Jeannette Florina Chong-Aruldoss Yean Yoong ( zh, s=张媛容, p=Zhāng Yuánróng, born 27 May 1963) is a Singaporean lawyer and politician. She started her political career by joining the Reform Party (RP) in 2009. In 2011, she left RP to join the National Solidarity Party (NSP) where she served as the NSP's secretary-general from October 2013 to January 2015. In April 2015, Chong-Aruldoss left NSP, after a failed leadership challenge, to join the

Singapore People's Party The Singapore People's Party (abbreviation: SPP) is a political party in Singapore. SPP was founded in 1994 by Sin Kek Tong who left the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) with various SDP members after internal conflicts in SDP. The leadership ...

(SPP) which she left in 2019.

Education

Chong-Aruldoss was educated at

CHIJ Katong Convent CHIJ Katong Convent (CHIJ – KC) is a government-aided autonomous Catholic girls' secondary school in Marine Parade, Singapore. The school is one of 11 Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ) schools in Singapore. The school has produced successf ...

before she read law at the

University of Kent at Canterbury A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

and completed a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

(honours) in 1985. In 1987, she completed a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

in corporate and commercial law at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

Legal career

Chong-Aruldoss qualified as a

barrister-at-law A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching the law and giv ...

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

in 1986 and became an advocate and solicitor in Singapore in 1989. She began her legal career at Allen & Gledhill LLP. In 2001, she co-founded Archilex Law Corporation, a founding member of Mozaic Group Law Practice. She is currently a consultant at Robert Wang & Woo LLP and an accredited mediator at the Singapore Mediation Centre.

Political career

Reform Party

Chong-Aruldoss entered politics in 2009 and eventually became a member of the Reform Party's central executive committee. She left the Reform Party on 18 February 2011 due to "differences of opinion".

National Solidarity Party

In 2011, Chong-Aruldoss joined the National Solidarity Party (NSP), and stood for election as a NSP candidate during the general election that year in Mountbatten SMC. However, she lost to Lim Biow Chuan, the candidate from the governing

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 ...

(PAP), after getting 41.38% of the vote against Lim's 58.62%. On 27 October 2013, Chong-Aruldoss was elected the secretary-general of the NSP following the resignation of her predecessor,

Hazel Poa Hazel Poa Koon Koon (; born 27 August 1970) is a Singaporean politician and businesswoman. A member of the opposition Progress Singapore Party (PSP), she served as a Non-Constituency Member of the 14th Parliament of Singapore from 24 August 20 ...

. In January 2015, Chong-Aruldoss challenged Sebastian Teo for the position of president of the NSP but was voted out of the NSP's central executive committee.

Singapore People's Party

Chong-Aruldoss eventually left the NSP and joined the

(SPP) in April 2015. In the general election that year, she contested as a SPP candidate in Mountbatten SMC, but lost to the PAP's Lim again, garnering just 28.14% of the vote against Lim's 71.86%.

Leaving the Singapore People's Party

On 2 September 2019, Chong-Aruldoss resigned from the SPP. In a

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

post announcing her resignation, she said, "I entered politics in 2009 because I was convinced that the PAP held too much power and I was worried for Singaporeans. I felt that we desperately needed more opposition in Parliament to redress the imbalance." Two days later, she told The Independent Singapore in an interview that she had no plans to join another political party. In October 2019, Chong-Aruldoss was seen accompanying

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 ...

members on a walkabout in the Eunos Crescent area of

Marine Parade GRC The Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency was a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) located in the Central Region, Singapore, central, East Region, Singapore, eastern and North-East Region, Singapore, north-eastern are ...

. In 2021, Chong-Aruldoss wrote an article on

Medium Medium may refer to: Aircraft *Medium bomber, a class of warplane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Medium'' (1921 film), a German silent film * ''The Medium'' (1951 film), a film vers ...

encouraging Singaporeans to get

vaccinated A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifi ...

for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

Personal life

She is married to James Martin Aruldoss and they have four children. On 8 August 2017, Chong-Aruldoss sustained a bruised hip after she was assaulted by fellow lawyer and politician

M Ravi Ravi Madasamy (), better known as M Ravi, is a Singaporean international human rights lawyer and activist. Known for his work as a cause lawyer, he has acted in multiple leading cases in Singaporean constitutional law and human rights. After g ...

The Adelphi ''The Adelphi'' or ''New Adelphi'' was an English literary journal founded by John Middleton Murry and published between 1923 and 1955. The first issue appeared in June 1923, with issues published monthly thereafter. Between August 1927 and Se ...

. Court documents revealed that Ravi had gone to The Adelphi and demanded to be allowed inside

Eugene Thuraisingam Eugene Singarajah Thuraisingam (born 10 June 1975) is a Singaporean lawyer. He is the founder of the law firm Eugene Thuraisingam LLP, a law firm that specialises in international arbitration and Criminal law, criminal and commercial litigation. ...

's law firm, where Chong-Aruldoss was working then. He had stopped her abruptly and began questioning her aggressively. When she tried to walk away, he forcefully pushed her twice, causing her to stumble backwards and fall onto the ground. After she was down, he kicked and flung her belongings scattered on the ground, and also threw a shoe in her direction while mocking her for being 'drama'. On 5 January 2018, in lieu of a jail term, Ravi was ordered to undergo an 18-month mandatory treatment for his

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

, which had led to him committing the offence, among others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chong-Aruldoss, Jeannette 1963 births Living people Singapore People's Party politicians National Solidarity Party (Singapore) politicians Reform Party (Singapore) politicians Singaporean women in politics Singaporean people of Hakka descent Alumni of the London School of Economics Alumni of the University of Kent 20th-century Singaporean lawyers 21st-century Singaporean lawyers 20th-century Singaporean women lawyers 21st-century women lawyers Year of birth missing (living people)