Chai Chong Yii

Chai had originally wanted to contest in the 1968 general election but was not able to due to having gotten his Singaporean citizenship in 1967, too late to place himself on the electoral register.^[2] He made his political debut at the 1972 general election, contesting for Member of Parliament (MP) representing Bukit Batok Single Member Constituency (SMC) against Rengaswamy Vetrivelu of United National Front.^[4] Chai was elected with 73.78% of the vote and was also appointed as Minister of State of Education.^[5][6]

In 1975, he was appointed Senior Minister of State of Education.^[7] Chai contested at the 1976 general election for MP representing Bukit Batok SMC against Sulaiman bin Jaffar of Singapore Justice Party. He was elected with 84.57% of the vote.^[8] From 1978 to 1979, he and the rest of the Education Ministry introduced the Special Assistance Plan in schools.^[9][10] In 1979, he laid the cornerstone of Bukit Batok Community Centre.^[11] In the 1980 general election, he contested for MP representing Bukit Batok SMC again, being elected unopposed.^[12]

At the 1984 general elections, he contested for MP of Bukit Batok SMC again, against Tan Jue Kit of United People's Front. He was elected with 78.27% of the vote.^[13] After this win, residents of Bukit Batok wanted to spend $4,000 on an advertisement to congratulate him. Chai instead donated the money to the Community Chest of Singapore.^[14] In 1988, he opened Bukit View Secondary School.^[15] He retired from politics that same year.^[16] Post his political career, Chai served as the auditor for PAP till 1996 and served as the Trade Representative to Taiwan from 1991 to 1994.^[17][3]

While he worked at Shell, he met his future wife Khor Phaik Tin, who studied at Teacher's College in Kuala Lumpur.^[3] In 2014, he and other retired PAP MPs wrote an essay on their experiences.^[18]

Chai died on 3 May 2022 at 87. He was survived by his wife, 3 children, and 6 grandchildren.^[19]