Sylvia Lim is a Singaporean politician, lawyer, former police officer and Temasek Polytechnic law lecturer. A member of the opposition Workers’ Party (WP), she is serving as the chairwoman of the WP since 2003.
Lim has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Paya Lebar division of Aljunied GRC since 2020. Before entering politics, Lim had served in the Singapore Police Force and worked in Temasek Polytechnic as a law lecturer.
One week after the 2011 general election, she announced that she would be resigning from her job at Temasek Polytechnic after 12 years of service of what she anticipated to be an increased workload after being elected as part of the Workers’ Party team for Aljunied GRC. During the same year, Lim also re-entered the legal sector. She is currently counsel at Peter Low Chambers LLC.
First elected to Parliament in the 2011 general election, she previously represented the Serangoon division of Aljunied GRC between 2011 and 2020 and had been an NCMP between 2006 and 2011 of the 10th Parliament of Singapore. She is the Opposition Whip in Parliament.
Sylvia Lim Swee Lian was born on March 28, 1965, and is age 58 years old. She attended CHIJ Our Lady of Good Counsel, CHIJ St. Joseph’s Convent and National Junior College before graduating from the National University of Singapore in 1988 with a Bachelor of Laws degree with honours. She went on complete a Master of Laws at the University College London in 1989 and was called to the bar in Singapore in 1991.
She later completed a master’s degree in criminal justice from Michigan State University in 2014, online. During her undergraduate and postgraduate studies, Lim did volunteer work with the Spastic Children’s Association, Salvation Army Home for the Aged and University College Hospital. She later did voluntary editorial work for the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme of the Law Society of Singapore.
Sylvia Lim joined the Singapore Police Force in 1991 for three years as a police inspector. She initially did investigation work at the Central Police Division Headquarters, and then became a staff officer under the Director of the Criminal Investigation Department.
Lim joined the law firm M/s Lim & Lim in 1994. She handled litigation work both civil and criminal cases in the High Court, Subordinate Courts and Juvenile Court between 1994 and 1998. She joined Temasek Polytechnic in 1998 as a law lecturer. She was also the Manager of Professional Development and Manager of Continuing Education and Training at the Polytechnic’s School of Business.
Her main areas of teaching and research were in civil and criminal procedure, criminal justice and private security. During her time at Temasek Polytechnic, Lim contributed to the volume on Criminal Procedure for Halsbury’s Laws of Singapore (2003), a legal practitioners’ reference series, and has also collected and published primary research on private security in Singapore.
In March 2006, Temasek Polytechnic modified its staffing policies to enable Lim to run as a candidate in the general election without having to resign from her teaching position at the institution.
Sylvia Lim Husband: Who is Sylvia Lim’s Husband?
Is Sylvia Lim married? As of June 2023, Sylvia Lim is in a relationship with her longtime partner Quah Kim Song. The couple have no children together. The politician rarely speaks about her personal life including whether she has a daughter or not.