13 Facts About Francis Seow

Francis Seow Tiang Siew, was a Singaporean lawyer who was Solicitor-General of Singapore and later the President of the Law Society of Singapore.

Francis Seow was born in 1928 in Singapore and educated at Saint Joseph's Institution before he read law at the Middle Temple and became a qualified lawyer.

Francis Seow joined the Singapore Legal Service in 1956 as a prosecutor and rose through the ranks to become the Solicitor-General in 1969, a position he held until 1971.

Francis Seow led a Commission of Inquiry in the Secondary IV examination boycott by Chinese students in 1963.

Francis Seow eventually left the Singapore Legal Service and entered private practice in 1972.

In 1973, Francis Seow was suspended from law practice for 12 months by Chief Justice Wee Chong Jin for breaching an undertaking given on behalf of his junior law partner to Attorney-General Tan Boon Teik.

Francis Seow had envisaged a restoration of the role of the Law Society to comment on legislation that the government churned out without any meaningful parliamentary debate, to which Lee took special exception.

Francis Seow stood for the 1988 general election as a candidate of the opposition Workers' Party team contesting in Eunos Group Representation Constituency against the ruling People's Action Party.

Just before the election, on 6 May 1988, Francis Seow was detained without trial under the Internal Security Act for 72 days.

Francis Seow was accused of having received political campaign finance from the United States to promote democracy in Singapore.

Francis Seow died in Boston on 21 January 2016 at the age of 87.

Francis Seow accuses the Singapore government of authoritarianism and human rights abuse under Lee Kuan Yew's administration.

Francis Seow wrote another book, The Media Enthralled, which describes how he believes the Singapore government undermined freedom of the media and turned the media into pro-government mouthpieces.