Lee Chiaw Meng


Lee Chiaw Meng was a former Singaporean politician and member of the People's Action Party. He served as the Minister of Education from 1972 to 1975, then as Minister of Science and Technology from 1975 to 1976. He was also the member of Parliament for Farrer Park Single Member Constituency from 1968 to 1980, Tanah Merah SMC from 1980 to 1984.

Education and early career

Lee studied in Catholic High School and Chung Cheng High School. He went on to study at the University of Malaya in 1960 and obtained his bachelor's degree in engineering.
Until 1961, Lee was working in the Public Works Department as an engineer before he went to University of London and obtained a doctorate in engineering in 1965. After his return to Singapore, Lee joined Singapore Polytechnic as a lecturer in civil engineering.

Political career

Lee contested the Farrer Park SMC in the 1968 Singapore general election. He defeated independent candidate, M. P. D. Nair, by 7,826 votes to 1,391. Lee continued to contest Farrer Park SMC in 1972 elections, winning with 8,521 votes, defeating J. B. Jeyaretnam of the Workers' Party 2,668 votes and independent candidate S. A. Latiff 354 votes. In the 1976 general elections, Lee was uncontested in Farrer Park SMC and won with a walkover. In the 1980 general elections, Farrer Park SMC was abolished and Lee contested Tanah Merah SMC where he won with a walkover also.
In 1972, Lee was appointed as the Minister of Education and was tasked to overhaul the school and university system. In 1975, in a bid to clear political and cultural obstacles, then Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, appointed Lee as Nanyang University’s vice chancellor, taking over from the then vice chancellor, Hsueh Shou Sheng. Lee was only vice chancellor from March 1975 to August 1976 as he failed to convert the Chinese-medium Nanyang University into an English-language university, as required by Lee Kuan Yew. In 1980, Nanyang University merged with the University of Singapore to form the National University of Singapore. From 1975 to 1976, Lee served briefly as Minister for Science and Technology.
In 1984, Lee left politics and started his own engineering firm, Dr. Lee Chiaw Meng & Associates.

Personal life

Lee was married to Lyn Lee and had three sons and two daughters. He was diagnosed with duodenum cancer in 1999 and died from it on 23 May 2001 at the age of 64.