Cheo Chai Chen, former SDP Nee Soon Central MP, dies aged 73
SINGAPORE — Cheo Chai Chen, who was the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) Member of Parliament (MP) of Nee Soon Central Single Member Constituency (SMC) from 1991 to 1997, has died on Wednesday (June 5) at the age of 73.
In a statement on the same day, SDP said Cheo served “both party and country with honour and courage”.
“Our members mourn his passing, and we send our deepest condolences to his family on the bereavement,” the party said on Facebook.
A businessman by trade and a Nanyang University graduate, Cheo was a member of two political parties and contested in a total of seven general elections.
Cheo became MP of Nee Soon Central SMC after narrowly defeating incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) candidate Ng Pock Too with 50.3 per cent of the vote at the 1991 General Election.
He was one of three SDP candidates who were elected that year — former party chief Chiam See Tong retained Potong Pasir SMC, and the late Ling How Doong won in Bukit Gombak SMC.
Cheo later lost his seat in 1997 to PAP's Ong Ah Heng, who won 61.3 per cent of the vote.
He subsequently joined the National Solidarity Party (NSP) in 2006 and contested in Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency (GRC) during that year's General Election under the banner of the Singapore Democratic Alliance, an opposition coalition which included NSP.
Cheo later stood in two more General Elections but lost in both attempts — in Marine Parade GRC in 2011, and MacPherson SMC in 2015.
In a Facebook post, SDP vice-chairman Bryan Lim Boon Heng said Cheo had passed in the afternoon, and recalled how they were both fielded as candidates in the same Hong Kah GRC team in 2001.
“He would affectionately call me '贤弟' or “good brother' during the campaign and treated me like one,” said Mr Lim.
As the team leader of the SDP team at the time, he said Cheo was "unfazed and undeterred" and "handled the overwhelming pressure coolly like a true veteran".
Wrote Mr Lim: "Beneath his quiet demeanor lies a gutsy firebrand who exhibits crisis leadership when the time demands for it."
Cheo will be cremated on June 6.
