Seow, Francis T.

Francis Seow Tiang Siew (11 October 1928 – 21 January 2016), was a Singaporean lawyer who was Solicitor-General of Singapore and later the president of the Law Society of Singapore. During his legal career, he was known for having both prosecuted and represented defendants in highly publicised trials such as Sunny Ang, Mimi Wong, prisoners of the Pulau Senang prison riots and Tan Mui Choo. Seow started his legal career in 1956 in the Singapore Legal Service, becoming Solicitor-General in 1969 before entering private practice in 1972. After he was elected president of the Law Society of Singapore in 1986, he had a falling-out with Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew over the Law Society's role in commenting on legislation. He did not serve beyond that year. After his presidency, Seow increasingly became involved in politics by being critical of the governing People's Action Party (PAP). In the lead up to the 1988 general election, Seow joined the Workers' Party (WP) and contested in the Eunos Group Representation Constituency as a candidate. His team narrowly lost with just 49.11% of the vote. Just prior to the election, Seow was detained for 72 days without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA) under accusations of receiving foreign campaign donations from the United States. After the election, he was accused of tax evasion. Seow subsequently left for the United States supposedly for health reasons, disregarding numerous court summons to return to Singapore to stand trial. He was eventually convicted in absentia. Called a "prisoner of conscience" by Amnesty International in 2007, Seow was a frequent speaker at university talks outside of Singapore. He never returned to Singapore and died in Boston in 2016; he was 87.