OUTSTANDING BARTLEYANS

Mr Teo Chong Tee (JP) Member of Parliament from 1976 - 1996 Class of 1957 - 1960

Educated up to a Senior Cambridge certificate exam, the equivalent to today's GCE “O” levels, Mr Teo had a short stint as a school teacher before joining Malayan Airways in mid-1962 as a Traffic Clerk. He was a Station Manager, Taipei for 4 years, for Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MSA) from 1970. He concurrently became a Member of Parliament in 1976 and had served Changi constituency for 20 years.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the then Prime Minister of Singapore, had personally invited Mr Teo into politics, as he was a grassroots as well as Party activist who was able to walk the ground and help people to solve their concerns. 

Mr Teo had played a pivotal role in helping to transform the whole of the rural Changi constituency then. Today, it boasts of HDB and private housing estates, industrial parks, a modern general hospital, MRT links, golf courses, and the Singapore Expo Centre, among other excellent facilities. It is also where one of the best airports in the world is sited. All these are on what used to be vast resettlement lands.

Throughout these periods, Mr Teo was also appointed to various portfolios: Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Environment from 1981 to 1984; and Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Community Development from 1985 to March 1986. As the President of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) from 1982 to 1988, his key task was to negotiate with Malaysia for Singapore's return into the prestigious Malaysia Cup competitions.

Chong Tee strongly recalls his first mock election experience as a student in Bartley, which had exposed him to politics and spurred him into serving the community and the people. In October 1998, he was appointed Justice of the Peace (JP) by the President of the Republic of Singapore.

Starting as a clerk, Mr Teo proved himself remarkably, and rose from rank-and-file to senior position with the Singapore Airlines (SIA) and subsequently Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS), Changi Airport, during his 41 years at work . He last held the post of Vice-President, Cargo Services Division before his retirement in July 2003.

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