Lim Chin Siong, the man who was nearly our PM - Part 7

Tribute to Lim Chin Siong

"On the evening of 5 February this year (1996), a most humane and valiant heart stopped beating - Chin Siong left this mortal world!"

- Lim Hock Siew

"To this day, many workers of his generation still fondly remember Chin Siong for what he had done for the workers in the 1950s and 1960s.

But it was as a political leader that Chin Siong will be best remembered and respected."

- Lim Hock Siew

"He strongly opposed the terms of Singapore's merger into Malaysia because he was totally convinced that the unequal terms of merger for Singapore would lead to racial disharmony and division among our people. The outbreak of racial riots after the merger in 1963 and the subsequent expulsion of Singapore from Malaysia amply exonerated Chin Siong's stand."

- Lim Hock Siew

"But to be proven right was insufficient to earn Chin Siong's release from imprisonment. His continued incarceration took a severe toll on his health, and in 1967, he became seriously ill. It was during the acute stage of his illness that Chin Siong was exiled from Singapore and denied his rightful role in the political life of our country."

- Lim Hock Siew

Both Chin Siong and Hock Siew were leading members of the Barisan Socialis when they were arrested and detained without trial together with well over a hundred of others in early February 1963.

Chin Siong's cremation was attended by about two thousand mourners on the morning of Friday, 9 February 1996.

The cremation hall was jam-packed with people and many had to stand at the entrance foyer and on the grounds around the building. Some of those attending had flown in from as far as Penang. Several others had come from KL.

Hock Siew ended his oration with a call for an ovation of clapping to bid Chin Siong a hero's farewell. The response was thunderous as the prolonged clapping rose to a crescendo with the moving of Chin Siong's body away from the cremation hall to the incineration chamber.