Former Workers’ Party politician Tang Liang Hong dies at 90

SINGAPORE – Former Workers’ Party (WP) politician Tang Liang Hong, a lawyer who contested Cheng San GRC in 1997, died on Sept 15 at the age of 90.

He died of heart failure in Hong Kong, where he had been living with his older daughter and her family since 2018.

Mr Tang’s wake is being held at the Woodlands Memorial Funeral Parlour from Oct 2 to 4, with a private family farewell service to be held on Oct 5.

He is survived by his children Megan Tang, 52, Kelly Tang, 51, and Brendan Tang, 45, as well as their spouses, and four grandchildren.

Among those at the wake on Oct 2 were Leader of the Opposition and WP chief Pritam Singh, as well as WP organising secretary Dennis Tan and head of policy research Gerald Giam.

“He’s our senior in the party and we came to pay our respects,” said Mr Tan, who is MP for Hougang.

Singapore Democratic Party chairman Paul Tambyah also attended the wake.

During the 1997 General Election, Mr Tang was part of a five-member WP team in the now-defunct Cheng San GRC, which comprised Jalan Kayu, parts of Ang Mo Kio and Serangoon North, as well as Punggol and Sengkang.

He was then a first-time candidate.

The WP team, anchored by then party chief J.B. Jeyaretnam, went up against a PAP team which was led by then Education Minister Lee Yock Suan and also included Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed, who later became Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

During the hustings, Mr Tang was accused by the PAP of being an anti-Christian Chinese chauvinist who threatened Singapore’s racial and religious peace and had to be kept out of Parliament.

He denied these claims, but did not disavow comments he had made over the years on issues such as Chinese language, culture and civilisation that the PAP considered radical.

In a rally speech, he said that if Malays did not vote for the PAP, they would not have mosques built. Then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong refuted this, and said the PAP government believes in fair and equal treatment of all religions in Singapore.

Mr Goh also said the result in Cheng San GRC would show where Singapore was heading – whether it would move towards a more Chinese-dominant society, or remain multiracial.

The WP lost Cheng San GRC with 45.18 per cent of the vote, the narrowest margin in that election. The result sent Mr Jeyaretnam to Parliament as a Non-Constituency MP.

After the polls, Mr Tang, who had filed police reports against several PAP members, was served with multiple lawsuits alleging that he had defamed the members – including Mr Goh, then Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. 

He was eventually found liable for defamation and was ordered to pay damages amounting to $8,075,000 to the politicians.

Mr Tang left Singapore after the election and eventually moved to Australia.

He also lived in Malaysia and Hong Kong in his later years.

At the wake on Oct 2, Ms Kelly Tang and Mr Brendan Tang said their father had not left instructions for his funeral, but they had arranged for his wake and funeral to be held in Singapore as this was what he would have wanted.

Mr Tang never returned to Singapore, and did not attend the funeral of his wife Teo Siew Har when she died in 2019. She had lived in Singapore with Ms Kelly Tang and her family.

Ms Kelly Tang said her father had stayed interested in Singapore’s current affairs and developments, and read the newspapers every day.

Living alone in Australia and then Malaysia – before eventually moving in with his older daughter and her family in Hong Kong – he threw himself into the study of economics, which became his passion.

He also had an active social life with friends from different walks of life, cultures and faiths whom he discussed philosophy, politics, history and international affairs with, added Ms Tang.

On the 1997 episode, Mr Brendan Tang said his father did not talk about it much in his later years. “But he continued to speak of returning home one day,” he added.

The family declined to comment further on the episode.

Ms Kelly Tang said her father was accepting of the different religions practised by his wife and children, including her Christian faith.

At the wake on Oct 2, the family had prepared joss sticks for those who wanted to light them, and also held a small, private Christian service where Ms Kelly Tang’s church group sang and prayed.

She said: “This is a non-denominational wake, you can do what you feel is comfortable.”

She added: “We have a very wonderful and harmonious family life. Although we didn’t live together, we found a balance, and my dad would meet us wherever he could.

“How we have lived is a testament to my dad. We just want to honour him for who he was.”