In the early 1970s, a trainee nurse from Kuala Lumpur went to a dance in London.

A law student from Singapore asked her to dance.

His name was Chiam See Tong.

He would go on to become one of the longest-serving opposition MPs in Singapore's history, the man they would call the Lion of Potong Pasir, the politician who held one constituency for 27 years against the full weight of the ruling party.

But that night, he was just a law student. And she was just a nurse.

Her name was Lina Loh.

They married in 1975. They have a daughter, Camilla.

And for the next 36 years, Lina Chiam became the person most Singaporeans never saw clearly. The woman beside the Lion.

She organised his rallies, walked his constituency, and appeared at every election, every campaign, every count night. She did house visits for decades. She later said they planned election strategies together, that they were "like two-in-one."

She was there in 1984 when Chiam won Potong Pasir for the first time. She was there for every re-election after. Six terms. Twenty-seven years. And through all of it, she was described as his closest political confidante and right-hand woman.

Not a candidate. Not a politician. Not yet.

Then, in 2008, Chiam suffered a stroke.

His health began to decline. His voice thinned. The Lion was ageing. And Potong Pasir needed someone.

In 2011, Chiam left Potong Pasir. He had signalled for some time that he intended to contest a GRC. He chose to lead an SPP team into Bishan-Toa Payoh.

And he asked his wife to hold Potong Pasir.

At 62, Lina Chiam stood for election for the first time. She had already been serving as SPP vice-chairman and as secretary of the Potong Pasir Town Council. She wasn't new to politics. She was new to having her own name on the ballot.

Not a young candidate with decades ahead. A woman stepping into the seat her husband had held for longer than most political careers last.

On polling night, the result came in.

She lost to the PAP's Sitoh Yih Pin.

By 114 votes.

50.36% to 49.64%. A margin of 0.72%. The result was so close it triggered a recount. The recount confirmed Sitoh's victory.

One hundred and fourteen votes. The thinnest margin in Singapore's modern electoral history.

She accepted the NCMP seat. And for the next four years, she did something that surprised everyone who had expected the Lion's wife to be a placeholder.

She worked.

By the end of her NCMP term, an Institute of Policy Studies profile credited her with the second-highest record for speeches delivered, alongside parliamentary questions, Budget debates, and adjournment motions. She challenged aspects of the Liquor Control Bill, questioning whether the evidence justified restricting foreign workers' access to alcohol. She took on the MDA's online news licensing framework, questioning whether it could become a mechanism for limiting online speech.

She wasn't filling her husband's seat. She was earning her own.

"I am my own person," she said.

In 2015, she contested Potong Pasir again. She lost again, this time by a much wider margin.

She became SPP Chairman in 2012 and held the position until 2019. While her husband's health continued to decline, she ran the party. She made the public appearances. She carried the name.

In 2017, they launched the Chiam See Tong Sports Fund to help disadvantaged young athletes pursue their sporting ambitions. By 2019, it had supported more than 30 young athletes.

When the party announced Chiam See Tong would step down as secretary-general in October 2019, Lina stood beside the microphones and said what needed to be said.

"Mr Chiam has given to politics for 40 years already. It's time for him to have a rest."

During the 2020 general election, when SPP campaigned without either Chiam on the ballot for the first time, Lina walked alongside the team. When reporters asked how her husband was doing, she said he was at home watching the news, keeping up with every candidate in every constituency.

She told Lianhe Wanbao that everywhere she went, people asked about Mr Chiam. They asked her to look after him. And when she relayed their well-wishes to him at home, he teared up.

"A vote for the SPP is a vote for Mr Chiam," she said. "Please make him happy in his retirement years because he loves politics and he loves to see more opposition in Parliament."

She's 77 now. Vice-Chairperson of the SPP. Her husband is 91.

Lina Chiam was a trainee nurse from Kuala Lumpur who danced with a law student in London.

She spent 36 years beside him as he fought election after election.

When his health gave way, she put her own name on the ballot at 62 and lost by 114 votes. She served as NCMP with the second-highest speech record in the chamber, chaired the party, launched a sports fund for young athletes, and carried the name when the Lion could no longer carry it himself.

If you've ever stood beside someone for so long that the world forgot you were your own person, if you've ever stepped into a role nobody thought was yours and earned it from scratch, if you've ever lost by a margin so thin that every handful of votes feels enormous, you know what 114 feels like.

She was never just the wife.

She was one of the reasons the Lion could keep roaring for 27 years. "Two-in-one," she called them.

And when his voice faded, she found her own.