Dennis Tan

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The Honourable
Dennis Tan
陈立峰
Dennis Tan, Singaporean general election 2025.jpg
Tan in 2025
Member of Parliament
for Hougang SMC
Incumbent
Assumed office
10 July 2020

Dennis Tan Lip Fong [a] (born 31 August 1970) [1] is a Singaporean politician and lawyer. A member of the opposition Workers' Party (WP), he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hougang Single Member Constituency (SMC) since 2020. He had previously been a non-constituency MP (NCMP) between 2015 and 2020.

Contents

Education

Tan was educated at Nanyang Primary School, Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College; he later studied law at the University of Nottingham. After graduating with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) in 1994, Tan attended the Bar Professional Training Course ("bar school") and served as a barrister-at-law at the Middle Temple until 1997. He went on to complete a Master of Laws in maritime law at the University of Southampton in 2005. [1]

Career

Tan has practised law as a shipping lawyer since 1997, the same year he became an advocate and solicitor at the Supreme Court of Singapore. He re-qualified as a solicitor at the Supreme Court of England and Wales (now the Senior Courts of England and Wales) in 1999 while working in English law firm Stephenson Harwood. [1]

Tan formerly belonged to Ang & Partners, a shipping law firm. In 2005, he started DennisMathiew, another such firm, with a partner. He is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in the United Kingdom. [1]

Political career

Tan started volunteering for the WP during the 2011 general election, becoming a member in early 2012. [1] He contested Fengshan SMC during the 2015 general election, obtaining 42.5% of the vote against Cheryl Chan, fellow political newcomer and candidate for the governing People's Action Party (PAP). [2] Following the election, Tan was appointed as an NCMP in the 13th Parliament. [3]

Tan on a walkabout Dennis Tan Lip Fong 5.jpg
Tan on a walkabout

During the 2020 general election, Tan stood for the WP in party stronghold Hougang SMC, replacing incumbent Png Eng Huat, who had retired from politics. [3] During the campaign, the Elections Department (ELD) said that complaints had been made about posters for his candidacy being hung below the required height of 2.2m. It also said that he should file a report regarding an allegation, made by a supposedly witnessing resident of Hougang SMC, that members of the PAP had pulled them down. [4] Tan retained the seat for the WP after defeating PAP candidate Lee Hong Chuang with 61.21% of the vote. [5] [6]

In the 2025 general election, despite a national swing to the PAP, Tan won reelection with an increased 62.15% of the vote against PAP candidate Marshall Lim. [6] [7]

Party positions

In September 2013, Tan was co-opted into the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the WP. He was subsequently elected to the CEC in 2014 as the vice-chairperson of the party's Media Team. Having been the WP's treasurer between 2016 and 2018, Tan has been its organising secretary since 2018. [1]

Personal life

Tan is a Christian. [2] He is married to Tan Hui Tsing, a fellow lawyer and WP member; they have a daughter. [1] [2]

Tan enjoys running and cycling, as well as non-fiction, historical, political and biographical reading. [1] He has participated in triathlons, and is fluent in Hokkien and Teochew. [2]

Notes

  1. ↑ Chinese :陈立峰; pinyin :Chén Lìfēng

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Curriculum Vitae – Dennis Tan Lip Fong" (PDF). Parliament of Singapore . Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2025. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "For ex-triathlete Dennis Tan, a race to cover as much ground as possible". TODAYonline. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Singapore GE2020: Workers' Party's Dennis Tan set to defend Hougang SMC". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 7 December 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
  4. ↑ "Workers' Party's Dennis Tan GE2020 campaign posters drew complaints over height requirements, says ELD amid tampering claim". CNA. Archived from the original on 4 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  5. ↑ "GE2020: Workers' Party retains Hougang SMC with 61.19% of votes". CNA. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  6. 1 2 "GE2025: WP retains strongholds in Aljunied and Hougang despite national swing to PAP". The Straits Times. 4 May 2025. Archived from the original on 10 September 2025. Retrieved 28 September 2025.
  7. ↑ "ELD | 2025 Parliamentary General Election Results". www.eld.gov.sg. Retrieved 28 September 2025.
Parliament of Singapore
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Hougang SMC
2020–present		Incumbent
Preceded by Non-constituency Member of Parliament
2015–2020
Served alongside: Leon Perera, Daniel Goh (since 2016)		Succeeded by
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