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Ong Teng Cheong
Ong
'

Nationality

Singaporean

Birthplace

Singapore, British Empire

Birthdate

January 22, 1936

5th President of Singapore

Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong

Preceded by Wee Kim Wee

Succeeded by S. R. Nathan

Ong Teng Cheong (Chinese: 王鼎昌; pinyin: Wáng Dǐngchāng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ông Tíng-chhiong; 22 January 1936–8 February 2002), GCMG, was the fifth President of Singapore but the first directly elected one. He served a six-year term from 1 September 1993 to 31 August 1999.

Early Education[]

Born in 1936, Ong was the second of five children from a middle-class Singaporean family. His English-educated father felt that the Chinese language was important if one wanted to become successful in business at the time and thus sent all of his children to Chinese-medium schools. Ong graduated with distinctions from The Chinese High School (now the High School Section of Hwa Chong Institution) in 1955. Having received a Chinese-language education, Ong 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 architecture at the University of Adelaide along with his childhood sweetheart and future spouse, Ling Siew May. Both Ong and Ling met each other during a Christmas party while they were still studying in secondary school.

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