Davinder Singh (lawyer)

Singh's father, Amar Singh, was born in Quetta, British India (present-day Balochistan, Pakistan) and left for Southeast Asia as an economic migrant. His mother was born in Kuala Lumpur, British Malaya. Amar Singh moved first to Kuala Lumpur, and then to early post-independence Singapore with his family, working as a travel agent. Davinder Singh grew up alongside two brothers and two sisters.[3]

Singh completed his early education in the Jesuit Saint Michael's School, following in his two older brothers' footsteps. He went on to attend Saint Joseph's Institution, as was the normal progression of students at Saint Michael's School at that time. He was not focused on academics, and, to his parents' disappointment, entered the arts stream rather than the sciences stream after his Secondary 2 examinations. He performed well in his GCE Ordinary Level examinations, enabling him entry into the newly-established National Junior College, then a prestigious government school in Singapore.[3] Singh spent two years there, and then served his national service as an officer in the Singapore Army before attending the National University of Singapore, where he read law.[3]

Singh's choice to read law was partially influenced by an event at Saint Joseph's Institution when his usual teacher was absent and his principal stood in as relief teacher. The principal set the students a test, and looking at Singh's paper, asked him whether his father was a lawyer. Singh answered no, but came away feeling that he must have impressed his principal very much to have earned such a remark. The idea stuck in Singh's head that he had a talent for argument.[3]

Singh's focus in law school was not academic. He described his view of university as "a great opportunity to experience varsity life", and treated the study of law as incidental to the experience.[3]

In the first three years of his education, Singh did not give any thought to what he would do in practice. Internships and work placements were uncommon at that time. Singh, however, was attending law school on a scholarship from DBS Bank, which came with a job and a bond. One of the requirements of the scholarship was that he spent three weeks a year at the bank, which he did. In his third year, he decided that he did not enjoy the prospect of being in-house counsel at a bank. That year, he attempted the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in Washington, D.C., with three friends, Steven Chong, V. K. Rajah and Jimmy Yim. The team became the first from the National University of Singapore to win the prestigious moot, and Singh was named the Best Oralist in the Championship round.[4] Singh decided that he enjoyed advocacy, and charted his career accordingly.[3]

In 1987, Home Affairs Minister S. Jayakumar, who had taught Singh constitutional law when he was a lecturer at the National University of Singapore, asked Singh to consider becoming a Member of Parliament. Singh, at that time, had a busy practice and was focused on his career, and was not sure that he was prepared for the commitment. However, Singh decided to accept, for a number of reasons. Singh's parents were ardent admirers of Singapore's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, and Singh knew that joining the People's Action Party would make his mother proud and would have made his late father proud too. Singh was himself an admirer of Lee. Once, when asked by Grimberg what he wanted to be in fifteen years, Singh replied, "I'd like to be Lee Kuan Yew's lawyer", to which Grimberg replied, "You will be."[3] He also felt that contributing as a parliamentarian was a rare opportunity would add a valuable dimension to life.[3] Singh ran in the 1988 Singaporean general election and won in an walkover, and from 1988 to 2006, Singh served as a Member of Parliament for Bishan-Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency.