Merlene Toh Emerson

Merlene was one of the speakers at WLD's International Women's Day meeting at the Liverpool conference.

Nearly 25 years after first arriving in the UK she made the conscious decision to become British and to join a political party. Merlene chose the Liberal Democrats because she believes in its values of social justice, civil liberties and the right of the individual to live a life free from discrimination and ignorance. She is a dedicated party activist, Secretary to the Richmond Lib Dem Council Group and co-founder of Chinese Liberal Democrats.

Merlene was born in Singapore and came to London in 1979 as a law student. Both her parents are overseas born Chinese, therefore she has inherited a strong sense of colonial history and identity. To that extent she feels a kindred bond with immigrants from other ex-colonies now in the Commonwealth. After graduation from King's College London she obtained a Master of Laws degree at Cambridge University. She qualified as a Solicitor and worked at a leading City law firm in the high adrenalin-fueled world of corporate finance and banking. She returned briefly to work in Singapore and was made partner at a medium sized firm specialising in the areas of joint ventures and cross-border finance. In 1990 she became a CEDR accredited commercial mediator in the UK .

Merlene is the mother of three boys aged 11-17. As she believes passionately that children are our future, she regularly fund-raises for the charity Save the Children. She was a Trustee of the legally aided Chinese Information and Advice Centre and is currently Director of the Chinese Welfare Trust and the registered social landlord, Richmond Housing Partnership.

Whereas many today are career politicians, it is all the more important to have politicians who have had careers outside of politics. Merlene was motivated to enter politics by a wish to serve the community.