# Desmond Lim

Desmond Lim Bak Chuan (Chinese: 林睦荃; pinyin: Lín Mùquán; born 1967) is a Singaporean politician. He was formerly the chairperson of the Singapore Justice Party (SJP), a political party in Singapore. He was also the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), a political alliance of several political parties in Singapore including SJP, SDA secretary-general from 2009 to 2011 and its chairman in 2011 to 2020.
A principal engineer at telecommunication company M1, Lim made his electoral debut in the 2001 general election when he joined a five-member SDA team to contest in Jalan Besar GRC against a five-member team from the governing People's Action Party (PAP). The SDA team lost with 25.51% of the vote against the PAP team's 74.49%. Since then, Lim had contested in all the subsequent general elections (2006, 2011, 2015 and 2020) and one by-election in 2013. He contested with a SDA team in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC in all the general elections except in 2011, when he contested as a solo SDA candidate in Punggol East SMC, and again in the 2013 by-election. However, he did not win any of those elections.
Lim was initially considered a protégé of Chiam See Tong until they had a falling-out in 2011, which led to Chiam and the SPP withdrawing from the SDA. Lim is known for his willingness to attempt new methods of campaigning and has described himself as "dedicated and determined".

## Education

Lim holds a Master of Engineering Management from the University of Wollongong.

## Career

Lim had been a principal engineer at the telecommunication company M1.

## Political career

Lim was the chairman of the Singapore Justice Party (SJP) and left SJP for SPP in 1996. He became the assistant secretary-general of the Singapore People's Party (SPP) from December 1997 to 2006. Lim made his electoral debut during the 2001 general election when he joined a five-member SDA team to contest in Jalan Besar GRC against a five-member team from the governing People's Action Party (PAP). The SDA team lost with 25.51% of the vote against the PAP team's 74.49%.
Lim joined a six-member SDA team contesting in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC during the 2006 general election against a PAP team led by Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean. At the time, Lim was assistant secretary-general of the SDA. The SDA team lost to the PAP team with 31.3% of the vote against the PAP team's 68.7%.
In 2009, Lim became the secretary-general of the SDA. In October 2010, he was replaced with Mohamad Hamim Aliyas as the secretary-general of the SDA by Chiam See Tong during a central executive committee meeting of SPP. SPP founder and chairman Sin Kek Tong said Chiam's move is due to Lim opposing Reform Party (RP) joining the SDA. However, in a SDA council meeting held shortly after, the council rejected the decision of Chiam and Lim remained as the secretary-general.
In March 2011, Chiam pulled SPP out of the SDA. As a result, Lim left SPP and rejoined SJP. He was appointed secretary-general of SJP. Lim also became the chairman of the SDA. In the 2011 Singaporean general election, Lim contested in a three-cornered fight in the Punggol East SMC. He ultimately lost to the PAP candidate Michael Palmer, who had 54.54% of the vote. Lim's share of the vote, at 4.45%, was significantly lower than that of the other opposition candidate, Lee Li Lian of the Workers' Party (WP), who had 41.01% of the vote. Due to having garnered lower than 12.5% of the vote, Lim forfeited his S$16,000 election deposit under Singapore's electoral rules.
In 2013, after Palmer resigned from the PAP and gave up his parliamentary seat in Punggol East SMC, a by-election was scheduled to be held on 26 January. Lim announced his decision to contest as a SDA candidate in the by-election, which turned out to be a four-cornered fight pitting Lim against three other candidates: Koh Poh Koon of PAP; Lee of WP; and Kenneth Jeyaretnam of RP. On 21 January, Lim started uploading a series of videos of his speeches, calling it an "online rally" and talking about issues such as the high costs of living and high property prices in Singapore. Although he was derided for his poor diction, he said he was not disheartened and felt that he should not be judged on his command of English, but on how he could serve the people. It was also reported that some residents admired his "underdog indefatigability".
Lim ultimately lost the by-election, having garnered just 0.57% of the vote, the lowest among the four candidates: Lee won with 54.5% of the vote, while Koh and Jeyaratnam had 43.73% and 1.2% respectively. As he had lower than 12.5% of the vote, Lim forfeited his S$14,500 election deposit, becoming the second candidate in Singaporean electoral history after Harbans Singh to forfeit his election deposit twice. His electoral result of 0.57% was also the lowest any candidate or party got in an election since Singapore gained independence in 1965, beating Teo Kim Hoe's result of 0.81% in 1984.
Lim joined a six-member SDA team contesting in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC again during the 2015 general election against the PAP team led by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean. The SDA team lost to the PAP team with 27.11% of the vote against the PAP team's 72.89%.
In 2020, Lim announced that he would be stepping down from his position as SDA chairman after the general election that year. He joined a five-member SDA team to contest in a three-cornered fight in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC against the PAP team led by Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean and another team from the opposition Peoples Voice led by Lim Tean. The SDA team lost with 23.67% against the PAP team's 64.16%, but did better than the Peoples Voice team's 12.17%.

## Personal life

Lim is married.