Ng Lye Poh, Mother of Sheng Siong President Lim Hock Chee, Dies Aged 91

Ng Lye Poh, Mother of Sheng Siong President Lim Hock Chee, Dies Aged 91

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Ng Lye Poh, widely known as Sheng Siong Ah Ma and the mother of Sheng Siong Group president Lim Hock Chee, has passed away at the age of 91. Her death follows a peaceful later life in her HDB neighbourhood, more than a decade after surviving a high-profile kidnapping for ransom in January 2014.

Ng Lye Poh died on September 5, 2026, at 7:20 am according to family obituary notices. Her family has announced that all bereavement money collected during her wake at Woodlands Memorial will be donated directly to charity.

While her later years were defined by quiet familiarity in her neighborhood, her name remains permanently linked to one of the most sensational criminal investigations in modern Singaporean history.

The 2014 Kidnapping That Shook Singapore

In January 2014, then 79-year-old Ng Lye Poh became the target of a meticulously planned abduction. The perpetrator, Lee Sze Yong, spent more than two years plotting the crime after falling into S$200,000 in personal debt.

On the morning of the incident, Lee approached Ng on an overhead bridge along Hougang Avenue 2. He tricked her into getting into his car by falsely claiming that her son had suffered an injury at his office prior to driving her away blindfolded.

During the ordeal, the abductor drove her around the island and later enlisted an accomplice, Heng Chen Boon, to meet at Punggol End. Though Heng initially questioned the identity of the elderly captive, he was instructed not to ask questions as court documents later revealed.

Inside the Ordeal and the Ransom Drop

Court testimonies and subsequent reports painted a vivid picture of the hours Ng spent in captivity. Blindfolded throughout much of the ordeal, she repeatedly asked to use the restroom, prompting the kidnapper to pull over by the roadside so she could relieve herself as she recounted from the witness stand.

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Though offered a soft drink by her captors, she declined because she suffered from diabetes. As night fell, she was driven to an unfamiliar area where her blindfold was removed, her watch was taken, and she was ordered out of the vehicle. When she asked for her umbrella to use as a walking aid, the kidnappers briefly handed it to her before snatching it back, causing her to fall by the roadside as they sped away according to her own harrowing courtroom testimony.

The initial ransom demand stood at a staggering S$20 million before being negotiated down to S$2 million. However, when Lim Hock Chee made the drop near Sembawang Park, law enforcement intercepted the suspects before the money changed hands. Police officers and her son subsequently located her near Sembawang Air Base and brought her safely home.

Legal Fallout and Woodlands Memorial Services

The aftermath of the crime brought swift judicial accountability. Lee Sze Yong was convicted of kidnapping, receiving a sentence of life imprisonment alongside three strokes of the cane after prosecutors uncovered documents detailing plans to spend a hypothetical multi-million dollar payout on cars, properties, and debt clearance. Accomplice Heng Chen Boon received a three-year prison sentence following his role in the thwarted plot.

Ng Lye Poh, Mother of Sheng Siong President Lim Hock Chee, Dies Aged 91
Photo: mothership.sg

Reflecting on the harrowing episode years later at his mother’s wake, her second son Lim Hock Chee described receiving that initial phone call from the kidnapper as an intensely nerve-racking experience in interviews with reporters.

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Public tributes have since poured in for the woman affectionately known across her housing estate as the Sheng Siong Ah Ma. Her family has secured the entire fifth floor of Woodlands Memorial to accommodate the large number of mourners wishing to pay their respects prior to the scheduled funeral procession.

Event Milestone Details
Date of Passing September 5, 2026 (aged 91)
Location of Wake Woodlands Memorial (5th Floor)
Funeral Procession September 11, 2026, at 2:00 PM
Kidnapping Incident January 2014
Judicial Outcome Life imprisonment for Lee Sze Yong; 3 years for Heng Chen Boon

The funeral procession is scheduled to commence at 2 pm on September 11, drawing to a close a life that bridged the humble origins of a neighborhood matriarch and the extraordinary trials of Singapore’s corporate elite.

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