Pritam Singh (Tamil: பிரித்தாம் சிங்; born 2 August 1976) is a Singaporean politician and lawyer serving as leader of the Workers' Party and Leader of the Opposition since 2018. Prior to the appointment, he was previously the Assistant Secretary-General of the party since 2016. A member of the opposition and the chairman of Aljunied-Hougang town council, he has been a Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency for Eunos since 2011.[1] He is also the second Opposition Leader of Indian descent, following the late J B Jeyaratnam.
Career[]
Pritam Singh served in the SAF until 2002, achieving the rank of Major[2]. In 2007, he founded Opinion Asia, an online commentary syndicate with a focus on Asian issues. Template:Citation needed
At the 2011 general election, Singh was part of the five-member Worker's Party team which contested the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC). The team included the party's Secretary-General, Low Thia Khiang, Sylvia Lim (the party's Chairperson), Chen Show Mao and Muhamad Faisal bin Abdul Manap. They faced the team from the incumbent People's Action Party (PAP), which was led by then Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo. The Workers' Party's team defeated the PAP team by 72,289 votes (54.7%) to 59,829 (45.2%),[3] marking the first occasion in Singapore's history in which an opposition party had won an election in a GRC.
Since the election, Singh has represented the Eunos ward within the constituency in Parliament.[4]
Within the Workers' Party, Singh was the Assistant Secretary General on the party's Executive Council before he became the Secretary-General.[5]
Singh is also an associate of the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice at the Singapore law firm Donaldson & Burkinshaw.[6]
Singh was tipped to be the next chief of the Workers’ Party, succeeding Low Thia Khiang.[7] Subsequently, Singh was officially confirmed as Secretary-General of The Workers' Party on 8 Apr 2018 after Low Thia Khiang stepped down as party chief.[8]
Education and Personal life[]
Singh was educated at Woodsville Primary School, Belvedere Primary School, St Thomas Secondary School and Jurong Junior College, before going on to the National University of Singapore under the SAF's Local Study Award, where he completed a BA (Hons) degree in 2000. He won the Straits Steamship Prize for the top undergraduate student reading history and political science in 1999. [9]. He later received a Chevening Scholarship[10] to study at King's College London in the United Kingdom, where he completed a Master of Arts degree in war studies in 2004.[11] He also earned a Diploma in Islamic Studies from the International Islamic University Malaysia in 2005.[12] In 2011, Singh completed a Juris Doctor degree at the Singapore Management University. Singh married the Kri Art and Theatre company practitioner Kaur Walia in 24 June 2012 and they later have a daughter Maahi Kaur in 2015.[13][2] They later had another daughter in August 2018.[14]
References[]
- ↑ Mr Pritam Singh Template:Webarchive, parliament.gov.sg, retrieved 6 April 2012.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedauto - ↑ Parliamentary General Election 2011: Aljunied GRC Template:Webarchive Template:Webarchive, singapore-elections.com, retrieved 6 April 2012.
- ↑ MP for Aljunied GRC, Eunos Division Template:Webarchive Template:Webarchive, aljunied.wp.sg, retrieved 6 April 2012.
- ↑ Executive Council Template:Webarchive Template:Webarchive, wp.sg, retrieved 6 April 2012.
- ↑ Template:Cite web, Donaldson & Burkinshaw website, retrieved 3 February 2013.
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ Exclusive Interview with Pritam Singh, Univantage, SMU, October 2011
- ↑ 2011's Chevening Scholars Template:Webarchive, British High Commission Singapore website, retrieved 8 April 2012.
- ↑ News from our alumni Template:Webarchive, kcl.ac.uk, retrieved 8 April 2012.
- ↑ Pritam Singh Template:Webarchive Template:Webarchive, wp.sg, retrieved 6 April 2012.
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ Template:Cite web
Template:S-start Template:S-ppo Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-inc Template:End
External links[]
- Pritam Singh's CV on the Singapore Parliament website