Lianne Ong is the Editor of Methodist Message. / Photos courtesy of Lim Biow Chuan and Ang Mo Kio Methodist Church
Feature
“I wear my faith on my sleeve” MP Lim Biow Chuan shares what it's like to be a Christian in the public eye
The path to Christianity
Lim leading worship during Good Friday service this year
A
s Singaporeans, we have certain principles ingrained in us from our schooldays, thanks to National Education—“No one owes us a living”, “We must uphold meritocracy and incorruptibility” and “We must preserve racial and religious harmony”. Our multiethnic, multi-religious social fabric has been so carefully built and the peace we enjoy should never be taken for granted, we are often reminded. Mutual respect for other religions is codified into law and the government, and regularly enforced. Has this made Christians in our political arena err on the side of caution and be less open about their faith? When thinking of Christians in Singapore politics, some names often come up—Speaker of Parliament, Tan Chuan Jin, who often shares about his faith in his social media posts and Mayor for Central Singapore District and MP for Jalan Besar GRC, Denise Phua, who is well-known as a disability advocate. Another parliamentarian who readily declares his Christian faith is Mr Lim Biow Chuan, 59, MP for Mountbatten SMC, who has served in various leadership roles in Ang Mo Kio Methodist Church (AMKMC) since the early 1990s. “I wear my faith on my sleeve,” he says matter-of-factly. A quick Google search will unearth incidents where he stuck his neck out in sharing his views as a Christian.
14 Methodist Message
August 2022
The youngest child in a Taoist family, he attended a reading programme as a child in a neighbourhood Baptist centre. “The seeds were planted then but I remained a Taoist until I was in university,” Lim says. It was his friends in the Law faculty and Raffles Hall at the National University of Singapore who were instrumental in leading him to Christianity. They frequently invited him to attend the Varsity Christian Fellowship or to go to church. Lim became a Christian in 1986 during his third year as an undergraduate.
Lim meeting with his constituents
“I became a Christian because I needed God’s help. At that time, I was struggling with my studies, wondering whether I could make it through University or not. But many Christians showed me kindness and care—I guess God put me in the right place at the right time,” he says. He attended St. John’s-St. Margaret’s Church with his friends as it was just around the corner from Raffles Hall.