A day later, his announcement was confirmed by Seow's nephew Mark Looi, in a note he published on LinkedIn. Seow's son Ashleigh left a comment on it too:

For young Singaporeans, for whom the mention of opposition politics brings up chiefly Chee or Low Thia Khiang, here is an overview of who Seow is, for he was a well-known opposition figure during your parents' generation. 

The goody two-shoes years

Seow was a Singapore-born political dissident in exile in America, where he had since taken up citizenship.

Before becoming a political firebrand, he joined the Singapore Legal Service in 1956. He rose through the ranks to become Solicitor-General in 1969 until 1971.

He served under the administration of then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and was appointed senior counsel to a Commission of Inquiry in the Secondary IV examination boycott by Chinese students in 1963 prior to Singapore's merger with Malaysia.

In 1972, Seow left the public service after a 16-year career and entered private law practice, but not before he was awarded the Public Administration (Gold) Medal.

Law Society agitator

He was elected a member of the Council of the Law Society in 1976 and eventually became its President in 1986.

Seow's new appointment led him to become embroiled in politics as he had envisaged a restoration of the role of the Law Society to comment on legislation that the government was passing without any meaningful parliamentary debate.

Many members of the legal profession took Seow up on his challenge and became active by taking the statutory duty of the Society seriously and started commenting on legislation.

One of the bills that was heavily criticised by the Society, and which generated much debate from members of the public, was the Newspaper and Printing Presses Amendment Bill 1986, which sought to restrict the sale of foreign publications.

Then-PM Lee took special exception to this role that the Law Society was supposed to play.

As a result, within a few months, Lee had special legislation passed, effectively depriving the Law Society of any powers to comment on any legislation, unless the government specifically asked the Law Society for its comments.

A law to gag the Law Society and to deprive Seow of his presidency was also introduced.

The 1987 Marxist Conspiracy

Then in 1987, things came to a head: Seow was the lawyer for 22 people who were arrested and detained for being part of a "Marxist conspiracy".

In 1988, he was himself arrested under the Internal Security Act and detained without trial for 72 days before the General Election that year. He was accused of having received political campaign funds from the United States to promote democracy in Singapore.

According to his account, he was subjected to some forms of torture, including sleep deprivation and intense cold air-conditioning.

Soon after his release, he ran for Parliament as part of the WP team that contested the Eunos Group Representation Constituency.

His team managed to secure 49.11 per cent of the valid votes, losing to the PAP stronghold by a super-slim margin of 0.9 per cent.

Post-Singapore years

Later, while awaiting trial for alleged tax evasion, he left for the U.S. to seek medical treatment, where he also sought political asylum.

He was eventually convicted in absentia (meaning without being present), having disregarded numerous court summons to return for trial.

Despite his exile, he has spoken at events organised by Singapore student societies in universities outside of Singapore.

He also wasted no time abroad, becoming a Visiting Fellow at Yale University and then at Harvard Law School.

He also wrote several books, such as To Catch a Tartar: A Dissident in Lee Kuan Yew’s Prison, The Media Enthralled and Beyond Suspicion? – The Singapore Judiciary.

Fascinated? You can check out more in this interview, conducted by independent filmmaker Martyn See:

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Top photo from Chee Soon Juan's Facebook page. 

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