Choor Singh
Encyclopedia
Choor Singh Sidhu known professionally as Choor Singh, was a judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore and, particularly after his retirement from the bench
, a philanthropist and writer of books about Sikhism
. Born to a family of modest means in Punjab
, India
, he came to Singapore at four years of age. He completed his seondary education in the top class at Raffles Institution
in 1929, then worked as a clerk
in a law firm before becoming a civil servant in the Official Assignee's office.
Encouraged by the Assistant Official Assignee, James Walter Davy Ambrose (who was later appointed a High Court Judge), to study law, Choor Singh enrolled as an external student at the University of London
, passing the matriculation
examination and intermediate LL.B.
examination. In 1948 he was appointed a coroner
, and the following year was elevated to the post of magistrate, becoming the first Indian to hold such a position in colonial Malaya
. Following law studies at Gray's Inn
on a government scholarship, he became a Barrister-at-Law in 1955. He was appointed a district judge in 1960 and a judge of the Supreme Court in 1963. Especially noted for his criminal judgments, Singh was the first Singapore
judge to impose the death penalty
on a woman.
Following his retirement in 1980, Choor Singh continued his close involvement in Indian and Sikh affairs. One of the young Sikhs who founded the Singapore Khalsa
Association in 1931, he served as its patron and honorary chairman of its board of trustees. He also contributed to educational charities and causes, both Sikh and non-Sikh, and wrote several books on Sikhism. In 1994, the Sikh community bestowed on him its highest honour by inviting him to lay the foundation stone for the new Gurdwara Sahib building at the Gurdwara Khalsa Dharmak Sabha at 18 Niven Road.
Choor Singh Sidhu was born in Kotteh, Punjab
, in India, on 19 January 1911. He came to Singapore at the age of four years with his mother and sister to join his father, who was already employed there as a night watchman in a godown
near Boat Quay
by the Singapore River
. He attended Pearl's Hill Primary School and Outram Road School, at various stages walking 5 kilometres (3 mi) to school, sleeping along a five foot way
, bathing at a roadside pump and studying at night under a street lamp. He completed his secondary education and took the Senior Cambridge
examination at Raffles Institution
in the top class in 1929. There, he was a classmate of David Marshall
, the first Chief Minister
of Singapore; they became good friends. Initially unemployed between 1930 and 1934 due to the Great Depression
, he subsequently worked for three years as a clerk
in the law firm of Mallal & Namazie for a monthly salary of 20 Straits dollar
s. Thereafter, he joined the Government Clerical Services for 60 Straits dollars a month and was posted to the Official Assignee's office, which was in charge of administering the estates
of bankrupt
persons.
The Assistant Official Assignee, James Walter Davy Ambrose (later a High Court Judge), advised Choor Singh to study law. Singh read law books in his leisure time and began saving money to study law in England. This proved to be unnecessary; following a change in the rules, he was able to enrol as an external student at the University of London
and passed the matriculation
examination and, in 1948, the intermediate LL.B.
examination. However, he could not be called to the Bar
as a barrister
as he did not have time to keep the required dining terms. On 20 May 1948, he was appointed a coroner
. In December 1949, Singh was elevated to the post of magistrate, becoming the first Indian to hold such a position in colonial Malaya
. He continued his law studies at Gray's Inn
, and in 1953 was granted leave on a government scholarship to dine at Gray's Inn. After making four trips in two years, he became a Barrister-at-Law in 1955. In 1958, he was appointed a member of the Appeal Tribunal under the Preservation of Public Security Ordinance.
Choor Singh was one of the founding members of the Sri
Guru Nanak
Sat Sang
Sabha
(the Congregation of Sri Guru Nanak's Company), registered on 26 June 1953. The Gurdwara Sri Guru Nanak Satsang Sabha in Katong
was built for this congregation in 1969.
and Singapore. On 28 August 1963, he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court.
During Singh's 17-year career on the bench
, 105 of his judgments were reported in the law reports. Particularly noted for his criminal judgments, he was known as "the Hanging Judge
" for handing down a large number of capital sentences
. He was the first judge in Singapore to impose the death penalty on a woman, Mimi Wong, a cabaret singer who murdered her Japanese lover's wife in 1970. In a 1996 interview with The Straits Times
, he said: "I'm satisfied that I've made no mistake and that I've done my duty according to the law." All the five judgments he wrote as a member of the Court of Criminal Appeal were upheld by the Privy Council
, then Singapore's highest appellate court
.
In an oral history interview, Singh said that one of the murder trials that he had presided over, the "Body in the Box" case, led to the abolition of jury trial
s in Singapore criminal cases. Following the trial of a young man, Freddy Tan, for the murder of his friend whose decomposed body was found stuffed into a box, Singh agreed with the jury to convict Tan of culpable homicide
not amounting to murder and sentence him to life imprisonment
. However, he later learnt that in the jury room a bullying Dutch juror had wanted to impose the death penalty
, but because the other jurors disliked his attitude they voted to impose a lower verdict on Tan. The father of the deceased felt an injustice had been done and went to see the Prime Minister
, Lee Kuan Yew
. Lee then sent for Singh, and Singh informed him of what had happened with the jurors. Lee asked Singh, "Well what do you think. Shall I abolish the jury?" Singh replied that if he had tried Tan without a jury, he would have convicted him of murder without hesitation. Following a public inquiry, jury trials were abolished for all criminal cases in 1969.
Between 1967 and 1979, Singh was also Commissioner of the Land Acquisition Appeals Board. In 1972, in the case of Gian Singh & Co. Ltd. v. Banque de L'Indochine, Singh wrote a dissenting opinion
– uncommon in Singapore – when sitting in the Court of Appeal with Chief Justice
Wee Chong Jin
and Justice Tan Ah Tah. An honorary member of the Law Society of Singapore
, he retired as a judge on 30 November 1980.
(OCBC), and other companies in the OCBC group such as Great Eastern Life
and Overseas Assurance Corporation. For many years, Singh was chairman of both the Probation Committee which supervises the work of probation officers, and the Detention Board, and vice-president of the National Kidney Foundation Singapore
. He was also a member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights
and the Disciplinary Committee for advocates and solicitors
.
A keen cricket
er when younger, Singh learned to play golf and took up gardening. He also continued his close involvement with Indian and Sikh
affairs. One of the young Sikhs who founded the Singapore Khalsa
Association in 1931, and having been its president in the 1960s, he served as its patron and honorary chairman of the board of trustees. He was also a patron of the Singapore Indian Association
and a trustee of the Sikh Welfare Council, He also wrote several books on Sikhism, including Bhai Maharaj Singh: Saint-soldier of the Sikh Faith (1991; later edition, 1999), The Sikh Gurus (1991), Understanding Sikhism (1994; later edition, 2001) and Who is a Sikh? (2004). Associate Professor Dr. Kirpal Singh, a writer and literary editor
with the Singapore Management University
, penned in the foreword to the 2001 edition of Understanding Sikhism that Singh had managed "to 'engage' the reader through the strategy of writing simply, honestly and without any pretense".
Placing great importance on learning, Singh contributed to Sikh educational charities and other educational causes. He was a trustee of the Singapore Sikh Education Foundation that was inaugurated in 1990 to teach Punjabi
to children, and a life member of the Singapore Indian Education Trust which provides financial assistance to Singaporean Indians for their education. As Chairman of the Sikh Advisory Board, he persuaded the Government
to allow the use of government school buildings for the teaching of the Punjabi language
. Classes were conducted by the Sri Guru Nanak Satsang Sabha at two schools on Saturday mornings, and were attended by about 400 Sikh children.
On 18 January 1999, to celebrate his 88th birthday the next day, Singh donated S$
25,000 to the National Institute of Education
. About $15,000 was used to establish the Justice Choor Singh Gold Medal, which is awarded to the best student teacher in education studies with a distinction in practicum
in the final examination for the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Primary or Secondary) programme. The remaining $10,000 went towards funding a research project on the Sikh community's contributions to education. In 2001, he donated $140,000 to the Singapore Management University
's Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies.
The Sikh community bestowed its highest honour on Singh on 14 August 1994 by inviting him to lay the foundation stone for the new Gurdwara Sahib building at the Gurdwara Khalsa Dharmak Sabha at 18 Niven Road. In August 1996, the Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
presented him with one of the inaugural Sikh Community Service Awards awarded by the Singapore Khalsa Association in recognition of his contributions to the community.
For two years before his death, Singh had found it difficult to walk. He died in his bed on 31 March 2009 aged 98. Pre-deceased by his wife, Bhagwan Kaur, in 2004, he left behind two sons, Duleep Singh Sidhu and Dr. Daljeet Singh Sidhu, and a daughter, Manjeet Kaur Sidhu. The following self-written epitaph was published in his obituary notice in The Straits Times on 1 April 2009:
I came here by His grace
After toiling in many lower lives.
I have done my duty to my State,
To my community and my Faith.
I leave now as ordained by my fate,
To meet Him and sit at His Lotus feet.
Bench (law)
Bench in legal contexts means simply the location in a courtroom where a judge sits. The historical roots of that meaning come from the fact that judges formerly sat on long seats or benches when presiding over a court...
, a philanthropist and writer of books about Sikhism
Sikhism
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...
. Born to a family of modest means in Punjab
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, he came to Singapore at four years of age. He completed his seondary education in the top class at Raffles Institution
Raffles Institution
Raffles Institution , founded in 1823, is the oldest centre for pre-tertiary learning in Singapore. It is an independent school in Singapore providing secondary and pre-university education. RI consists of a boys-only secondary section , and a coeducational pre-university section...
in 1929, then worked as a clerk
Law clerk
A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person who provides assistance to a judge in researching issues before the court and in writing opinions. Law clerks are not court clerks or courtroom deputies, who are administrative staff for the court. Most law clerks are recent law school graduates who...
in a law firm before becoming a civil servant in the Official Assignee's office.
Encouraged by the Assistant Official Assignee, James Walter Davy Ambrose (who was later appointed a High Court Judge), to study law, Choor Singh enrolled as an external student at the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
, passing the matriculation
Matriculation
Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list, from the Latin matricula – little list. In Scottish heraldry, for instance, a matriculation is a registration of armorial bearings...
examination and intermediate LL.B.
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
examination. In 1948 he was appointed a coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
, and the following year was elevated to the post of magistrate, becoming the first Indian to hold such a position in colonial Malaya
Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a peninsula in Southeast Asia. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its terminus, is the southern-most point of the Asian mainland...
. Following law studies at Gray's Inn
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
on a government scholarship, he became a Barrister-at-Law in 1955. He was appointed a district judge in 1960 and a judge of the Supreme Court in 1963. Especially noted for his criminal judgments, Singh was the first Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
judge to impose the death penalty
Capital punishment in Singapore
Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment in Singapore. The city-state had the highest per-capita execution rate in the world between 1994 and 1999, estimated by the United Nations to be 1.357 executions per hundred thousand of population during that period. The next highest was Turkmenistan...
on a woman.
Following his retirement in 1980, Choor Singh continued his close involvement in Indian and Sikh affairs. One of the young Sikhs who founded the Singapore Khalsa
Khalsa
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Association in 1931, he served as its patron and honorary chairman of its board of trustees. He also contributed to educational charities and causes, both Sikh and non-Sikh, and wrote several books on Sikhism. In 1994, the Sikh community bestowed on him its highest honour by inviting him to lay the foundation stone for the new Gurdwara Sahib building at the Gurdwara Khalsa Dharmak Sabha at 18 Niven Road.
Childhood, education and early career
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
, in India, on 19 January 1911. He came to Singapore at the age of four years with his mother and sister to join his father, who was already employed there as a night watchman in a godown
Warehouse
A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...
near Boat Quay
Boat Quay
Boat Quay is a historical quay in Singapore which is situated upstream from the mouth of the Singapore River on its southern bank.It was the busiest part of the old Port of Singapore, handling three quarters of all shipping business during the 1860s...
by the Singapore River
Singapore River
The Singapore River is a river in Singapore with great historical importance. The Singapore River flows from the Central Area, which lies in the Central Region in the southern part of Singapore before emptying into the ocean...
. He attended Pearl's Hill Primary School and Outram Road School, at various stages walking 5 kilometres (3 mi) to school, sleeping along a five foot way
Five foot way
Five foot ways are pedestrian walkways indented into the ground floor of a building from the road, so that the overhanging upper floors can provide a cover to shield pedestrians from the sun and rain. This feature can be found in many shophouses all over the world, and also in some office...
, bathing at a roadside pump and studying at night under a street lamp. He completed his secondary education and took the Senior Cambridge
Senior Cambridge
The Senior Cambridge examinations were General Certificate of Education examinations held in Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, India, and Jamaica. They were preceded by the Junior Cambridge and Preliminary Cambridge examinations.-India:...
examination at Raffles Institution
Raffles Institution
Raffles Institution , founded in 1823, is the oldest centre for pre-tertiary learning in Singapore. It is an independent school in Singapore providing secondary and pre-university education. RI consists of a boys-only secondary section , and a coeducational pre-university section...
in the top class in 1929. There, he was a classmate of David Marshall
David Saul Marshall
David Saul Marshall was the leader of the Singapore Labour Front and became the first Chief Minister of Singapore in 1955....
, the first Chief Minister
Chief Minister
A Chief Minister is the elected head of government of a sub-national state, provinces of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, notably a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British Overseas Territory that has attained self-government...
of Singapore; they became good friends. Initially unemployed between 1930 and 1934 due to the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, he subsequently worked for three years as a clerk
Law clerk
A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person who provides assistance to a judge in researching issues before the court and in writing opinions. Law clerks are not court clerks or courtroom deputies, who are administrative staff for the court. Most law clerks are recent law school graduates who...
in the law firm of Mallal & Namazie for a monthly salary of 20 Straits dollar
Straits dollar
The Straits dollar was the currency of the Straits Settlements from 1904 until 1939. At the same time, it was also used in the Federated Malay States, the Unfederated Malay States, Sarawak, Brunei, and British North Borneo.-History:...
s. Thereafter, he joined the Government Clerical Services for 60 Straits dollars a month and was posted to the Official Assignee's office, which was in charge of administering the estates
Estate (law)
An estate is the net worth of a person at any point in time. It is the sum of a person's assets - legal rights, interests and entitlements to property of any kind - less all liabilities at that time. The issue is of special legal significance on a question of bankruptcy and death of the person...
of bankrupt
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
persons.
The Assistant Official Assignee, James Walter Davy Ambrose (later a High Court Judge), advised Choor Singh to study law. Singh read law books in his leisure time and began saving money to study law in England. This proved to be unnecessary; following a change in the rules, he was able to enrol as an external student at the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
and passed the matriculation
Matriculation
Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list, from the Latin matricula – little list. In Scottish heraldry, for instance, a matriculation is a registration of armorial bearings...
examination and, in 1948, the intermediate LL.B.
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
examination. However, he could not be called to the Bar
Call to the bar
The Call to the Bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party, and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received a "call to the bar"...
as a barrister
Barristers in England and Wales
Barristers in England and Wales are one of the two main categories of lawyer in England and Wales, the other being solicitors. -Origin of the profession:The work of senior legal professionals in England and Wales...
as he did not have time to keep the required dining terms. On 20 May 1948, he was appointed a coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
. In December 1949, Singh was elevated to the post of magistrate, becoming the first Indian to hold such a position in colonial Malaya
Malay Peninsula
The Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a peninsula in Southeast Asia. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its terminus, is the southern-most point of the Asian mainland...
. He continued his law studies at Gray's Inn
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
, and in 1953 was granted leave on a government scholarship to dine at Gray's Inn. After making four trips in two years, he became a Barrister-at-Law in 1955. In 1958, he was appointed a member of the Appeal Tribunal under the Preservation of Public Security Ordinance.
Choor Singh was one of the founding members of the Sri
Sri
Sri , also transliterated as Shri or Shree or shre is a word of Sanskrit origin, used in the Indian subcontinent as polite form of address equivalent to the English "Mr." in written and spoken language, or as a title of veneration for deities .-Etymology:Sri has the root meaning of radiance, or...
Guru Nanak
Guru Nanak Dev
Guru Nanak was the founder of the religion of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. The Sikhs believe that all subsequent Gurus possessed Guru Nanak’s divinity and religious authority, and were named "Nanak" in the line of succession.-Early life:Guru Nanak was born on 15 April 1469, now...
Sat Sang
Satsang
Satsang in Indian philosophy means the company of the "highest truth," the company of a guru, or company with an assembly of persons who listen to, talk about, and assimilate the truth...
Sabha
Sabha
Sabha is one of the districts of Libya. It is located near the center of the country, in the Fezzan region. The capital is the city of Sabha, with a population of 130,000....
(the Congregation of Sri Guru Nanak's Company), registered on 26 June 1953. The Gurdwara Sri Guru Nanak Satsang Sabha in Katong
Katong
Katong is a residential area in the east of Singapore near the seafront. Formerly located by the sea, land was reclaimed all the way to East Coast Park to provide more land for housing and recreational purposes due to shortage of land in the late 1960s after Singapore gained independence.Katong was...
was built for this congregation in 1969.
Judicial career
On 11 July 1960, Choor Singh became a district judge. In that year, he also published a book called Gaming in Malaya on the Common Gaming Houses Ordinances of the Federation of MalayaFederation of Malaya
The Federation of Malaya is the name given to a federation of 11 states that existed from 31 January 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957...
and Singapore. On 28 August 1963, he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court.
Bench (law)
Bench in legal contexts means simply the location in a courtroom where a judge sits. The historical roots of that meaning come from the fact that judges formerly sat on long seats or benches when presiding over a court...
, 105 of his judgments were reported in the law reports. Particularly noted for his criminal judgments, he was known as "the Hanging Judge
Hanging Judge
"Hanging judge" is an unofficial term for a judge who has gained renown for punishment by sentencing convicted criminals to death by hanging.More broadly, the term is applied to judges who have gained a reputation for imposing unusually harsh sentences, even in jurisdictions where the death penalty...
" for handing down a large number of capital sentences
Capital punishment in Singapore
Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment in Singapore. The city-state had the highest per-capita execution rate in the world between 1994 and 1999, estimated by the United Nations to be 1.357 executions per hundred thousand of population during that period. The next highest was Turkmenistan...
. He was the first judge in Singapore to impose the death penalty on a woman, Mimi Wong, a cabaret singer who murdered her Japanese lover's wife in 1970. In a 1996 interview with The Straits Times
The Straits Times
The Straits Times is an English language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore currently owned by Singapore Press Holdings . It is the country's highest-selling paper, with a current daily circulation of nearly 400,000...
, he said: "I'm satisfied that I've made no mistake and that I've done my duty according to the law." All the five judgments he wrote as a member of the Court of Criminal Appeal were upheld by the Privy Council
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. Established by the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King in Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the United...
, then Singapore's highest appellate court
Appellate court
An appellate court, commonly called an appeals court or court of appeals or appeal court , is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal...
.
In an oral history interview, Singh said that one of the murder trials that he had presided over, the "Body in the Box" case, led to the abolition of jury trial
Jury trial
A jury trial is a legal proceeding in which a jury either makes a decision or makes findings of fact which are then applied by a judge...
s in Singapore criminal cases. Following the trial of a young man, Freddy Tan, for the murder of his friend whose decomposed body was found stuffed into a box, Singh agreed with the jury to convict Tan of culpable homicide
Culpable homicide
Culpable homicide is a specific offence in various jurisdictions within the Commonwealth of Nations which involves the illegal killing of a person either with or without an intention to kill depending upon how a particular jurisdiction has defined the offence...
not amounting to murder and sentence him to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
. However, he later learnt that in the jury room a bullying Dutch juror had wanted to impose the death penalty
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
, but because the other jurors disliked his attitude they voted to impose a lower verdict on Tan. The father of the deceased felt an injustice had been done and went to see the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Singapore
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore is the head of the government of the Republic of Singapore. The President of Singapore appoints as Prime Minister a Member of Parliament who, in his opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of a majority of MPs.The office of Prime Minister...
, Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH is a Singaporean statesman. He was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, governing for three decades...
. Lee then sent for Singh, and Singh informed him of what had happened with the jurors. Lee asked Singh, "Well what do you think. Shall I abolish the jury?" Singh replied that if he had tried Tan without a jury, he would have convicted him of murder without hesitation. Following a public inquiry, jury trials were abolished for all criminal cases in 1969.
Between 1967 and 1979, Singh was also Commissioner of the Land Acquisition Appeals Board. In 1972, in the case of Gian Singh & Co. Ltd. v. Banque de L'Indochine, Singh wrote a dissenting opinion
Dissenting opinion
A dissenting opinion is an opinion in a legal case written by one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment....
– uncommon in Singapore – when sitting in the Court of Appeal with Chief Justice
Chief Justice of Singapore
The Chief Justice of Singapore is the highest post in the judicial system of Singapore. The Chief Justice is appointed by the President, chosen from candidates recommended by the Prime Minister. The present Chief Justice is Chan Sek Keong....
Wee Chong Jin
Wee Chong Jin
Wee Chong Jin was born in Penang to parents Wee Gim Puay and Lim Paik Yew. He received his early education at the Penang Free School, and read law at St John's College, Cambridge...
and Justice Tan Ah Tah. An honorary member of the Law Society of Singapore
Law Society of Singapore
The Law Society of Singapore is the organisation that represents all lawyers in Singapore. It publishes the Law Gazette and operates a scheme for needy people to benefit from legal services free-of-charge. The Society also sets out rules for how lawyers should advertise. The Law Society is...
, he retired as a judge on 30 November 1980.
Later years
Impatient with nothing to do following his retirement, for about four and a half years from 1981 Choor Singh acted as a personal consultant for Tan Chin Tuan, the Chairman of the Oversea-Chinese Banking CorporationOversea-Chinese Banking Corporation
The Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited , abbreviated as OCBC Bank , is a publicly listed financial services organisation with its head office in Singapore. OCBC Bank is one of Singapore's leading local banks, with group assets of more than 224 billion SGD. It has one of the highest bank...
(OCBC), and other companies in the OCBC group such as Great Eastern Life
Great Eastern Life
Great Eastern Life Assurance is based in Singapore and the largest life insurance company in Singapore and Malaysia. It is also the oldest insurance company in Asia. It is the largest insurance group in Singapore and Malaysia with S$ 45 billion in assets and 3 million policyholders...
and Overseas Assurance Corporation. For many years, Singh was chairman of both the Probation Committee which supervises the work of probation officers, and the Detention Board, and vice-president of the National Kidney Foundation Singapore
National Kidney Foundation Singapore
The National Kidney Foundation Singapore is a Singapore-based foundation running kidney dialysis and prevention programmes. It is fully supported by charity donations.-Beginnings:...
. He was also a member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights
Presidential Council for Minority Rights
The Presidential Council for Minority Rights is a non-elected government body in Singapore established in 1970, the main function of which is to scrutinize most of the bills passed by Parliament to ensure that they do not discriminate against any racial or religious community...
and the Disciplinary Committee for advocates and solicitors
Lawyers in Singapore
Lawyers in Singapore are part of a fused profession, meaning that they may act as both a solicitor and as an advocate, although lawyers usually specialize in one of litigation, conveyancing or corporate law....
.
A keen cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er when younger, Singh learned to play golf and took up gardening. He also continued his close involvement with Indian and Sikh
Sikhism
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...
affairs. One of the young Sikhs who founded the Singapore Khalsa
Khalsa
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Association in 1931, and having been its president in the 1960s, he served as its patron and honorary chairman of the board of trustees. He was also a patron of the Singapore Indian Association
Singapore Indian Association
The Singapore Indian Association was established in 1923 with the objective of promoting the social, physical, intellectual, cultural and the general welfare of its members. When it was formed, the Association projected itself as a pan-Indian, rather than narrowly ethnic, language, religion, caste...
and a trustee of the Sikh Welfare Council, He also wrote several books on Sikhism, including Bhai Maharaj Singh: Saint-soldier of the Sikh Faith (1991; later edition, 1999), The Sikh Gurus (1991), Understanding Sikhism (1994; later edition, 2001) and Who is a Sikh? (2004). Associate Professor Dr. Kirpal Singh, a writer and literary editor
Literary editor
A literary editor is an editor in a newspaper, magazine or similar publication who deals with aspects concerning literature and books, especially reviews. A literary editor may also help with editing books themselves, by providing services such as proof reading, copy-editing, and literary...
with the Singapore Management University
Singapore Management University
The Singapore Management University was officially incorporated on January 12, 2000, and was Singapore's first private university funded by the government...
, penned in the foreword to the 2001 edition of Understanding Sikhism that Singh had managed "to 'engage' the reader through the strategy of writing simply, honestly and without any pretense".
Placing great importance on learning, Singh contributed to Sikh educational charities and other educational causes. He was a trustee of the Singapore Sikh Education Foundation that was inaugurated in 1990 to teach Punjabi
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
to children, and a life member of the Singapore Indian Education Trust which provides financial assistance to Singaporean Indians for their education. As Chairman of the Sikh Advisory Board, he persuaded the Government
Government of Singapore
The Government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore to mean the Executive branch of government, which is made up of the President and the Cabinet of Singapore. Although the President acts in his personal discretion in the exercise of certain functions as a check...
to allow the use of government school buildings for the teaching of the Punjabi language
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
. Classes were conducted by the Sri Guru Nanak Satsang Sabha at two schools on Saturday mornings, and were attended by about 400 Sikh children.
Singapore dollar
The Singapore dollar or Dollar is the official currency of Singapore. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively S$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
25,000 to the National Institute of Education
National Institute of Education
The is an institute of the , Singapore.NIE, Singapore, provides all levels of teacher education, from programmes to for in-service teachers and executive for Principals, Departmental Heads and other school leaders. NIE also administers postgraduate programmes that lead to the award of in...
. About $15,000 was used to establish the Justice Choor Singh Gold Medal, which is awarded to the best student teacher in education studies with a distinction in practicum
Practicum
A practicum is a college course, often in a specialized field of study, that is designed to give students supervised practical application of a previously or concurrently studied theory. Practicums are common for education and social work majors...
in the final examination for the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Primary or Secondary) programme. The remaining $10,000 went towards funding a research project on the Sikh community's contributions to education. In 2001, he donated $140,000 to the Singapore Management University
Singapore Management University
The Singapore Management University was officially incorporated on January 12, 2000, and was Singapore's first private university funded by the government...
's Centre for Cross-Cultural Studies.
The Sikh community bestowed its highest honour on Singh on 14 August 1994 by inviting him to lay the foundation stone for the new Gurdwara Sahib building at the Gurdwara Khalsa Dharmak Sabha at 18 Niven Road. In August 1996, the Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
Lee Hsien Loong
Lee Hsien Loong is the third and current Prime Minister of Singapore. He is married to Ho Ching, who is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings. He is the eldest son of Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew....
presented him with one of the inaugural Sikh Community Service Awards awarded by the Singapore Khalsa Association in recognition of his contributions to the community.
For two years before his death, Singh had found it difficult to walk. He died in his bed on 31 March 2009 aged 98. Pre-deceased by his wife, Bhagwan Kaur, in 2004, he left behind two sons, Duleep Singh Sidhu and Dr. Daljeet Singh Sidhu, and a daughter, Manjeet Kaur Sidhu. The following self-written epitaph was published in his obituary notice in The Straits Times on 1 April 2009:
I came here by His grace
After toiling in many lower lives.
I have done my duty to my State,
To my community and my Faith.
I leave now as ordained by my fate,
To meet Him and sit at His Lotus feet.