modest savings on feeding and housing the poor and elderly — almost all of whom were younger than her — earning her the well-deserved title of "Singapore's Mother Teresa".

 

27. Theresa Goh

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a broken 100m with 15seconds in between in a time that's currently 3rd in the world. I think training is going well....

Posted by Theresa Goh on Wednesday, 27 May 2015

Why you need to know who she is: A Paralympic swimmer who puts most able-bodied people to shame, Goh set world records in various swim events and won numerous gold medals at scores of international meets, despite not being able to use her legs and being born with an undeveloped left ear.

 

28. Dr Lim Hock Siew

Screengrab from YouTube Screengrab from YouTube

Why you need to know who he is: Lim passed away in 2012, but not many people know he was a founding member of the PAP before his 20-year detention without trial (under the Internal Security Act). His son was five months old when he went in, and was entering university when he was finally released. Prior to all this, as a doctor, he gave free medication and sometimes transport money to needy patients at his clinic. Also, this video recording of his first post-release speech is banned.

 

29. Chia Thye Poh 

Screengrab from YouTube Screengrab from YouTube

Why you need to know who he is: Chia was an actual elected member of parliament, but is enough of a badass to end up being banned from entering Malaysia because of a speech he is alleged to have made in Perak. He is the longest-held political detainee (23 years plus nine years of house arrest) in Singapore's history, and for some reason, this speech he did is rated NC16. More on his fascinating story here.

 

30. Joanne Poon

Photo courtesy of Joanne Poon. Photo courtesy of Joanne Poon.

Why you need to know who she is: She wrote a book and staged a play based on her daughter's experience as a child battling cancer, in order to help other parents who have child cancer sufferers. (Want a copy? Go here) Now, the family collects donated items and sends them to communities in need around the region.

 

31. Dr Joseph Yeo

JOSEPH-YEO-BOON-WOOI

Why you need to know who he is: He's the NIE math prof responsible for the now-world-renowned "Cheryl's Birthday" teaser, although he insists it isn't a new logic problem — well, none of us have seen anything quite as tough like it.

 

32. Benny Se Teo

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... 3 Chefs from different disciplines

Posted by Benny Se Teo on Wednesday, 5 August 2015

Why you need to know who he is: Ex-convict (he had a heroin addiction) turned founder of social enterprise and pretty successful food chain Eighteen Chefs. He hires young ex-cons and an all-Singaporean staff. He spent time working under Jamie Oliver at his London restaurant Fifteen, too.

 

34. Tan Howe Liang

Tan Howe Liang. jrsports0918, jrsports. Handout Photo. Tan Howe Liang. jrsports0918, jrsports.
Handout Photo.

Why you need to know who he is: He was our first Olympic medallist ever — clinching the silver in the weightlifting lightweight category competition — and was the only one until 2008, when female paddler team Feng Tianwei, Li Jiawei and Wang Yuegu clinched silver, too, for the women's team event. By the way, he also clinched gold medals at the Commonwealth Games (twice), the Asian Games and the SEA Peninsular Games in, all in the late 1950s to early 1960s.

 

35. Tan Bee Seng

Source Source

Why you need to know who he is: Because he discreetly gives full-time national servicemen extra portions of meat and rice.

 

36. Chong Fah Cheong

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Why you need to know who he is: Not only was he the cultural medallion winner for 2014, he was also responsible for this:

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and this:

Source: Chong Fah Cheong's site Source

And also this:

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As well as this:

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Among a host of others.

 

37. Frankie Yeo

Source: Singaporean of the Day Source: Singaporean of the Day

Why you need to know who he is: He's one of Singapore's first and only 3D puppeteers, who has made everything from marionettes (puppets that are controlled by sticks and strings) to Nila the mascot, flying down with a parachute on at the SEA Games Opening Ceremony. His puppets have graced many National Day Parades too.

He's even made a you tiao mascot before:

Source Source

 

38. Darren Tan

Photo: Jurong Lake Run Photo: Jurong Lake Run

Why you need to know who he is: He's the first ex-convict to get out of jail and into law school (NUS, no less), graduate and is now a full-fledged practicing lawyer. His backstory here.

 

39. Shariff Abdullah

Source Source

Why you need to know who he is: He's Singapore's first blade runner, born without a left foot. He had a tough childhood and upbringing, and his handicap gave him difficulty in finding jobs, even though he would always wear pants to hide his old wooden stump. Now he's running marathons and climbing mountains better than any of us who have both our feet.

 

40. Martyn See

Martyn See (right) with political detainee and elected MP Chia Thye Poh. (Source: Martyn See's Facebook page) Martyn See (right) with political detainee and elected MP Chia Thye Poh. (Source: Martyn See's Facebook page)

Why you should know who he is: He's such a badass filmmaker that many of his political films have been banned in Singapore. He's also the first guy to interview and feature SDP chief Chee Soon Juan.

 

41. Samantha Lo (SKL0)

Screengrab from video Screengrab from video

Why you need to know who she is: She's the artist who was arrested and sentenced to 240 hours of community service after her street sticker campaign riled up the authorities. She still does great work here, though.

What stickers, you ask?

You can still buy these here. You can still buy these here.

 

42. Mas Shafreen

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This Band of Doodlers were having lots of fun putting their own spin on last night’s race. I hope they managed to catch some of the Grand Prix!(Photo by me)

Posted by Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday, 21 September 2014

Why you need to know who he is: He's a doodler by trade who is a "corporate cog by day" and "illustrator by night", and founder of the Band of Doodlers, who go round doodling on blank spaces (they're not always white):

#throwback BOD x ESPLANADE #Repost @fishyvee ・・・ ?✏️? #BandofDoodlers #Singapore #doodle #doodling #doodolution #whitespacebandits

A photo posted by Band of Doodlers (@bandofdoodlers) on

BOD x ROBINSONS SG #Repost @nitegems. ・・・ It is finished! Band of Doodlers did an awesome job!! ??? View the complete work at the Bubble Room at Robinsons Heeren Level 2!! #doodles #bandofdoodlers #robinsonssg #art #happenings #supportinglocal #talent #localtalents #theheeren #number24 #50thingsiloveaboutmyjob #doodling #doodolution #whitespacebandits A photo posted by Band of Doodlers (@bandofdoodlers) on

BOD x SIGLAP SECONDARY 11M DOODLE WALL #Repost @araikreva ・・・ We are done!!! Thank u for letting the @bandofdoodlers express ourselves on the spirit of @siglapsec. The teachers and students have been amazing hope u guys enjoy the wall for many more years and for those who painted with us, these are the kind of memories; precious growing up. #mural #doodle #drawing #doodolution #bandofdoodlers #siglapsecondary

A photo posted by Band of Doodlers (@bandofdoodlers) on

 

43. Dan Wong

dan wong good citizen

Why you need to know who he is: The dude behind A Good Citizen - a visual design company that is big on satire and humour. Check out some of their designs here.

 

44. Emily Teng

Source Source

Why you need to know who she is: Because she's not just a pretty face or a swanky ex-DJ; she's the founder of Blessings in a Bag, a group that brings donated items to communities here and around the region.

 

45. Tan Choon Kiang

Screengrab from video Screengrab from video

Why you need to know who he is: Because he's in his mid-60s, and yet he's still got the energy to balance a full-time day job at the Land Transport Authority AND deliver lunch to people in need, on a bicycle, during his lunch hour.

Feel bad about yourself yet? Here's something else: He's been serving the community for more than two decades.

 

46. Andrea Yee

Photo courtesy of Andrea Yee Photo courtesy of Andrea Yee

Why you need to know who she is: She and her husband weren't able to conceive, but they ended up adopting two baby girls — she then wrote a book that helps adoptive parents explain to their children their backstories, and is now an adoption counsellor. (Want a copy? Click here.)

 

47. Edward Chia

Screengrab from YouTube Screengrab from YouTube

Why you need to know who he is: He's the co-founder of Timbre Group, a successful social enterprise that has played a big role in supporting the local music scene.

 

48. Ong Peng Tsin

Source: IDA Source: IDA

Why you need to know who he is: He co-founded Match.com (oh hey, betcha didn't know that!) and also a big time entrepreneur investor.

 

49. Ng Chin Han

Source: Green Arrow Wiki Source: Green Arrow Wiki

Why you need to know who he is: Well, he's a Hollywood actor. He has more screen time than Edison Chen in The Dark Knight. And he's Singaporean, woohoo represent!

 

50. Syafiq Abdul Samad

Source Source

Why you need to know who he is: He survived a 15-man machete and knife attack when he was 14 (don't ask us how he got into that, though), and has gone on to win many medals in boxing championships. Also known as Syafiq the Slasher.

 

And there you have it, our SG50 present to you — for what's better than an education about our own awesome/interesting people, eh? Happy National Day!

 

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