MR LIM SOO PENG, JP, BBM(L), BBM, PBM (1928 – 2026)
Founder of Chemical Industries (Far East) Limited and Pioneer Member of Parliament
Singapore, 28 July 2026 — Mr Lim Soo Peng, Founder, Emeritus Chairman and Senior Adviser of
Chemical Industries (Far East) Limited, and a Member of Parliament in Singapore’s First and Second
Parliaments, passed away peacefully on 27 July 2026.
Born in 1928, Mr Lim came from a family of rubber and commodities traders. In 1962, in response to the
Singapore Government’s invitation to support the country’s nascent industrialisation programme, he
led the transition of a leading commodities trading house into a manufacturer of essential chemicals,
founding Chemical Industries (Far East) Limited upon its incorporation on 16 March 1962.
Under his leadership over more than six decades, the Company became a principal domestic supplier of
chlorine, caustic soda and chlor-alkali products to the petrochemical, pharmaceutical, electronics and
water treatment sectors — including the chemicals used to purify Singapore’s water supply in support
of PUB. It remains a quiet but foundational contribution to Singapore’s water security and to its
emergence as an industrial economy.
Mr Lim served the Company as Chairman and Managing Director from its incorporation until 2020, and
thereafter in a succession of executive and non-executive roles. He was instrumental in shaping the
Group’s long-term development and succession strategy, including its transition to a professionally
managed organisation and the progressive rejuvenation of the Board. He was appointed Emeritus
Chairman in July 2022 and, following his retirement from the Board on 18 July 2025, continued to serve
as Founder, Emeritus Chairman and Senior Adviser.
His service extended well beyond industry. Mr Lim was a Member of Parliament for Havelock in
Singapore’s First and Second Parliaments, during the formative years of nationhood. He was appointed
a Justice of the Peace in 1966, among the inaugural cohort so appointed, and served in that capacity for
the remainder of his life. He served as a Member of the Prisons Board of Visiting Justices and Board of
Inspection, and on the Drug Rehabilitation Centre Committee — work reflecting a conviction that those
at society’s margins were owed dignity and a second chance. Over more than four decades he sat on
numerous government committees and statutory boards.
For his contributions to public service, Mr Lim was awarded the Public Service Medal (PBM) in 1997,
the Public Service Star (BBM) in 2001, and the Public Service Star (Bar), BBM(L), in 2014. In 2015, the
Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry conferred on him the SG50 Outstanding Chinese
Business Pioneers Award in recognition of his contributions as a business pioneer.
Mr Yeo Hock Chye, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said:
“Those of us who worked with him remember a man of formidable energy and will — a
ferocious driver of industry who held himself, and all those around him, to exacting
standards, and who was still asking hard questions of this business well into his nineties.
Alongside that drive ran a deep vein of compassion. He was always ready to serve, and
always ready to help the less privileged in society. He did not regard enterprise and service
as separate callings, and he pursued both with equal conviction.”
Media contact: Yeo Keng Liang, +65 9618 3987
林树炳先生，太平绅士，BBM(L)、BBM、PBM（1928 – 2026）
化学工业（远东）有限公司创办人 · 建国初期国会议员
新加坡，2026年7月28日 — 化学工业（远东）有限公司创办人、荣誉主席兼高级顾问，新加
坡第一届及第二届国会议员林树炳先生，已于2026年7月27日安详辞世。
林先生生于1928年，出身于经营树胶与商品贸易的家族。1962年，为响应新加坡政府发展初期
工业化计划的邀请，他带领家族企业从一家领先的商品贸易行转型为基础化学品制造商，并在
公司于1962年3月16日注册成立之际，创办了化学工业（远东）有限公司。
在他六十余年的领导下，公司成为本地石油化工、制药、电子及水处理等行业氯气、烧碱与氯
碱产品的主要供应商，其中包括公用事业局（PUB）净化新加坡供水所需的化学品。这是他为
新加坡的水源保障、以及工业经济奠基所作出的低调而深远的贡献。
林先生自公司创立起出任主席兼董事经理，直至2020年，其后先后担任多项执行与非执行职务。
他为集团的长远发展与接班规划奠定了基础，包括推动公司迈向专业化管理，以及董事会的逐
步更新。他于2022年7月获委任为荣誉主席；在2025年7月18日卸任董事后，继续以创办人、
荣誉主席兼高级顾问的身份为公司服务。
他的贡献远不止于工业领域。在新加坡建国初期，林先生出任第一届及第二届国会合洛区
（Havelock）国会议员。他于1966年获委任为太平绅士，属首批获此委任者之一，并终其一生
持守此职。他曾任监狱巡视太平绅士委员会及视察委员会委员，以及戒毒中心委员会委员 — 这
些工作体现了他的一份信念：处于社会边缘的人，同样应当获得尊严与重新开始的机会。四十
多年来，他先后在多个政府委员会与法定机构中任职。
为表彰他对公共服务的贡献，林先生于1997年荣获公共服务奖章（PBM），2001年荣获公共服
务星章（BBM），并于2014年荣获公共服务星章（勋条）（BBM(L)）。2015年，新加坡中华总
商会颁予他「SG50杰出华商先驱奖」，肯定他作为商界先驱的贡献。
董事会主席杨福财先生表示：
「与他共事过的我们都记得，他是一位意志坚定、精力过人的领袖 — 一位推动工
业向前的猛将，对自己、也对身边所有人都要求极严；即便年过九旬，他仍不断对
公司业务提出尖锐的问题。然而在这股干劲之下，还有一份深厚的恻隐之心。他随
时准备服务社会，也随时准备帮助较不幸的群体。在他看来，创业与服务从来不是
两条不同的道路，而他以同样的信念，走完了这两条路。」
媒体联络：杨敬濓，+65 9618 3987
