2nd Secretary-General of the Singapore Democratic Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 May 1993
Preceded by
Chiam See Tong
Chairman
Paul Tambyah
Personal details
Born
Chee Soon Juan
(1962-07-20) 20 July 1962 (age 61) State of Singapore
Political party
Singapore Democratic Party (1992-present)
Spouse
Huang Chih-Mei
(m. 1992)
Children
3
Relatives
Chee Siok Chin (sister)
Alma mater
Mansfield University (BS) University of Georgia (PhD)
Occupation
Politician
activist
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese
徐顺全
Traditional Chinese
徐順全
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin
Xú Shùnquán
Chee Soon Juan (born 20 July 1962) is a Singaporean politician, activist, and former lecturer who has been appointed as Secretary-General of the Singapore Democratic Party since 1993.
Prior to entering politics in 1992, upon Chiam See Tong's invitation to join the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), Chee was a lecturer at the National University of Singapore. Chee subsequently succeeded Chiam as the party's secretary-general after Chiam, whom Chee and the rest of the party's leadership have had a number of disagreements, left the party. The party had three Members of Parliament (MPs) at the time Chee took over as secretary-general, but lost all its seats at the 1997 general election and has not had any elected members since.
Chee was arrested and jailed several times for his unconventional political activities, mainly for making unauthorised public speeches as well as staging demonstrations without a police permit. He was also found guilty of defamation on multiple occasions for comments he has made about members of the country's governing People's Action Party (PAP). He was previously barred from standing in parliamentary elections because he was declared bankrupt in 2006, after failing to pay damages from a lawsuit owed to Prime Ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong.
On 24 September 2012, Chee announced that he had raised the reduced sum of $30,000 which was accepted by Lee and Goh to annul his bankruptcy, which enabled him to contest in the 2015 and 2020 general elections. However, Chee has been considered to be a perennial candidate, and has never won an election ever since he first contested in 1992.
CheeSoonJuan (born 20 July 1962) is a Singaporean politician, activist, and former lecturer who has been appointed as Secretary-General of the Singapore...
People's Party (SPP), destabilising the party. He was succeeded by CheeSoonJuan, who has remained the Secretary-General ever since. A centrist to centre-left...
Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai, and democracy advocates such as Singapore's Dr. CheeSoonJuan. In 2003, Amsterdam was retained by the Russian company Yukos-Group...
personal best electoral result at 69.64%. In 1992, Chiam recruited CheeSoonJuan, a psychology lecturer at the National University of Singapore, to join...
fielded as a political candidate as part of the SDP team along with Dr CheeSoonJuan, Sidek Mallek and Chong Wai Fung and contested against PAP's Vivian...
misleading them" and that "Dr Chee has not changed, cannot change and will never change". Paul Tambyah and CheeSoonJuan responded to PAP's statement...
conscience." Seow died in Boston on 21 January 2016 at the age of 87. CheeSoonJuan, the secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party, announced...
renewals, including Singapore Democratic Party where secretary-general CheeSoonJuan was formally discharged from bankruptcy by the court on 22 November...
political debate with Francis Yuen of the Progress Singapore Party, CheeSoonJuan of the Singapore Democratic Party and Minister Vivian Balakrishnan of...
Bock (albeit in a personal capacity), as well as support from SDP's CheeSoonJuan and PPP leader Goh Meng Seng. Following amendments to the Constitution...
candidacy. Chee, his election opponent from SDP, criticised the attack. During the campaign period, Pillai was criticised by CheeSoonJuan from the Singapore...
by-election against Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) secretary-general, CheeSoonJuan with a vote count of 61.2% to 38.8%. Note : Elections Department Singapore...
Alliance (SDA) in 2011, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) led by CheeSoonJuan, the National Solidarity Party (NSP) led by Goh Meng Seng which left...
J. B. Jeyaretnam and leader of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) CheeSoonJuan, who were bankrupted in 2001 and 2011 respectively. Another reason given...
contempt of court. In 2006, the High Court held in Attorney-General v. CheeSoonJuan that the offence of scandalizing the court falls within the category...
Commander-in-Chief of the United States Strategic Command from 1996 to 1998, CheeSoonJuan, a neuropsychologist, research fellow at universities including the...
"Opposition, PAP must find common ground for good of the country: SDP's CheeSoonJuan". Channel NewsAsia. 6 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015. "SDA...
June 2015. Hugo Restall. "Singapore's 'Martyr', CheeSoonJuan". FEER. Retrieved 30 May 2012. "Chee tried to turn forum into 'theatre of politics', says...
cases include those against opposition leaders J. B. Jeyaretnam and CheeSoonJuan. In 1997, Australian Q.C. Stuart Littlemore observed the proceedings...
infringement on political rights. The conviction of opposition politician CheeSoonJuan for illegal protests and the defamation lawsuits against J.B. Jeyaretnam...
areas of Singapore. The constituency consists of a section of Bedok, Chai Chee, Geylang, Kaki Bukit, Kallang, Kembangan, Marine Parade, Mountbatten, Ubi...
members who supported Chiam See Tong in an internal conflict against CheeSoonJuan and other SDP leaders. Sin and Chiam's supporters then started the Singapore...
led by Steve Chia, and the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) led by CheeSoonJuan, who himself was ineligible to run in this election because of a 2002...
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