Yeoh Ghim Seng

Infobox President

name = Yeoh Ghim Seng


imagesize = 150px
small

caption =

order = 5^th
office = Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore
term_start = 1970
term_end = 1989
predecessor = P Coomaraswamy
successor = Tan Soo Khoon

order2 = 2^nd
office2 = President of Singapore
term_start2 = Acting: November 23, 1970
term_end2 = January 2, 1971
predecessor2 = Yusof bin Ishak
successor2 = Benjamin Henry Sheares

order3 = 4^th
office3 = President of Singapore
term_start3 = Acting: May 12
term_end3 = October 23, 1981
predecessor3 = Benjamin Henry Sheares
successor3 = C.V. Devan Nair

order4 = 7^th
office4 = President of Singapore
term_start4 = Acting: March 29
term_end4 = September 3, 1985
predecessor4 = Wee Chong Jin
successor4 = Wee Kim Wee

birth_date = birth date and age|1918|06|22
birth_place = Ipoh
death_date = death date and age|1993|6|03|1918|06|22|mf=y
death_place = SIN
nationality = Singaporean
party = People's Action Party (1966-1993)

Dr. Yeoh Ghim Seng (June 22, 1918 – June 3, 1993) was Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore from 1970 to 1989.

He received his early education at St. Michael's Institution in his hometown of Ipoh (in Malaysia) and at Penang Free School. He studied medicine at Cambridge University in the 1940s and was on attachment to hospitals there before becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1950. In 1951, he returned to Malaya to become consultant surgeon to the Singapore General Hospital. When he was appointed Professor of Surgery at the then University of Malaya in 1955, he was one of the first locals to hold that chair. He resigned the chair in 1962 to set up what became a lucrative private practice, but continued to train medical graduates from the university. A six-footer, Dr Yeoh was described once as "the biggest but fastest Asian surgeon".

Dr. Yeoh's political career began in 1966, when he was recruited by the People's Action Party to stand in a by-election in Joo Chiat. He won by a walkover and served as the constituency's MP for 22 years. [cite web
url = http://www.singapore-elections.com/politicians_yz.html
title = POLITICIANS IN SINGAPORE ELECTIONS (Y - Z)
accessdate = 2007-02-19
work = Singapore Elections] His preoccupation with medicine precluded a ministerial appointment; instead, he was made Deputy Speaker in 1968, and elected Speaker two years later. In 1977, Mr Barker, congratulating him on his re-election to yet another term as Speaker, said that if not for Dr. Yeoh's commitment to surgery, he "could with ease and distinction occupy one of the front benches on this side of the House".Fact|date=February 2007

In 1977, he also became the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization's (AIPO) first president. [cite web
url = http://www.aipo.org/Bg_and_History.htm
title = BACKGROUND AND HISTORY
accessdate = 2007-03-07
work = ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Organization]

Dr. Yeoh was a Public Service Star (B.B.M.) recipient, an active Rotarian, and a Justice of the Peace who also served as chairman of various boards including the Detainees' Aftercare Association and the University of Singapore Council. The National University of Singapore created the Yeoh Ghim Seng Professorship in Surgery in his honour.

At the time of his death (of lung cancer), he was survived by his wife, five daughters and 15 grandchildren.

References