Chew Swee Kee

Chew Swee Kee (; 15 May 191815 December 1985 ) was a Singaporean politician. A member of political party Labour Front, Chew served as the first Minister of Education from 1955 to 1959.

Early life Chew was born 15 May 1918, in Gopeng, Perak, Malaya. He attended Chung Wah Chinese School and Anglo-Chinese School.

Career Chew was a member of the Labour Front, a Singapore-based political party. and chairman of the All-Party Committee of the Singapore Legislative Assembly.

He became the Labour Front's president in around 1957.

Early in 1959, Organizing Secretary of the Labour Front, Gerald de Cruz, was told that Chew Swee Kee had bought a tin mine in Ipoh, Malaya, for $350,000. de Cruz alerted Communications and Works Minister and Secretary General of the Labour Front, Francis Thomas. de Cruz described Thomas as "the only honest man as far as I knew in the Labour Front".

Thomas consulted Arthur Lim, Assistant Secretary General, and then reported Chew's sudden wealth to Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock. Lim dismissed the issue, saying that he personally had received only $15,000.

Two days later, on 17 February, Lee tabled a motion in the Legislative Assembly naming Chew as receiving foreign money and calling for a Commission of Inquiry. Chief Minister Lim appointed Justice Murray Buttrose as Commissioner to investigate. Buttrose held hearings from 6 April to 18 May, At the inquiry, Lee said that he had received the information about Chew's receipt of foreign funds from K. M. Byrne, formerly Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. In turn, Byrne testified that he had received the information from an official of the Income Tax Department. He was married and had four daughters and one son. He headed the Ipoh ACS Alumni Association from 1962 to 1964.

Death Chew died of myocardial infarction on 15 December 1985.