Chia Thye Poh

Chia Thye Poh
谢太宝
4th Leader of the Opposition
In office
1 January 1966 – 7 October 1966
Prime MinisterLee Kuan Yew
Preceded byLim Huan Boon
Succeeded byJ. B. Jeyaretnam
Leader of the Barisan Sosialis
In office
1961 – October 1966
Preceded byLee Siew Choh
Succeeded byLee Siew Choh
Member of the Singapore Parliament
for Jurong SMC
In office
21 September 1963 – 7 October 1966[1]
Preceded byChor Yeok Eng
Succeeded byHo Kah Leong
Member of the Malaysian Parliament
for Singapore
In office
2 November 1963[2] – 9 August 1965
Personal details
Born (1941-04-04) 4 April 1941 (age 83)
Singapore, Strait Settlements, British Malaya
Political partyBarisan Sosialis
(1961–1966)
Chia Thye Poh
Traditional Chinese謝太寶
Simplified Chinese谢太宝
Hokkien POJChiā Thài-pó
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinXiè Tàibǎo
Southern Min
Hokkien POJChiā Thài-pó

Chia Thye Poh (born 4 April 1941) is a Singaporean former politician. A former member of the Barisan Sosialis, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Jurong SMC between 1963 and 1966. He was the 4th de facto Leader of the Opposition in 1966.

A leftist populist, Chia is most notable for being detained between 1966 and 1989 under the Internal Security Act for allegedly conducting pro-communist activities against the government, with the intention of causing a communist revolution. As a result, he was imprisoned for 23 years without trial and subsequently placed under conditions of house arrest, also without trial, for another nine years—in which he was first confined to the island of Sentosa and then subject to restrictions on his place of abode, employment, travel, and exercise of political rights. All restrictions were eventually lifted in 1998.

Prior to his detention, he was a teacher, physics lecturer, socialist political activist and a Member of Parliament.[1] Subsequent to it, he was a doctoral student and an interpreter.

  1. ^ a b Ang Hiok Ga (14–15 October 2000). "Spirit of Asia's Mandela" (reprint). Malaysiakini.
  2. ^ "PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES DEWAN RA'AYAT (HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES) OFFICIAL REPORT" (PDF). Dewan Rakyat. Retrieved 19 August 2019.