Fok Tai Loy (; March 1933 – 28 June 1984) was a Singaporean politician, engineer and part-time lecturer who served as the chairman of the executive committee of the

Singapore Democratic Party The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) is a social liberal political party in Singapore. Founded in 1980 by Chiam See Tong, the party gained its first seat in 6th Parliament of Singapore, Parliament in 1984 Singaporean general election, 1984 when ...

from its founding in 1980 to 1984. He unsuccessfully contested the

Cairnhill Single Member Constituency Cairnhill Single Member Constituency (SMC) was a former single member constituency in Singapore. It used to exist from 1955 to 1988 as Cairnhill Constituency and was renamed as Cairnhill Single Member Constituency (SMC) as part of Singapore's pol ...

in the

1980 Singaporean general election General elections were held in Singapore on 23 December 1980. The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won all 75 seats, the last of four consecutive elections in which they repeated the feat. Voter turnout was 95%, although ...

Early life and education

Fok was born in March 1933 and studied at the Saint Andrew's Secondary School. He received the Colombo Plan scholarship and he left for Australia to study at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

in February 1954. He graduated from the university with a

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded to a college graduate majoring in an engineering discipline at a higher education institution. In the United Kingdom, a Ba ...

degree.

Career

After university, Fok began working at the Public Utilies Board, where he remained for 11 years. From 1961 to 1967, he served as a part-time lecturer at the

Singapore Polytechnic Singapore Polytechnic (SP) is a post-secondary education institution and statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of Education in Singapore. Established in 1954, SP is the first and oldest polytechnic in Singapore, and is renowned for ...

. In October 1969, Fok was elected the president of the Employees' Co-operative Thrift and Loan Society of the

City Council of Singapore The City Council of Singapore was the administrative council of the Singapore City (historical entity), City of Singapore responsible for the provision of water, electricity, gas, roads and bridges and street lighting. It was dissolved in 1959 wh ...

. From 1969 to 1974, he served as the captain of the First Company of the Boys' Brigade in Singapore. In December 1970, he was elected to the executive council of the Boys' Brigade for the year of 1971. He was elected the organisation's vice president in 1972. He then served as the president Boys' Brigade from 1976 to 1978. In August 1980, it was announced that Chiam See Tong was to found a new political party, to be known as the

, with Chiam serving as the protem secretary-general and Fok, then a consulting engineer, serving as the protem chairman. The claimed objectives of the party included the "elimination of colonialism and feudalism, the safeguarding of parliamentary democracy and upholding the principles of democracy, socialism and the Constitution." Fok opined that Singaporeans had been "indoctrinated" by the incumbent

People's Action Party The People's Action Party (PAP) is a major Conservatism, conservative political party in Singapore and is the governing contemporary political party represented in the Parliament of Singapore, followed by the opposition Workers' Party of Singap ...

for the past decade such that "only men with university degrees" could run for parliament. It was announced that Fok would be one of three party members contesting in the upcoming

, along with Chiam and Earnest Chew Tian Earn. However, Chew withdrew from the election in October on account of ill health. Fok stated later that month that the party would stand for "progress towards democracy and socialism" and that it would "go against the government where it erred and agree where it thinks the ruling party is right." It was announced in December that Fok was to contest the

seat, against Dr. Wong Kwei Cheong of the People's Action Party. He lost the election, receiving only 28.21% of the total valid votes. Fok was officially sworn in as the chairman of the executive committee of the Singapore Democratic Party in September 1981. In October, he announced that the party would be contesting in the upcoming 1981 Anson by-election. However, the party withdrew on nomination day, as there were already three parties contesting, deciding to "leave the fight" to J.B. Jeyaretnam of the

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

instead. Fok was among the opposition leaders who attended a Workers' Party rally for the by-election in on 22 October, though Chiam was "notably absent". Fok was again elected the chairman of the Singapore Democratic Party in November 1983. He reportedly planned to contest in the upcoming 1984 Singaporean general election.

Personal life and death

Fok was married with two children and served as the chairman of the St. Andrew's School Parent Teacher Association. He was also elected to the committee of the St. Andrew's Old Boys' Association. He died of cancer on 28 June 1984, having been suffering from the disease for five years.

References

{{reflist 1933 births 1984 deaths 20th-century Singaporean politicians