Lim Tean
Singaporean lawyer and politician
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Lim Tean (IPA: /tjɛn/ TYEN; Chinese: 林鼎; pinyin: Lín Dǐng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lîm Téng; born 17 November 1964) is a Singaporean lawyer and politician. He is the founder of the political party Peoples Voice (PV) and a co-founder of the political alliance People's Alliance for Reform (PAR), which includes PV, and has been the secretary-general of both since their respective creations in 2018 and 2023. He had previously been the secretary-general of the National Solidarity Party (NSP) between 2015 and 2017.
Lim Tean | |
|---|---|
林鼎 | |
Lim in 2025 | |
| 1st Secretary-General of the People's Alliance for Reform | |
| In office 29 October 2023 – 6 August 2026 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| 1st Secretary-General of the Peoples Voice | |
| In office 29 October 2018 – 6 August 2026 | |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| 5th Secretary-General of the National Solidarity Party | |
| In office 30 August 2015 – 18 May 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss |
| Succeeded by | Spencer Ng |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 17 November 1964 |
| Party | People's Alliance for Reform (2023–2026) Peoples Voice (2018–2026) |
Other political affiliations | National Solidarity Party (2011–2017) |
| Alma mater | Hwa Chong Junior College University of Reading (LLB) Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge (LLM) |
| Occupation |
|
Early life
Lim was born in 1964 as the eldest son of Lim Chin Teong, a senior civil servant who served as Chief Executive Director of the People's Association (PA) between the late 1970s and early 1980s. His mother, Aw Eng Lian, was a Chinese-language teacher at Zhonghua Girls School for over 40 years. Both his parents graduated from Nanyang University, currently Nanyang Technological University.[1]
At the age of seven, Lim enrolled into Montfort Junior School for his primary education but was disrupted after his father accepted a posting by the Singapore Government as First Secretary in Singapore's mission to the Soviet Union, and Lim travelled with his family to live in Moscow.[1]
Legal career
In 1985, Lim went to England to study law at the University of Reading. He was conferred a LLB in 1988 and resided in London as a qualified barrister at the Middle Temple.[2]
Concurrently in 2007, Lim took a sabbatical from the legal practice to explore the business world. He founded an Indonesian mining company based out of Sulawesi.[3] His mining company became the first company to produce and ship iron-ore from the island.[4][5] In 2017, Lim returned to Singapore and founded his law firm Carson Law Chambers.[6]
Defamation trial between Leong Sze Hian and Lee Hsien Loong
Lim represented anti-government critic and blogger Leong Sze Hian in a defamation case brought by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 8 December 2018.[7] A cross-examination of Lee was held from 6 to 9 October 2020.[8]
The trial began with the cross examination of Lee on 6 October. It lasted for 5 hours.[9] On the second day of the trial an expert witness named Dr Phan Tuan Quang from the Hong Kong University Business School for the Plaintiff was cross examined.[10][9] This too lasted for slightly over 5 hours. The trial ended when Lim argued that there was "no case to submit" before Leong was scheduled to take the stand to be cross-examined.[9][10][11] The closing written submissions was due on 30 November 2020 and it had been agreed that these would not exceed 200 pages.[12][13] In March 2021, the High Court ordered for Leong to pay Lee $133,000, which Lim called it ‘a wrong and deeply flawed’ decision.[14]
Conduct issues
On 2 October 2020, Lim was arrested after he refused to cooperate with the police by not turning for a compulsory police interview scheduled on 28 September, of which could be rescheduled, and not intending to be interviewed.[15] He was suspected for alleged criminal breach of trust, in which a former client reported him for allegedly misappropriating a sum of money awarded to him as damages by the court.[16][17] He was also suspected of unlawful stalking, in which a former female employee alleged harassment from him while being employed in his law firm.[16] The arrest was carried out while Lim was preparing with Leong for an upcoming cross-examination of Lee in the defamation lawsuit.[18] Lim alleged that the investigations were politically motivated, which the police refuted, stating that it had a duty to investigate the allegations.[18] Leong later posted bail for Lim.[17]
Lim sought for a judicial review to discontinue investigations into him by the authorities, however it was dismissed by a judge on 8 December 2020, stating that the application was "utterly devoid of any legal merit whatsoever".[19]
On 12 May 2022, Lim was charged on five counts in the courts for criminal breach of trust, unlawful stalking and acting as an advocate or solicitor without a valid practising certificate.[20]
Improper conduct in handling client's money
Though a separate trial in 2020, the client had reclaimed the sum of S$30,000 from Lim.[21] On 22 August 2023, Lim was found guilty of two charges of grossly improper conduct in handling the sum of the client.[22] On 23 January 2026, the Law Society called for Lim to be struck off the roll.[23] On April 10 2026, Lim was fined S$30,000.[21]
Practising without certificate
Between 1 April and 9 June 2021, Lim was practising without the required yearly practising certificate, and attended court hearings on behalf of his clients on 32 occasions.[24] The practising certificate was only issued on 10 June 2021 after Lim paid the professional indemnity insurance required among other stipulations.[24] Lim asserted that the certificate should have been backdated to 1 April.[25] Lim was sentenced to six weeks’ jail and a fine of $1,000 on 17 February 2025 in the District Court.[26] Lim appealed to the High Court against the conviction and sentence, while the prosecution appealed for a stiffer penalty. On 23 February 2026, the High Court found that the charge was one of strict liability, and enhanced Lim’s jail term to three months and a week after finding the district judge had erred in sentencing him. On 6 July, he was denied the ability to appeal again and ordered to begin his sentence on 20 July.[27] This was later deferred to 3 August.[28]
On 4 August, a warrant for his arrest was issued after he failed to surrender himself for his sentence.[29] He was later arrested in Johor Bahru, Malaysia on 6 August by the Royal Malaysia Police,[28] and was deported back to Singapore on 11 August.[30]
Political career
Lim first became involved in politics in 2011 when he joined the NSP. However, he remained relatively inactive within the party until 2015, when secretary-general Hazel Poa resigned, protesting the party's desire to contest MacPherson Single Member Constituency (SMC), which the Workers' Party (WP) had already targeted.[31]
One week before the 2015 general elections, the leadership of the NSP approached Lim, inviting him to serve as their acting secretary-general.[32] Despite the relatively short time before the election, Lim accepted, becoming a candidate for Tampines Group Representation Constituency (GRC). receiving 24.9% of the votes cast. In May 2017, Lim resigned from his position, citing disagreements with the party.[2][33][34]
In 2018, Lim together with other opposition leaders called for an alliance of Singaporean opposition parties, with Tan Cheng Bock being proposed as its leader.[35] However, this failed to materialise.[36] The call for a similar alliance was repeated before the general elections in 2020.[37]
On 29 October 2018, Lim announced the founding of a new political party headed by himself, calling it Peoples Voice (PV).[38][39]
During the 2020 general election, PV contested two GRCs and one SMC; Lim personally contested Jalan Besar GRC, being defeated by the governing People's Action Party (PAP) with 34.64% of the vote.[40][41]
Leading up to the 2025 Singaporean general election, in 2023, Lim worked to form a four-party alliance, People's Alliance for Reform (PAR) to contest in the general election. The alliance initially consisted of Peoples Voice, Reform Party, People’s Power Party (PPP) and Democratic Progressive Party.[42] However, People’s Power Party withdrew from the alliance in February 2025 as PPP insisted on contesting in Tampines GRC and also due to its differing stance on Singapore's COVID-19 vaccination programme, of which PPP had previously called for a suspension.[43]
PAR would contest in six constituencies with thirteen candidates. Two of these constituencies, Radin Mas SMC and Potong Pasir SMC would be three-cornered fights against SPP and an independent candidate respectively.[44] On Nomination Day, Lim was revealed to be PAR's candidate in Potong Pasir SMC, in a three-cornered fight against SPP candidate Williamson Lee and PAP candidate Alex Yeo.[45] Throughout the campaign, Lim promised free education and healthcare if elected.[46] However, Lim would lose his $13,500 deposit after receiving 8.35% of the votes against SPP's 22.47% and PAP's 69.18%.[47][48]
Litigation proceedings
Bankruptcy applications
In September 2013, a Chinese national, Huang Min, and Lim entered into an agreement in which Huang agreed to lend US$150,000 to Lim.[49] However, their agreement was disputed over whether it was a loan or a deposit for the purchase of the iron ore mine.[49] Lim appealed to the High Court but withdrew the appeal on 15 January 2019. A day later, he issued two cheques to settle the monies and legal costs, ahead of another hearing scheduled on 17 January 2019, and Huang withdrew the application.[50]
An article by The Straits Times published on 22 June 2020 stated that Lim is involved in two bankruptcy applications from DBS Bank and Sing Wing (I & E), a trading company, totalling about S$1.45 million.[51] A hearing for the application by Sing Wing (I & E) was scheduled on 16 July 2020, while there was no further details about DBS Bank's applications.[51] In an interview with The Online Citizen, Lim denied the bankruptcy applications by DBS and Sing Wing, and said it was a smearing technique to damage his image by the mainstream media.[52] Lim stated that he was not contacted by The Straits Times and that he was "not going to be bankrupted", and that the sum owed was "total rubbish".[52]
On 10 April 2026, it was reported that Lim was declared bankrupt after a notice was published on the Gazette.[53] Lim denied the bankruptcy, stated that he had settled with the petitioning creditor but the court order was not retracted.[54]