Pritam Singh

Pritam Singh (born 2 August 1976) is a Singaporean politician, author, and lawyer who has been the Secretary-General of the Workers' Party since 2018, and Leader of the Opposition since 2020.

Singh was born on 2 August 1976 in Singapore.

He grew up the younger of two children.

He attended Woodsville Primary School, Belvedere Primary School, Saint Thomas Secondary School — under the Normal (Academic) stream, and Jurong Junior College.

The Workers' Party had also won Hougang SMC, its stronghold which has been held since 1991, and the newly created Sengkang GRC, the first time the Workers' Party had won a general election in a second GRC.

Singh is a member of the Estate and Liaison Committee and the Tenders and Contracts Committee.

He is the Town Councillor of the Public Relations Committee in the Aljunied–Hougang Town Council (AHTC).

Singh enlisted in the Singapore Armed Forces in 1994 and served as a commissioned officer between 1996 and 2002.

During his service, he was a combat engineer.

At present, he is a reservist commander with the rank of Major.

In 1999, he won the Straits Steamship Prize for being the top undergraduate student in history and political science.

Singh graduated from the National University of Singapore in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history.

He graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 2000 under the Singapore Armed Forces's Local Study Award scholarship.

He was later awarded the Chevening Scholarship for postgraduate studies at King's College London, where he completed a Master of Arts degree in war studies in 2004.

He also graduated from King's College London in 2004 with a Master of Arts degree in war studies under the Chevening Scholarship.

Singh also completed a diploma in Islamic studies from the International Islamic University Malaysia in 2005.

In 2007, Singh founded Opinion Asia, an online commentary syndicate with a focus on issues related to Asia and Asians.

A member of the Workers' Party (WP), Singh has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Eunos division of Aljunied GRC since 2011.

Singh joined the Workers' Party and was elected to Parliament in the 2011 general election, and has retained his parliamentary seat in subsequent elections.

That same year, Singh completed a Juris Doctor degree at the Singapore Management University as well as qualifying for the bar.

He obtained a Juris Doctor degree from the Singapore Management University in 2011.

During the 2011 general election, Singh was part of the five-member Workers' Party team which contested in Aljunied GRC.

The team included the party's secretary-general Low Thia Khiang, chairwoman Sylvia Lim and members Chen Show Mao and Muhamad Faisal bin Abdul Manap.

They faced the team from the incumbent People's Action Party (PAP), which was led by Foreign Affairs minister George Yeo.

The Workers' Party's team defeated the PAP team by 72,289 votes (54.7%) to 59,829 (45.2%), marking the first occasion in Singapore's history in which an opposition party had won an election in a GRC.

Since the election, Singh has represented the Eunos ward within the constituency in Parliament.

Singh was appointed as the assistant secretary general on the party's executive council.

In 2013, Singh joined the litigation and dispute resolution practice at Donaldson & Burkinshaw, Singapore's oldest law firm.

In 2013, Singh joined the litigation and dispute resolution practice at Donaldson & Burkinshaw, Singapore's oldest law firm.

Singh joined the Workers' Party while completing a juris doctor degree at the Singapore Management University, citing its "level-headedness and leadership" as his primary motivator.

Singh was also previously the chairman of the Aljunied–Hougang Town Council (AHTC) from 2016 to 2020.

In 2017, after Low Thia Khiang announced that he was contemplating retirement as well as wanting to rejuvenate the party for "younger blood", Singh was widely regarded to be the next chief of the Workers' Party before the general election that would have been scheduled to be held by 2021.

Singh was elected Secretary-General of the Workers' Party on 8 April 2018 as part of a leadership renewal, succeeding Low Thia Khiang.

Singh was the de facto Leader of the Opposition between 2018 and 2020.

Subsequently, Singh was eventually confirmed as secretary-general of the Workers' Party on 8 April 2018 after Low stepped down for a leadership self-renewal.

After the 2020 general election, his party emerged as the largest opposition party in Parliament when the party secured Aljunied GRC, Hougang SMC and Sengkang GRC, a total of 10 seats.

Subsequently, Singh was appointed as the first de jure Leader of the Opposition by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

The results of the 2020 general election saw Singh, together with Sylvia Lim, Muhamad Faisal Manap and former NCMPs Gerald Giam and Leon Perera, being re-elected to represent the Aljunied GRC constituents, with an increased share of the vote of 59.95%, defeating the PAP team that received 40.05%.

Following the 2020 general election in which the Workers' Party won ten seats, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong decided to formally designate Singh as Leader of the Opposition, and said that he would be "provided with appropriate staff support and resources" to carry out his new parliamentary appointment role.

Prior to this, the leader of the opposition was an unofficial de facto position in Parliament as the Constitution and standing orders of Parliament did not provide for such a position.