Ong Teng Cheong (Chinese: 王鼎昌; pinyin: Wáng Dǐngchāng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ông Tíng-chhiong; 22 January 1936 - 8 February 2002) was the first directly elected President of the Republic of Singapore. He was the nation's fifth President, and served a six-year term from 1 September 1993 to 31 August 1999.
Born in 1936, Ong was the second of five children from a middle class Chinese Singaporean family. His English-educated father felt that the Chinese langua...
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Ong Teng Cheong (Chinese: 王鼎昌; pinyin: Wáng Dǐngchāng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ông Tíng-chhiong; 22 January 1936 - 8 February 2002) was the first directly elected President of the Republic of Singapore. He was the nation's fifth President, and served a six-year term from 1 September 1993 to 31 August 1999.
Born in 1936, Ong was the second of five children from a middle class Chinese Singaporean family. His English-educated father felt that the Chinese language was important if one wants to be successful in business at that time, and he sent all his children to Chinese medium schools. Ong graduated with distinctions from The Chinese High School (now Hwa Chong Institution) in 1955. Having received a Chinese-language education, he saw little opportunity for advancing his studies in the University of Malaya, as English was the university's language medium.
In 1956, with the help of his father's friends, Ong ventured abroad. Those years were to shape both his beliefs and passions. Ong studied...
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