fbpx
Wikipedia

People's Action Party

The People's Action Party (abbreviation: PAP) is a major conservative centre-right[8] political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and Progress Singapore Party (PSP).[9][10]

People's Action Party
Malay nameParti Tindakan Rakyat
Chinese name人民行动党
Rénmín Xíngdòng Dǎng
Tamil nameமக்களின் செயல் கட்சி
Makkaḷin Ceyal Kaṭci
AbbreviationPAP
ChairmanHeng Swee Keat
Secretary-GeneralLee Hsien Loong
Vice ChairmanMasagos Zulkifli
Deputy Secretary-GeneralLawrence Wong
Assistant Secretaries-General
Founders
Founded21 November 1954; 68 years ago (1954-11-21)
Preceded byMalayan Forum
Succeeded by (Malaysia)
HeadquartersBlock 57B New Upper Changi Road #01-1402 Singapore 463057
Youth wingYoung PAP
Ideology
Political positionCentre-right[8]
ColoursWhite, red, blue
SloganOur Lives, Our Jobs, Our Future
Governing bodyCentral Executive Committee
Parliament
83 / 103
Website
www.pap.org.sg

Initially founded as a traditional centre-left party in 1954, the leftist faction was soon expelled from the party in 1961 by Lee Kuan Yew in the midst of Singapore's merger with Malaysia, desiring to move the party's ideology towards the centre after its first electoral victory in 1959.[11] Beginning in the 1960s, the party henceforth began to move towards the centre-right.[12] Following the 1965 agreement which led to Singapore's expulsion from the Malaysian federation, almost the entire opposition except for the WP boycotted the following elections in 1968 in response to their initial incredulity towards independence, thereafter allowing the PAP the opportunity to exercise exclusivity over its governance of national institutions and become the largest political party in the country.[13]

From 1965 to 1981, the PAP was the only political force represented in Parliament until it saw its first electoral defeat to the WP at a by-election in the constituency of Anson. Nevertheless, the PAP has not seen its hegemony effectively threatened and has always exceeded 60% of the votes and 80% of the seats in all subsequent elections. The PAP is the longest, uninterrupted governing party among multiparty parliamentary democracies in the world at 63 years as of 2022, and the second in history after Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which led for 71 years from 1929 to 2000.[14]

Positioned on the centre-right of Singapore politics, the PAP is ideologically socially conservative and economically liberal. The party generally favours free-market economics, having turned Singapore's economy into one of the world's freest and most open,[15] but has at times engaged in state interventionism reminiscent of welfare capitalist policies. Notably, the party has also supported the creation of state-owned enterprises, known locally as government-linked corporations (GLCs). This was done in order to jumpstart industrialisation, spearhead economic development and lead to economic growth, primarily job creation, in various sectors of the Singaporean economy particularly in the early years of nationhood. Socially, it supports communitarianism and civic nationalism, with the cohesion of the country's main ethnic groups of the Chinese, Malay and Indian into a united Singaporean national identity forming many of its policies.[16] On foreign policy, it favours maintaining a strong and robust military, serving as a purportedly indispensable guarantor of the country's continued sovereignty within the context of its strategic position for international finance and trade.[17][18]

History

 
Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore and one of the founders of the People's Action Party

Lee Kuan Yew, Toh Chin Chye and Goh Keng Swee were involved in the Malayan Forum, a London-based student activist group that was against colonial rule in Malaya in the 1940s and early 1950s.[19][20] Upon returning to Singapore, the group met regularly to discuss approaches to attain independence in Malayan territories and started looking for like-minded individuals to start a political party. Journalist S. Rajaratnam was introduced to Lee by Goh.[21] Lee was also introduced to several English-educated left-wing students and Chinese-educated union and student leaders while working on the Fajar sedition trial and the National Service riot case.[22]

Formation

The PAP was officially registered as a political party on 21 November 1954. Convenors of the party include a group of trade unionists, lawyers and journalists such as Lee Kuan Yew, Abdul Samad Ismail, Toh Chin Chye, Devan Nair, S. Rajaratnam, Chan Chiaw Thor, Fong Swee Suan, Tann Wee Keng and Tann Wee Tiong.[23] The political party was led by Lee Kuan Yew as its secretary-general, with Toh Chin Chye as its founding chairman. Other party officers include Tann Wee Tiong, Lee Gek Seng, Ong Eng Guan and Tann Wee Keng.[24]

The PAP first contested the 1955 general election in which 25 of 32 seats in the legislature were up for election. In this election, the PAP's four candidates gained much support from the trade union members and student groups such as the University Socialist Club, who canvassed for them.[25] The party won three seats, one by its leader Lee Kuan Yew for the Tanjong Pagar division and one by PAP co-founder Lim Chin Siong for the Bukit Timah division.[26][27] Then 22 years old unionist Lim Chin Siong was and remained the youngest Assemblyman ever to be elected to office. The election was won by the Labour Front headed by David Marshall.[28]

In April 1956, Lim and Lee represented the PAP at the London Constitutional Talks along with Chief Minister David Marshall which ended in failure as the British declined to grant Singapore internal self-government. On 7 June 1956, Marshall, disappointed with the constitutional talks, stepped down as Chief Minister as he had pledged to do so earlier if self-governance was not achieved. He was replaced by Lim Yew Hock, another Labour Front member.[29] Lim pursued a largely anti-communist campaign and managed to convince the British to make a definite plan for self-government. The Constitution of Singapore was revised accordingly in 1958, replacing the Rendel Constitution with one that granted Singapore self-government and the ability for its own population to fully elect its Legislative Assembly.

PAP and left-wing members who were communists were criticised for inciting riots in the mid-1950s.[30][31] Lim Chin Siong, Fong Swee Suan and Devan Nair as well as several unionists were detained by the police after the Chinese middle schools riots.[32] Lim Chin Siong was placed under solitary confinement for close to a year, away from his other PAP colleagues, as they were placed in the Medium Security Prison (MSP) instead.[33]

The number of PAP members imprisoned rose in August 1957, when PAP members from the trade unions (viewed as "communist or pro-communist") won half the seats in the Central Executive Committee (CEC). The "moderate" CEC members, including Lee Kuan Yew, Toh Chin Chye and others, refused to take their appointments in the CEC. Yew Hock's government again made a sweeping round of arrests, imprisoning all the "communist" members, before the "moderates" re-assumed their office.[34]

Following this, the PAP decided to re-assert ties with the labour faction of Singapore in the hope of securing the votes of working-class Chinese Singaporeans, many of whom were supporters of the jailed unionists. Lee Kuan Yew convinced the incarcerated union leaders to sign documents to state their support for the party and its policies, promising to release the jailed members of the PAP when the party came to power in the next elections.[35] Ex-Barisan Sosialis member Tan Jing Quee claims that Lee was secretly in collusion with the British to stop Lim Chin Siong and the labour supporters from attaining power because of their huge popularity. Quee also states that Lim Yew Hock deliberately provoked the students into rioting and then had the labour leaders arrested.[36] Greg Poulgrain of Griffiths University argued that "Lee Kuan Yew was secretly a party with Lim Yew Hock in urging the Colonial Secretary to impose the subversives ban in making it illegal for former political detainees to stand for election".[36] Lee Kuan Yew eventually accused Lim Chin Siong and his supporters of being communists working for the Communist United Front, but evidence of Lim being a communist cadre was a matter of debate as many documents have yet to be declassified.[37][38]

First years in government

The PAP eventually won the 1959 general election under Lee Kuan Yew's leadership.[39] The election was also the first one to produce a fully elected parliament and a cabinet wielding powers of full internal self-government. The party has won a majority of seats in every general election since then. Lee, who became the first Prime Minister,[40] requested for the release of the PAP left-wing members to form the new cabinet.[41]

Great Split of 1961

In 1961, disagreements on the proposed merger plan to form Malaysia and long-standing internal party power struggle led to the split of the left-wing group from the PAP.[42][43][44]

Although the "Communist" faction had been frozen out of ever taking over the PAP, other problems had begun to arise internally. Ong Eng Guan, the former Mayor of the City Council after PAP's victory in the 1957 Singapore City Council election, presented a set of "16 Resolutions" to revisit some issues previously explored by Chin Siong's faction of the PAP: abolishing the PPSO, revising the Constitution, and changing the method of selecting cadre members.[45]: 82 

Although Ong's 16 Resolutions originated from the left-wing faction led by Lim Chin Siong, that faction had only reluctantly asked the PAP leadership to clarify its position on them,[46] as they still thought that the party with Lee Kuan Yew at the helm was a better alternative than Ong who was regarded as mercurial and a tyrant.[33] However, Lee took the stance taken by the left-wing PAP members as a lack of confidence in his leadership. This issue caused a rift between the "moderate" PAP members (led by Lee) and the "left-wing" faction (led by Lim).

Ong was then expelled, and he resigned his Assembly seat to challenge the government to a by-election in Hong Lim in April 1961, where he won 73.3% of the vote.[47] This was despite the fact that Lee Kuan Yew had made a secret alliance with Fong Chong Pik, the leader of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), to get the CPM cadres to support the PAP in the by-election.[46]

Barisan Sosialis

The breakaway group of members formed the Barisan Sosialis with Lim Chin Siong as secretary-general.[48] Aside from the Chinese union leaders, lawyers Thampoe Thamby Rajah and Tann Wee Tiong,[49] several members from the University Socialist Club such as James Puthucheary and Poh Soo Kai joined the party.[50] 35 of 51 branches of the PAP and 19 of 23 branch secretaries defected to Barisan.

Merger years 1963–1965

After gaining independence from Britain, Singapore joined the federation of Malaysia in 1963. Although the PAP was the ruling party in the state of Singapore, the PAP functioned as an opposition party at the federal level in the larger Malaysian political landscape. At that time and until the 2018 general election, the federal government in Kuala Lumpur was controlled by a coalition led by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). However, the prospect that the PAP might rule Malaysia agitated UMNO. The PAP's decision to contest federal parliamentary seats outside Singapore and the UMNO decision to contest seats within Singapore breached an unspoken agreement to respect each other's spheres of influence and aggravated PAP–UMNO relations. The clash of personalities between PAP leader Lee Kuan Yew and Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman resulted in a crisis and led to Rahman forcing Singapore to leave Malaysia on 9 August 1965. Upon independence, the nascent People's Action Party of Malaya, which had been registered in Malaysia on 10 March 1964, had its registration cancelled on 9 September 1965, just a month after Singapore's exit. Those with the now non-existent party applied to register People's Action Party, Malaya which was again rejected by the Malaysian government, before settling with the Democratic Action Party.

Post-independence, 1965 to present

 
A PAP election rally at Tampines Stadium

The PAP has held an overwhelming majority of seats in the Parliament of Singapore since 1966, when the opposition Barisan Sosialis (Socialist Front) resigned from Parliament after winning 13 seats following the 1963 general election, which took place months after a number of their leaders had been arrested in Operation Coldstore based on accusations of being communists.[36] It subsequently achieved a monopoly in an expanding parliament (winning every parliamentary seat) for the next four elections (1968, 1972, 1976 and 1980). Opposition parties returned to the legislature at a 1981 by-election. The 1984 general election was the first election in 21 years in which opposition parties won seats. From then until 2006, the PAP faced four opposition MPs at most. Opposition parties did not win more than four parliamentary seats from 1984 until 2011 when the Workers' Party won six seats and took away a Group Representation Constituency (GRC) for the first time for any opposition party.

Even so, it still holds a supermajority in the legislature, to the point that Singapore is effectively a dominant party system. With its supermajority, the PAP has always had the ability to amend the Constitution of Singapore without much obstruction, including the introduction of multi-member constituencies under the Group representation constituency (GRC) system or Nominated Member of Parliament (NMPs), which has helped strengthened the government's dominance and control of Parliament.[51]

Leadership transitions

The longtime governing party of Singapore, spans both past and present, but notably occurred in the mid-1980s where the first generation of PAP leaders in the CEC and the Cabinet of Singapore ceded power to a second generation of leaders.

First to second generation

By 1984, the "old guard" (first generation of party leaders) had been governing Singapore for approximately a quarter of a century. Aging leadership was a key concern, and the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew sought to groom younger leaders. In a speech on 29 September 1984, Lee argued that though the first generation of leaders was still "alert and fully in charge", to hang on to power until they had become feeble would allow power to be wrested from them, with no say in who their successors were.[52]

On 30 September, at the Ordinary Party Conference, power was transferred to the second generation of leaders, who were elected to the Central Executive Committee in place of all the old CEC members; of the 14-member CEC, only Lee Kuan Yew remained the only "old guard" leader.[52]

According to a report to the Library of Congress, the old guard were confident in their "rectitude" and discretion in using their extensive political powers for Singapore's common good, but were not as confident in the next generation in doing so. Various limits on executive power were considered, in order to minimise the chances of corruption. These included a popularly elected President of Singapore with substantial, nonceremonial powers.[53] This particular reform was enacted with a constitutional amendment in 1991.

The old guard also sought to eschew the use of PAP as a central political institution, seeking to "depoliticise" and disperse power among society, and sought to include low-level community leaders in government. A policy of cross-fertilisation was enacted: exchange of leaders, "elites" and talent would take place between private and government sectors, civilian and military segments of society, and between the party and the National Trades Union Congress.[53]

Second to third generation

The next generation of leaders in the late 1980s was split between the factions of then Brigadier General Lee Hsien Loong and the older, more-experienced Goh Chok Tong. Lee Hsien Loong was supported by bureaucrats in the Ministry of Defence and army colleagues in the Singapore Armed Forces;[53] Goh Chok Tong had more influence in the Singapore Civil Service, the Cabinet and the government-linked corporations.[54]

Lee Kuan Yew himself remained Prime Minister and in the CEC until 1990, when he stepped down in favour of Goh Chok Tong as PM. Lee Hsien Loong became PM in 2004.

Third to fourth generation

On 23 November 2018, fourth-generation leadership members, then–Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat and then–Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing were elected as the First and Second Assistant Secretaries-General respectively, the second and third highest positions of the party. They had replaced then - Assistant Secretary-Generals Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam. A significant step of the leadership transition from the third-generation leaders to the fourth-generation leaders.

On 1 May 2019, Heng Swee Keat was appointed the new and sole Deputy Prime Minister, replacing Teo and Tharman. He was then widely seen as the 4th and next Prime Minister and Secretary-General of PAP succeeding incumbent Lee Hsien Loong. However on 8 April 2021, Heng surprisingly announced he would step down as the fourth-generation leader and step aside to pave way for younger and healthier leaders to take over the leadership and stressed that health and age as concerns of this decision. After his decision, several Cabinet members were seen as the possible candidates to succeed Heng, ranging from Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong, Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing.

On 14 April 2022, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong was selected as the new leader of the PAP's fourth-generation (4G) team, succeeding Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat who had stepped down as 4G leader.[55] Wong received an "overwhelming majority" of support in the consultation process, surpassing that of other nominees. [56] His candidacy was unanimously endorsed by the cabinet and subsequently, by the PAP MPs at a party caucus on 14 April.[57]

Organisation

 
People's Action Party activist during the 2011 general election
 
People's Action Party headquarters in New Upper Changi Road

During its initial years, the party had adopted a traditional Leninist form of party organisation, together with a vanguard cadre from its labour-leaning faction. The PAP Executive later expelled the leftist faction in 1961, bringing the ideological basis of the party into the centre and later in the 1960s moving further to the right.

In the beginning, there were about 500 so-called temporary cadres appointed,[58] however the current number of cadres is unknown, with the register of cadres being kept confidential. In 1988, Wong Kan Seng revealed that there were more than 1,000 cadres.

Cadre members have the right to attend party conferences and to vote for and elect and to be elected into the Central Executive Committee (CEC), the pinnacle of party leaders.

To become a cadre, a party member must be first nominated by the MP in their branch. The candidate will then undergo three sessions of interview, each with four to five ministers or MPs and the appointment is then made by the CEC. About 100 candidates are nominated each year.[59]

Central Executive Committee and Secretary-General

Political power in the party is concentrated in the CEC, led by the secretary-general. The secretary-general of the PAP is the leader of the party. Due to PAP's electoral victories in every general election since 1959, the prime minister of Singapore has been by convention the secretary-general of the PAP since 1959. Key appointments in the CEC are usually Cabinet members.

From 1957 onward, the rules laid down that the outgoing CEC should recommend a list of candidates from which the cadre members can then vote for the next CEC. This has recently changed so that the CEC nominates eight members and the party caucus selects the remaining ten.

Historically, the position of Secretary-General was not considered for the office of Prime Minister, but rather the Central Executive Committee held an election to choose the prime minister. There was a contest between PAP Secretary-General Lee Kuan Yew and PAP Treasurer Ong Eng Guan, prior to 1959. Lee subsequently won the leadership and was inaugurated as the first prime minister of Singapore.[60]

HQ Executive Committee

The next lower level committee is the HQ Executive Committee (HQ EXCO) which performs the party's administration and oversees 14 sub-committees.[61]

The sub-committees are the following:

  1. Branch Appointments and Relations
  2. Constituency Relations
  3. Information and Feedback
  4. New Media
  5. Malay Affairs
  6. Membership Recruitment and Cadre Selection
  7. PAP Awards
  8. Political Education
  9. Publicity and Publication
  10. Social and Recreational
  11. Women's Wing (WW)
  12. Young PAP (YP)
  13. PAP Seniors Group (PAP.SG)
  14. PAP Policy Forum (PPF)

Young PAP and internet presence

The Young PAP is the youth-wing of the party, serving as a youth organisation for young adults and students in Singapore who support the PAP and have an interest in politics.[62] The incumbent chairman of the youth-wing is Janil Puthucheary.[63][64][65]

The YP's predecessor, the PAP Youth Committee was established in 1986, under Lee Hsien Loong's tenure as Chairman, then a Singapore Armed Forces Brigadier-General. All PAP members under the age of 35 were grouped under the Youth Committee.

In 1993, the Youth Committee was renamed the Young PAP. In an effort to attract members, then Chairman George Yeo, said that people joining the YP could take positions different from central party leadership. The age limit was raised from 35 to 40.[66] Memberships are issued through the PAP branches under each constituency in Singapore.[67]

By 2005, the committee had grown to more than 6,000 members.[68] In 2010, then Vice-Chairman Zaqy Mohamad said the YP attracts over 1200 new members that year, an increase on the 1000 new members in 2009.[69]

Since 1995, the youth-wing of the PAP has had an internet presence that aims to "correct 'misinformation' about Singapore politics or culture".[70] Young PAP is also in charge of several online websites since 1995 to create an online presence for the party, under the urging of then Minister for Information and the Arts George Yeo.[71]

In February 2007, it was reported by The Straits Times that the PAP's new media committee chaired by Minister Ng Eng Hen, had initiated an effort to counter critics anonymously on the Internet "as it was necessary for the PAP to have a voice on cyberspace".[72]

The initiative was divided by two sub-committees, one of which was in charge of strategising the campaigns and is co-headed by Minister Lui Tuck Yew and MP Zaqy Mohamad. The other sub-committee—new media capabilities group led by MPs Baey Yam Keng and Josephine Teo executed the strategies. The initiative was set up after the 2006 general election and also included around 20 IT-savvy PAP activists.[72]

After popular forum Sintercom was shut down in 2001, the Young PAP offered their own forum for moderated discussions.[73] They have since set up various blogs and social media accounts with multimedia content to engage the masses.[74][75][76]

Ideology

Asian democracy

The PAP has often set forth the idea of Asian democracy and values, drawing from a notion of Asian culture and Confucianism to construct ideological bulwarks as an alternative to Western democracy. Nevertheless, the presence of many aspects of liberal democracy in Singapore's public policy exists, such as the recognition of democratic institutions and the rule of law. Professor Hussin Mutalib from the National University of Singapore (NUS) opines that for Lee Kuan Yew, "Singapore would be better off without Western-style liberal democracy".[77]

Consequently, the governance of the PAP has occasionally been characterised by some observers especially in the West as relatively "semi-authoritarian" or "nanny-like" by "liberal democratic standards", with the introduction of unique laws such as banning the sales of chewing gum in 1992 for cleanliness purposes.[51]

According to Kenneth Paul Tan from the NUS, it proclaimed that the reason many Singaporeans continue to vote for the PAP are due to the fact that economic considerations, pragmatism and stability triumphs over accountability and checks and balances by opposition parties.[78] It has also been noted that despite the PAP having effective control over the state apparatus, they have "proven themselves" to Singaporeans as being much more transparent than risk having an alternative party govern the country; Singapore has been considered as being one of the least corrupt countries in the world by international observers such as Transparency International.[79]

Indeed, many political observers has added that many Singaporeans willingly accept this arrangement; by conceding some rights of personal liberty, in return, the party that has run Singapore since its founding, delivers progress and predictability. The PAP has won significant genuine support amongst the people for rapidly developing the country, as well as overseeing economic success and stability after the often turbulent periods prior to its independence.[80] Accordingly, this has led many Singaporeans into becoming highly risk-averse in voting for other parties due to their perception that it may led to a decreased prosperity of the country.[80]

Economic policies

The party economic ideology has always accepted the need for some welfare spending, and pragmatic economic interventionism. However, free-market policies have been popular since the 1980s as part of the wider implementation of a meritocracy in civil society and Singapore frequently ranks extremely highly on indices of economic freedom published by economically liberal organisations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Singapore is also the only Asian country with the top AAA sovereign rating from the "Big Three" credit rating agencies of S&P, Moody's and Fitch.

Lee Kuan Yew once said in 1992: "Through Hong Kong watching, I concluded that state welfare and subsidies blunted the individual's drive to succeed. I watched with amazement the ease with which Hong Kong workers adjusted their salaries upwards in boom times and downwards in recessions. I resolved to reverse course on the welfare policies which my party had inherited or copied from British Labour Party policies".[81]

Notably, since Singapore’s independence in 1965, the party has also supported the creation of state-owned enterprises, known within Singapore as Government-linked Corporations (GLCs), in order to jumpstart industrialisation, spearhead economic development and lead to economic growth (primarily job creation) in various sectors of the Singaporean economy as there was a lack of private sector funds and expertise, particularly in the early years of nationhood. Various GLCs were formed to pursue strategic sectors such as in ship building and repair (Sembcorp Marine, Keppel Corporation), aviation and defence (Singapore Airlines, ST Engineering), telecommunications (Singtel), real estate (CapitaLand) and development finance (DBS Bank) amongst others. In addition, various GLCs were set up as private-public partnerships, notable as joint ventures or strategic alliances with foreign companies or investors with relevant expertise, particularly in the petrochemicals and oil refining industries.

Social policies

Since the early years of the PAP's rule, the idea of survival has been a central theme of Singaporean politics. According to Diane Mauzy and R. S. Milne, most analysts of Singapore have discerned four major ideologies of the PAP, namely pragmatism, meritocracy, multiracialism and Asian values or communitarianism.[82]

In January 1991, the PAP introduced the White Paper on Shared Values which tried to create a national ideology and institutionalise Asian values.

At an Institute of Policy Studies dialogue held on 2 July 2015, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke about the need to maintain a Jeffersonian natural aristocracy in the system to instill a culture of respect and to avoid anarchy.[83]

Views on other ideologies

The party is deeply suspicious of communist political ideologies despite a brief joint alliance with the pro-labour co-founders of the PAP during the party's early years, who were eventually accused of being communists. In 2015, the party was seen by some observers to have adopted a left-of-centre tack in certain areas in order to remain electorally dominant.[84]

The socialism practised by the PAP during its first few decades in power was of a pragmatic kind as characterised by the party's rejection of nationalisation. According to Chan Heng Chee, by the late 1970s the intellectual credo of the government rested explicitly upon a philosophy of self-reliance, similar to the rugged individualism of the American brand of capitalism. Despite this, the PAP still claimed to be a socialist party, pointing out its regulation of the private sector, activist intervention in the economy and social policies as evidence of this.[85] In 1976, the PAP resigned from the Socialist International, after the Dutch Labour Party had proposed to expel the PAP, on charges of violation of human rights and indefinite detention of political prisoners without trial.[86][87]

Symbolism

The PAP symbol (which is a red thunderbolt and blue circle on white) stands for action inside multicultural unity. It also appears on party flags on parades. PAP members at party rallies have customarily worn a uniform of white shirts and white trousers which symbolises incorruptibility and purity of the party's ideologies of the government.[88]

Leadership

List of chairmen

Portrait Name
(birth–death)
Term of office Time in office
Toh Chin Chye
(10 December 1921 – 3 February 2012)
21 November 1954 5 January 1981 26 years, 45 days
 
Ong Teng Cheong
(22 January 1936 – 8 February 2002)
5 January 1981 16 August 1993
12 years, 223 days
 
Tony Tan
(born 7 February 1940)
1 September 1993 3 December 2004 11 years, 93 days
 
Lim Boon Heng
(born 18 November 1947)
3 December 2004 1 June 2011 6 years, 180 days
 
Khaw Boon Wan
(born 8 December 1952)
1 June 2011 23 November 2018 7 years, 175 days
 
Gan Kim Yong
(born 9 February 1959)
23 November 2018 26 November 2022 4 years, 3 days
 
Heng Swee Keat
(born 15 April 1961)
26 November 2022 Incumbent 125 days

List of secretaries-general

Portrait Name
(birth–death)
Term of office Time in office Refs
 
Lee Kuan Yew
(16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015)
21 November 1954 3 August 1957 2 years, 255 days [89][90]
T. T. Rajah
(28 December 1919 – 13 March 1996)
13 August 1957 3 September 1957 21 days [91][92]
 
Lee Kuan Yew
(16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015)
20 October 1957 14 November 1992 35 years, 25 days [93][94]
 
Goh Chok Tong
(born 20 May 1941)
15 November 1992 6 November 2004 11 years, 357 days [94][95]
 
Lee Hsien Loong
(born 10 February 1952)
7 November 2004 Incumbent 18 years, 144 days [95]

Central Executive Committee

As of 26 November 2022, the Central Executive Committee comprises the following members:[96]

Title Name
Chairman Heng Swee Keat
Vice-Chairman Masagos Zulkifli
Secretary-General Lee Hsien Loong
Treasurer K. Shanmugam
Organising Secretaries Grace Fu
Edwin Tong[a]
Deputy Secretary-General Lawrence Wong
Assistant Secretaries-General Chan Chun Sing
Desmond Lee
Assistant Treasurer Ong Ye Kung
Members Alex Yeo[b]
Cheryl Chan[b]
Indranee Rajah
Josephine Teo[a]
Ng Chee Meng[b]
Tan Chuan Jin
Tan See Leng[b]
Vivian Balakrishnan

Current Members of Parliament

Single Member Constituency

No Name Constituency Length of service (cumulative)
1 Murali Pillai Bukit Batok SMC 2016 – present
2 Liang Eng Hwa Bukit Panjang SMC 2006 – present
3 Amy Khor Hong Kah North SMC 2001 – present
4 Henry Kwek Kebun Baru SMC 2020 – present
5 Tin Pei Ling MacPherson SMC 2011 – present
6 Gan Siow Huang Marymount SMC 2020 – present
7 Lim Biow Chuan Mountbatten SMC 2006 – present
8 Patrick Tay Pioneer SMC 2011 – present
9 Sitoh Yih Pin Potong Pasir SMC 2011 – present
10 Sun Xueling Punggol West SMC 2015 – present
11 Melvin Yong Radin Mas SMC 2020 – present
12 Yip Hon Weng Yio Chu Kang SMC 2020 – present
13 Grace Fu Yuhua SMC 2006 – present

4 Member Group Constituency

No Name Constituency Division Length of service (cumulative)
1 Ng Eng Hen Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC Toa Payoh Central 2001 – present
2 Chee Hong Tat Toa Payoh West – Thomson 2015 – present
3 Chong Kee Hiong Bishan East – Thomson 2015 – present
4 Saktiandi Supaat Toa Payoh East – Novena 2015 – present
5 Gan Kim Yong Chua Chu Kang GRC Choa Chu Kang 2001 – present
6 Low Yen Ling Bukit Gombak 2011 – present
7 Don Wee Boon Hong Brickland 2020 – present
8 Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim Keat Hong 2020 – present
9 Vivian Balakrishnan Holland–Bukit Timah GRC Cashew 2006 – present
10 Sim Ann Bukit Timah 2011 – present
11 Christopher de Souza Ulu Pandan 2006 – present
12 Edward Chia Zhenghua 2020 – present
13 Josephine Teo Jalan Besar GRC Kreta Ayer – Kim Seng 2006 – present
14 Heng Chee How Whampoa 2001 – present
15 Denise Phua Kampong Glam 2006 – present
16 Wan Rizal Wan Zakariah Kolam Ayer 2020 – present
17 Lawrence Wong Marsiling–Yew Tee GRC Limbang 2011 – present
18 Alex Yam Yew Tee 2011 – present
19 Zaqy Mohamad Marsiling 2006 – present
20 Hany Soh Woodgrove 2020 – present

5 Member Group Constituency

No Name Constituency Division Length of service (cumulative)
1 Lee Hsien Loong Ang Mo Kio GRC Teck Ghee 1984 – present
2 Darryl David Ang Mo Kio – Hougang 2015 – present
3 Nadia Ahmad Samdin Cheng San – Seletar 2020 – present
4 Ng Ling Ling Jalan Kayu 2020 – present
5 Gan Thiam Poh Fernvale 2011 – present
6 Heng Swee Keat East Coast GRC Bedok 2011 – present
7 Maliki Osman Siglap 2011 – present
8 Tan Kiat How Kampong Chai Chee 2020 – present
9 Cheryl Chan Fengshan 2015 – present
10 Jessica Tan Changi – Simei 2006 – present
11 Tharman Shanmugaratnam Jurong GRC Taman Jurong 2001 – present
12 Tan Wu Meng Clementi 2015 – present
13 Rahayu Mahzam Bukit Batok East 2015 – present
14 Shawn Huang Wei Zhong Jurong Spring 2020 – present
15 Xie Yao Quan Jurong Central 2020 – present
16 Tan Chuan-Jin Marine Parade GRC Kembangan – Chai Chee 2011 – present
17 Edwin Tong Joo Chiat 2015 – present
18 Seah Kian Peng Braddell Heights 2006 – present
19 Tan See Leng Marine Parade 2020 – present
20 Mohd Fahmi Aliman Geylang Serai 2020 – present
21 K. Shanmugam Nee Soon GRC Chong Pang 1988 – present
22 Carrie Tan Nee Soon South 2020 – present
23 Derrick Goh Nee Soon Link 2020 – present
24 Louis Ng Nee Soon East 2015 – present
25 Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim Nee Soon Central 2011 – present
26 Teo Chee Hean Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC Pasir Ris West 1992 – present
27 Janil Puthucheary Pasir Ris Coast 2015 – present
28 Mohamed Sharael Taha Pasir Ris East 2020 – present
29 Yeo Wan Ling Punggol Shore 2020 – present
30 Desmond Tan Pasir Ris Central 2020 – present
31 Ong Ye Kung Sembawang GRC Sembawang Central 2015 – present
32 Vikram Nair Admiralty 2011 – present
33 Lim Wee Kiak Canberra 2015 – present
34 Poh Li San Sembawang West 2020 – present
35 Mariam Jaafar Woodlands 2020 – present
36 Masagos Zulkifli Tampines GRC Tampines West 2006 – present
37 Baey Yam Keng Tampines North 2006 – present
38 Desmond Choo Tampines Changkat 2015 – present
39 Cheng Li Hui Tampines East 2015 – present
40 Koh Poh Koon Tampines Central 2015 – present
41 Chan Chun Sing Tanjong Pagar GRC Buona Vista 2011 – present
42 Indranee Rajah Tanjong Pagar – Tiong Bahru 2001 – present
43 Joan Pereira Henderson – Dawson 2015 – present
44 Eric Chua Queenstown 2020 – present
45 Alvin Tan Moulmein – Cairnhill 2020 – present
46 S. Iswaran West Coast GRC West Coast 2001 – present
47 Desmond Lee Boon Lay 2011 – present
48 Foo Mee Har Ayer Rajah – Gek Poh 2011 – present
49 Ang Wei Neng Nanyang 2020 – present
50 Rachel Ong Sin Yen Telok Blangah 2020 – present

Electoral history

Legislative Assembly

Election Seats up for election Seats contested by party Seats won by walkover Contested seats won Contested seats lost Total seats won Change Total votes Share of votes Resulting government Party leader
1955 25 4 0 3 1
3 / 25
  3 13,634 8.7% Opposition Lee Kuan Yew
1959 51 51 0 43 8
43 / 51
  40 281,891 54.1% Supermajority
1963 51 51 0 37 14
37 / 51
  6 272,924 46.9% Supermajority
Legislative Assembly by-elections
Election Seats up for election Seats contested by party Contested seats won Contested seats lost Total votes Share of votes Outcome of election Constituency contested Party leader
1957 2 1 1 0 4,707 37.0% 1 seat hold Tanjong Pagar SMC Lee Kuan Yew
1961 2 2 0 2 5,872 31.1% 1 seat lost to Independent, 1 seat lost to WP Anson SMC

Hong Lim SMC
1965 1 1 0 1 6,398 59.5% 1 seat gained from UPP Hong Lim SMC

Malaysian Parliament

Election Seats up for election Seats contested by party Seats won by walkover Contested seats won Contested seats lost Total seats won Change Total votes Share of votes Resulting government Party leader
1964 144 11 0 1 10
1 / 144
  1 42,130 2.0% Opposition Lee Kuan Yew

Parliament

Election Seats up for election Seats contested by party Seats won by walkover Contested seats won Contested seats lost Total seats won Change Total votes Share of votes Resulting government Party leader
1968 58 58 51 7 0
58 / 58
  21 65,812 86.7% Won all seats Lee Kuan Yew
1972 65 65 8 57 0
65 / 65
  7 524,892 70.4% Won all seats
1976 69 69 16 53 0
69 / 69
  4 590,169 74.1% Won all seats
1980 75 75 37 38 0
75 / 75
  6 494,268 77.7% Won all seats
1984 79 79 30 47 2
77 / 79
  2 568,310 64.8% Supermajority
1988 81 81 11 69 1
80 / 81
  3 848,029 63.2% Supermajority
1991 81 81 41 36 4
77 / 81
  3 477,760 61.0% Supermajority Goh Chok Tong
1997 83 83 47 34 2
81 / 83
  4 465,751 65.0% Supermajority
2001 84 84 55 27 2
82 / 84
  1 470,765 75.3% Supermajority
2006 84 84 37 45 2
82 / 84
  748,130 66.6% Supermajority Lee Hsien Loong
2011 87 87 5 76 6
81 / 87
  1 1,212,514 60.14% Supermajority
2015 89 89 0 83 6
83 / 89
  2 1,576,784 69.86% Supermajority
2020 93 93 0 83 10
83 / 93
  1,524,781 61.24% Supermajority
Parliamentary by-elections
Election Seats up for election Seats contested by party Seats won by walkover Contested seats won Contested seats lost Total votes Share of votes Outcome of election Constituency contested Party leader
1966 7 7 6 1 0 9,082 82.9% 7 seats gained from BS Bukit Merah SMC

Bukit Timah SMC

Chua Chu Kang SMC

Crawford SMC

Joo Chiat SMC

Jurong SMC

Paya Lebar SMC
Lee Kuan Yew
1967 5 5 4 1 0 9,407 83.6% 5 seats gained from BS Bukit Panjang SMC

Havelock SMC

Jalan Kayu SMC

Tampines SMC

Thomson SMC
1970 5 5 3 2 0 14,545 69.9% 5 seats hold Delta SMC

Havelock SMC

Kampong Kapor SMC

Ulu Pandan SMC

Whampoa SMC
1979 7 7 2 5 0 53,222 72.7% 7 seats hold Anson SMC

Geylang West SMC

Mountbatten SMC

Nee Soon SMC

Potong Pasir SMC

Sembawang SMC

Telok Blangah SMC
1981 1 1 0 0 1 6,359 47.1% 1 seat lost to WP Anson SMC
1992 4 4 0 4 0 48,965 72.9% 4 seats hold Marine Parade GRC Goh Chok Tong
2012 1 1 0 0 1 8,223 37.9% No seat Hougang SMC Lee Hsien Loong
2013 1 1 0 0 1 12,856 43.7% 1 seat lost to WP Punggol East SMC
2016 1 1 0 1 0 14,428 61.21% 1 seat hold Bukit Batok SMC

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ Goldblatt, David (2005). Governance in the Asia-Pacific. Routledge. p. 293.
  2. ^ Berger, Mark (2014). Rethinking the Third World. Macmillan. p. 98.
  3. ^ Tan, Kenneth Paul (2016). Governing Global-City Singapore. Taylor & Francis. p. 91.
  4. ^ Kuah-Pearce, Khun Eng (2010). Rebuilding the Ancestral Village. Hong Kong University Press. p. 37.
  5. ^ Lim, Benny (18 January 2017). "Nation building reboot needed". The Straits Times. from the original on 14 November 2018. Retrieved 19 November 2018.
  6. ^ . Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 16 January 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ Singh, Bilveer (2017). Understanding Singapore Politics. World Scientific Publishing Company. p. 36.
  8. ^ a b Diane K. Mauzy and R.S. Milne (2002). Singapore Politics Under the People's Action Party. Routledge. p. 147. ISBN 0-415-24653-9.
  9. ^ Rodan, Gary. "The Internet and Political Control in Singapore" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 24 February 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  10. ^ Reyes, Sebastian (29 September 2015). . Harvard Political Review. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  11. ^ "Singapore's Cadre System". www.asiasentinel.com. Retrieved 15 May 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ Lam, Peng Er (1999). Lee's lieutenants: Singapore's old guard. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 978-1-86508-172-4.
  13. ^ "GIGA IAS Booth A9 at ICAS 10 Conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand, 20-23 July 2017". Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs. 35 (3): 204. 2016. doi:10.1177/186810341603500312. ISSN 1868-1034.
  14. ^ Oliver, Steven; Ostwald, Kai (2018). "Explaining Elections in Singapore: Dominant Party Resilience and Valence Politics". Journal of East Asian Studies. 18 (2): 129–156. doi:10.1017/jea.2018.15. ISSN 1598-2408. S2CID 232329919.
  15. ^ "Index of Economic Freedom: Promoting Economic Opportunity and Prosperity by Country". www.heritage.org. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  16. ^ Ortmann, Stephan (December 2009). "Singapore: The Politics of Inventing National Identity". Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs. 28 (4): 23–46. doi:10.1177/186810340902800402. S2CID 73649569.
  17. ^ "SAF remains final guarantor of Singapore's independence". Singapore: Channel NewsAsia. 1 July 2007. from the original on 16 May 2011. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  18. ^ (Press release). Ministry of Defence. 21 April 2005. Archived from the original on 24 October 2007. Retrieved 19 February 2011.
  19. ^ Desker, Barry; Guan, Chong; Kwa, Chong Guan (2012). Goh Keng Swee: A Public Career Remembered. World Scientific. ISBN 9789814291392.
  20. ^ Josey, Alex (15 February 2013). Lee Kuan Yew: The Crucial Years. Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd. ISBN 9789814435499.
  21. ^ Leong, Ching (2004). PAP 50 : Five Decades of the People's Action Party. Singapore: People's Action Party.
  22. ^ Lee, Kuan Yew (15 September 2012). The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew. Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd. ISBN 9789814561761.
  23. ^ "Nine Form New Political Party in Singapore". The Straits Times. 24 October 1954. from the original on 17 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  24. ^ "The PAP bosses". The Straits Times. 12 July 1955. from the original on 18 January 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  25. ^ Yap, Sonny; Richard, Lim; Weng, K. Leong (2010). Men in White: The Untold Story of Singapore's Ruling Political Party.. ISBN. Singapore: Straits Times Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-9814266512.
  26. ^ "Elected into the Legislative Assembly were (from left) …". National Archives of Singapore. 3 April 1955. from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  27. ^ "The Results". The Straits Times. 3 April 1955. from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  28. ^ "Labour Wins – Marshal Will Be Chief Minister". from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  29. ^ Wong Hongyi (2009). . Singapore Infopedia. National Library Board Singapore. Archived from the original on 28 July 2009.
  30. ^ "Mr. Lim Sits on The Fence". from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  31. ^ "The Guilty Men – By Goode". The Straits Times. 17 May 1955. from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  32. ^ "Who's Who – The Top 15 Names". The Straits Times. 28 October 1956. from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  33. ^ a b Ministry of Finance (August 2015). "INCOME GROWTH, INEQUALITY AND MOBILITY TRENDS IN SINGAPORE" (PDF). Ministry of Finance Occasional Paper. (PDF) from the original on 7 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  34. ^ Leong, Weng Kam (10 June 2016). "Ex-PAP man recounts 1957 'kelong meeting'". The Straits Times. from the original on 21 September 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  35. ^ Chew, Melanie (29 July 2015). Leaders of Singapore. World Scientific. p. 80. ISBN 9789814719452.
  36. ^ a b c Tan Jing Quee (2001). Comet in our sky: Lim Chin Siong in history. Insan. ISBN 983-9602-14-4.
  37. ^ Seng, Kah (20 December 2014). "British archives, personal accounts, confirm extent of Communist United Front activities here: PM Lee". The Straits Times. from the original on 31 August 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  38. ^ Kah Seng, Loh (15 January 2015). . New Mandala. Archived from the original on 31 August 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  39. ^ "2.45 am-PAP ROMPS HOME WITH LANDSLIDE VICTORY". The Straits Times. 31 May 1959. from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  40. ^ "LEE IS PREMIER". from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  41. ^ "Unlocking The Gates". The Straits Times. 3 June 1959. from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
  42. ^ "When Lee lost control of PAP for 10 days". The Straits Times. 12 September 2009.
  43. ^ "PAP 'rebels' to form an opposition party". from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  44. ^ "Merger issue: Dr. Toh hits out at six top unionists". from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  45. ^ Acemoglu, Daron; Robinson, James A. (2005). Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy. Cambridge Press. pp. 8–10. ISBN 9780521855266.
  46. ^ a b Thum, Ping Tjin (November 2013). "'The Fundamental Issue is Anti-colonialism, Not Merger': Singapore's "Progressive Left", Operation Coldstore, and the Creation of Malaysia". ARI Working Paper (211).
  47. ^ "Singapore Legislative Assembly By-Election April 1961 > Hong Lim". singapore-elections.com. from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  48. ^ Poh, Soo K; Tan, Jing Quee; Koh, Kay Yew (2010). The Fajar Generation: The University Socialist Club and the Politics of Postwar Malaya and Singapore. Petaling Jaya: SIRD. pp. 59–60. ISBN 9789833782864.
  49. ^ "Lawyers Rajah, Tann join Barisan Socialis". The Straits Times. 15 August 1961. from the original on 30 August 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  50. ^ Loh, Kah S (2012). The University Socialist Club and the Contest for Malaya: Tangled Strands of Modernity. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. pp. 24–25. ISBN 978-9089644091.
  51. ^ a b Tan, Kenneth Paul (2012). "The Ideology of Pragmatism: Neo-liberal Globalisation and Political Authoritarianism in Singapore". Journal of Contemporary Asia. 42 (1): 67–92. doi:10.1080/00472336.2012.634644. S2CID 56236985.
  52. ^ a b Quah, Jon (1985). "Singapore in 1984: Leadership Transition in an Election Year". Asian Survey. 25 (2): 225. doi:10.2307/2644306. JSTOR 2644306.
  53. ^ a b c LePoer, Barbara. "Key political issues - Succession". Countrystudies. Library of Congress.
  54. ^ Worthington, Ross (2002). Governance in Singapore. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7007-1474-2.
  55. ^ "Finance Minister Lawrence Wong endorsed as leader of 4G team: PM Lee". www.channelnewsasia.com. 14 April 2022.
  56. ^ "Singapore PM Lee Signals Lawrence Wong Becomes New Successor". www.bloombergquint.com. 14 April 2022.
  57. ^ "Lawrence Wong selected as leader of Singapore's PAP 4G team: PM Lee". sg.news.yahoo.com. 14 April 2022.
  58. ^ Diane K. Mauzy and R.S. Milne (2002). Singapore Politics Under the People's Action Party. Routledge. p. 41. ISBN 0-415-24653-9.
  59. ^ Koh Buck Song (4 April 1998). "The PAP cadre system". The Straits Times. Singapore. from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2006.
  60. ^ . AsiaOne. 10 September 2009. Archived from the original on 14 February 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2012.
  61. ^ . People's Action Party. Archived from the original on 6 May 2006. Retrieved 10 May 2006.
  62. ^ Tan, Kenneth Paul (1 January 2007). Renaissance Singapore? Economy, Culture, and Politics: Economy, Culture, and Politics. NUS Press. pp. 162, 231–236. ISBN 9789971693770.
  63. ^ "People's Action Party Central Executive Committee". People's Action Party. 2 December 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  64. ^ "Chan Chun Sing is new Young PAP chairman". www.asiaone.com. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  65. ^ "Young PAP members: Who they are". Today. 9 December 2000. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  66. ^ Rodan, Gary (1996). Political oppositions in industrialising Asia. Psychology Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-415-14865-8.
  67. ^ "Getting out of apathy zone". www.asiaone.com. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  68. ^ "Young PAP taps S'poreans abroad". The New Paper. Singapore. 5 January 2008.
  69. ^ "More joining Young PAP: Zaqy". TODAY. 8 November 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  70. ^ "Mickey Unbound". Wired. 1 July 1995. from the original on 10 February 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  71. ^ Chen, Tommi (14 March 1995). "Internet world watches as Young PAP enters cyberspace". The Straits Times.
  72. ^ a b Li Xueying (3 February 2007). "PAP moves to counter criticism of party, Govt in cyberspace". The Straits Times. Singapore.
  73. ^ "Want to talk politics?". TODAY. 24 August 2001. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  74. ^ Chang, Rachel (18 March 2010). "YP to close 2 Facebook pages". The Straits Times. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  75. ^ "See you on Facebook". TODAY. 9 July 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  76. ^ Au-Yong, Rachel (14 May 2014). "PAP responds to criticisms of viral video by its youth wing". The Straits Times. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
  77. ^ Hussin Mutalib (2004). Parties and Politics. A Study of Opposition Parties and the PAP in Singapore. Marshall Cavendish Adademic. p. 20. ISBN 981-210-408-9.
  78. ^ Tan, Kenneth Paul (2007). "Singapore's National Day Rally speech: A site of ideological negotiation". Journal of Contemporary Asia. 37 (3): 292–308. doi:10.1080/00472330701408635. S2CID 145405958.
  79. ^ Ong, Justin (28 January 2021). "Singapore ranked third as least corrupt country in the world, top in Asia: Transparency International". The Straits Times. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  80. ^ a b Heijmans, Philip J. (8 November 2021). "Why Singapore's ruling party easily wins big in every election". japantimes.co.jp. Japan Times. Retrieved 28 December 2020. Plenty of voters happily support the government and don't see any issues with the electoral system. The PAP has a proven track record of improving living standards and eliminating corruption, helping transform Singapore from a small trading port into one of the world's wealthiest nations. Per capita gross domestic product soared more than 150 times over the past six decades, and is now higher than countries like the U.S., Germany and Australia.
  81. ^ Roger Kerr (9 December 1999). . Rotary Club of Wellington North. Archived from the original on 7 March 2006. Retrieved 10 May 2006.
  82. ^ Christopher Tremewan (1996). The Political Economy of Social Control in Singapore (St. Anthony's Series). Palgrave Macmillan. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-312-15865-1.
  83. ^ "Unnatural aristocrats". The Economist. from the original on 28 July 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  84. ^ Azhar, Saeed; Chalmers, John (6 September 2015). "Singapore's rulers hope a nudge to the left will keep voters loyal". Reuters. from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  85. ^ Driven by Growth: Political Change in the Asia-Pacific Region edited by James W. Morley
  86. ^ . Workers' Party of Singapore. June 1976. Archived from the original on 17 September 2007. Retrieved 4 October 2009.
  87. ^ "Main Singapore Party Quits The Socialist International". The New York Times. 1 June 1976. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  88. ^ "Our Party". People's Action Party. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  89. ^ Yap, Lim & Leong 2010, p. 55-57.
  90. ^ Yap, Lim & Leong 2010, p. 99.
  91. ^ Yap, Lim & Leong 2010, p. 100.
  92. ^ "Rajah quits as leader of PAP". The Straits Times. 4 September 1957. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  93. ^ Yap, Lim & Leong 2010, p. 111.
  94. ^ a b Jayakumar 2021, p. 710.
  95. ^ a b Jayakumar 2021, p. 712.
  96. ^ People's Action Party (2022). "Central Executive Committee". People's Action Party. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  1. ^ a b This member was co-opted into the CEC on 6 November 2022
  2. ^ a b c d This member was co-opted into the CEC on 26 November 2022

Sources

Books
  • Goh, Cheng Teik (1994). Malaysia: Beyond Communal Politics. Pelanduk Publications. ISBN 967-978-475-4.
  • Yap, Sonny; Lim, Richard; Leong, Weng K. (2010). Men in White: The Untold Story of Singapore's Ruling Political Party. Straits Times Press. ISBN 9789814266512.
  • Jayakumar, Shashi (2021). A History of the People's Action Party, 1985-2021. NUS Press. ISBN 9789813251281.
Online sources

External links

  • Official website

people, action, party, this, article, about, singapore, other, groups, with, same, name, disambiguation, abbreviation, major, conservative, centre, right, political, party, singapore, three, contemporary, political, parties, represented, parliament, alongside,. This article is about the People s Action Party of Singapore For other groups with the same name see People s Action Party disambiguation The People s Action Party abbreviation PAP is a major conservative centre right 8 political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament alongside the opposition Workers Party WP and Progress Singapore Party PSP 9 10 People s Action PartyMalay nameParti Tindakan RakyatChinese name人民行动党 Renmin Xingdong DǎngTamil nameமக கள ன ச யல கட ச Makkaḷin Ceyal KaṭciAbbreviationPAPChairmanHeng Swee KeatSecretary GeneralLee Hsien LoongVice ChairmanMasagos ZulkifliDeputy Secretary GeneralLawrence WongAssistant Secretaries GeneralChan Chun SingDesmond LeeFoundersLee Kuan YewGoh Keng SweeToh Chin ChyeS RajaratnamLim Chin Siong and othersFounded21 November 1954 68 years ago 1954 11 21 Preceded byMalayan ForumSucceeded byDemocratic Action Party Malaysia HeadquartersBlock 57B New Upper Changi Road 01 1402 Singapore 463057Youth wingYoung PAPIdeologyConservatism 1 National conservatism 2 Social conservatism 3 Economic liberalism 4 Civic nationalism 5 6 Secularism 7 Political positionCentre right 8 ColoursWhite red blueSloganOur Lives Our Jobs Our FutureGoverning bodyCentral Executive CommitteeParliament83 103Websitewww wbr pap wbr org wbr sgPolitics of SingaporePolitical partiesElectionsInitially founded as a traditional centre left party in 1954 the leftist faction was soon expelled from the party in 1961 by Lee Kuan Yew in the midst of Singapore s merger with Malaysia desiring to move the party s ideology towards the centre after its first electoral victory in 1959 11 Beginning in the 1960s the party henceforth began to move towards the centre right 12 Following the 1965 agreement which led to Singapore s expulsion from the Malaysian federation almost the entire opposition except for the WP boycotted the following elections in 1968 in response to their initial incredulity towards independence thereafter allowing the PAP the opportunity to exercise exclusivity over its governance of national institutions and become the largest political party in the country 13 From 1965 to 1981 the PAP was the only political force represented in Parliament until it saw its first electoral defeat to the WP at a by election in the constituency of Anson Nevertheless the PAP has not seen its hegemony effectively threatened and has always exceeded 60 of the votes and 80 of the seats in all subsequent elections The PAP is the longest uninterrupted governing party among multiparty parliamentary democracies in the world at 63 years as of 2022 and the second in history after Mexico s Institutional Revolutionary Party PRI which led for 71 years from 1929 to 2000 14 Positioned on the centre right of Singapore politics the PAP is ideologically socially conservative and economically liberal The party generally favours free market economics having turned Singapore s economy into one of the world s freest and most open 15 but has at times engaged in state interventionism reminiscent of welfare capitalist policies Notably the party has also supported the creation of state owned enterprises known locally as government linked corporations GLCs This was done in order to jumpstart industrialisation spearhead economic development and lead to economic growth primarily job creation in various sectors of the Singaporean economy particularly in the early years of nationhood Socially it supports communitarianism and civic nationalism with the cohesion of the country s main ethnic groups of the Chinese Malay and Indian into a united Singaporean national identity forming many of its policies 16 On foreign policy it favours maintaining a strong and robust military serving as a purportedly indispensable guarantor of the country s continued sovereignty within the context of its strategic position for international finance and trade 17 18 Contents 1 History 1 1 Formation 1 2 First years in government 1 2 1 Great Split of 1961 1 2 2 Barisan Sosialis 1 3 Merger years 1963 1965 1 4 Post independence 1965 to present 2 Leadership transitions 2 1 First to second generation 2 2 Second to third generation 2 3 Third to fourth generation 3 Organisation 3 1 Central Executive Committee and Secretary General 3 2 HQ Executive Committee 3 3 Young PAP and internet presence 4 Ideology 4 1 Asian democracy 4 2 Economic policies 4 3 Social policies 4 4 Views on other ideologies 4 5 Symbolism 5 Leadership 5 1 List of chairmen 5 2 List of secretaries general 5 3 Central Executive Committee 6 Current Members of Parliament 6 1 Single Member Constituency 6 2 4 Member Group Constituency 6 3 5 Member Group Constituency 7 Electoral history 7 1 Legislative Assembly 7 2 Malaysian Parliament 7 3 Parliament 8 See also 9 References 9 1 Citations 9 2 Sources 10 External linksHistory Edit Lee Kuan Yew the first Prime Minister of Singapore and one of the founders of the People s Action Party Lee Kuan Yew Toh Chin Chye and Goh Keng Swee were involved in the Malayan Forum a London based student activist group that was against colonial rule in Malaya in the 1940s and early 1950s 19 20 Upon returning to Singapore the group met regularly to discuss approaches to attain independence in Malayan territories and started looking for like minded individuals to start a political party Journalist S Rajaratnam was introduced to Lee by Goh 21 Lee was also introduced to several English educated left wing students and Chinese educated union and student leaders while working on the Fajar sedition trial and the National Service riot case 22 Formation Edit The PAP was officially registered as a political party on 21 November 1954 Convenors of the party include a group of trade unionists lawyers and journalists such as Lee Kuan Yew Abdul Samad Ismail Toh Chin Chye Devan Nair S Rajaratnam Chan Chiaw Thor Fong Swee Suan Tann Wee Keng and Tann Wee Tiong 23 The political party was led by Lee Kuan Yew as its secretary general with Toh Chin Chye as its founding chairman Other party officers include Tann Wee Tiong Lee Gek Seng Ong Eng Guan and Tann Wee Keng 24 The PAP first contested the 1955 general election in which 25 of 32 seats in the legislature were up for election In this election the PAP s four candidates gained much support from the trade union members and student groups such as the University Socialist Club who canvassed for them 25 The party won three seats one by its leader Lee Kuan Yew for the Tanjong Pagar division and one by PAP co founder Lim Chin Siong for the Bukit Timah division 26 27 Then 22 years old unionist Lim Chin Siong was and remained the youngest Assemblyman ever to be elected to office The election was won by the Labour Front headed by David Marshall 28 In April 1956 Lim and Lee represented the PAP at the London Constitutional Talks along with Chief Minister David Marshall which ended in failure as the British declined to grant Singapore internal self government On 7 June 1956 Marshall disappointed with the constitutional talks stepped down as Chief Minister as he had pledged to do so earlier if self governance was not achieved He was replaced by Lim Yew Hock another Labour Front member 29 Lim pursued a largely anti communist campaign and managed to convince the British to make a definite plan for self government The Constitution of Singapore was revised accordingly in 1958 replacing the Rendel Constitution with one that granted Singapore self government and the ability for its own population to fully elect its Legislative Assembly PAP and left wing members who were communists were criticised for inciting riots in the mid 1950s 30 31 Lim Chin Siong Fong Swee Suan and Devan Nair as well as several unionists were detained by the police after the Chinese middle schools riots 32 Lim Chin Siong was placed under solitary confinement for close to a year away from his other PAP colleagues as they were placed in the Medium Security Prison MSP instead 33 The number of PAP members imprisoned rose in August 1957 when PAP members from the trade unions viewed as communist or pro communist won half the seats in the Central Executive Committee CEC The moderate CEC members including Lee Kuan Yew Toh Chin Chye and others refused to take their appointments in the CEC Yew Hock s government again made a sweeping round of arrests imprisoning all the communist members before the moderates re assumed their office 34 Following this the PAP decided to re assert ties with the labour faction of Singapore in the hope of securing the votes of working class Chinese Singaporeans many of whom were supporters of the jailed unionists Lee Kuan Yew convinced the incarcerated union leaders to sign documents to state their support for the party and its policies promising to release the jailed members of the PAP when the party came to power in the next elections 35 Ex Barisan Sosialis member Tan Jing Quee claims that Lee was secretly in collusion with the British to stop Lim Chin Siong and the labour supporters from attaining power because of their huge popularity Quee also states that Lim Yew Hock deliberately provoked the students into rioting and then had the labour leaders arrested 36 Greg Poulgrain of Griffiths University argued that Lee Kuan Yew was secretly a party with Lim Yew Hock in urging the Colonial Secretary to impose the subversives ban in making it illegal for former political detainees to stand for election 36 Lee Kuan Yew eventually accused Lim Chin Siong and his supporters of being communists working for the Communist United Front but evidence of Lim being a communist cadre was a matter of debate as many documents have yet to be declassified 37 38 First years in government Edit The PAP eventually won the 1959 general election under Lee Kuan Yew s leadership 39 The election was also the first one to produce a fully elected parliament and a cabinet wielding powers of full internal self government The party has won a majority of seats in every general election since then Lee who became the first Prime Minister 40 requested for the release of the PAP left wing members to form the new cabinet 41 Great Split of 1961 Edit See also 1961 Singaporean by elections In 1961 disagreements on the proposed merger plan to form Malaysia and long standing internal party power struggle led to the split of the left wing group from the PAP 42 43 44 Although the Communist faction had been frozen out of ever taking over the PAP other problems had begun to arise internally Ong Eng Guan the former Mayor of the City Council after PAP s victory in the 1957 Singapore City Council election presented a set of 16 Resolutions to revisit some issues previously explored by Chin Siong s faction of the PAP abolishing the PPSO revising the Constitution and changing the method of selecting cadre members 45 82 Although Ong s 16 Resolutions originated from the left wing faction led by Lim Chin Siong that faction had only reluctantly asked the PAP leadership to clarify its position on them 46 as they still thought that the party with Lee Kuan Yew at the helm was a better alternative than Ong who was regarded as mercurial and a tyrant 33 However Lee took the stance taken by the left wing PAP members as a lack of confidence in his leadership This issue caused a rift between the moderate PAP members led by Lee and the left wing faction led by Lim Ong was then expelled and he resigned his Assembly seat to challenge the government to a by election in Hong Lim in April 1961 where he won 73 3 of the vote 47 This was despite the fact that Lee Kuan Yew had made a secret alliance with Fong Chong Pik the leader of the Communist Party of Malaya CPM to get the CPM cadres to support the PAP in the by election 46 Barisan Sosialis Edit The breakaway group of members formed the Barisan Sosialis with Lim Chin Siong as secretary general 48 Aside from the Chinese union leaders lawyers Thampoe Thamby Rajah and Tann Wee Tiong 49 several members from the University Socialist Club such as James Puthucheary and Poh Soo Kai joined the party 50 35 of 51 branches of the PAP and 19 of 23 branch secretaries defected to Barisan Merger years 1963 1965 Edit See also PAP UMNO relations After gaining independence from Britain Singapore joined the federation of Malaysia in 1963 Although the PAP was the ruling party in the state of Singapore the PAP functioned as an opposition party at the federal level in the larger Malaysian political landscape At that time and until the 2018 general election the federal government in Kuala Lumpur was controlled by a coalition led by the United Malays National Organisation UMNO However the prospect that the PAP might rule Malaysia agitated UMNO The PAP s decision to contest federal parliamentary seats outside Singapore and the UMNO decision to contest seats within Singapore breached an unspoken agreement to respect each other s spheres of influence and aggravated PAP UMNO relations The clash of personalities between PAP leader Lee Kuan Yew and Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman resulted in a crisis and led to Rahman forcing Singapore to leave Malaysia on 9 August 1965 Upon independence the nascent People s Action Party of Malaya which had been registered in Malaysia on 10 March 1964 had its registration cancelled on 9 September 1965 just a month after Singapore s exit Those with the now non existent party applied to register People s Action Party Malaya which was again rejected by the Malaysian government before settling with the Democratic Action Party Post independence 1965 to present Edit A PAP election rally at Tampines Stadium The PAP has held an overwhelming majority of seats in the Parliament of Singapore since 1966 when the opposition Barisan Sosialis Socialist Front resigned from Parliament after winning 13 seats following the 1963 general election which took place months after a number of their leaders had been arrested in Operation Coldstore based on accusations of being communists 36 It subsequently achieved a monopoly in an expanding parliament winning every parliamentary seat for the next four elections 1968 1972 1976 and 1980 Opposition parties returned to the legislature at a 1981 by election The 1984 general election was the first election in 21 years in which opposition parties won seats From then until 2006 the PAP faced four opposition MPs at most Opposition parties did not win more than four parliamentary seats from 1984 until 2011 when the Workers Party won six seats and took away a Group Representation Constituency GRC for the first time for any opposition party Even so it still holds a supermajority in the legislature to the point that Singapore is effectively a dominant party system With its supermajority the PAP has always had the ability to amend the Constitution of Singapore without much obstruction including the introduction of multi member constituencies under the Group representation constituency GRC system or Nominated Member of Parliament NMPs which has helped strengthened the government s dominance and control of Parliament 51 Leadership transitions EditThe longtime governing party of Singapore spans both past and present but notably occurred in the mid 1980s where the first generation of PAP leaders in the CEC and the Cabinet of Singapore ceded power to a second generation of leaders First to second generation Edit By 1984 the old guard first generation of party leaders had been governing Singapore for approximately a quarter of a century Aging leadership was a key concern and the Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew sought to groom younger leaders In a speech on 29 September 1984 Lee argued that though the first generation of leaders was still alert and fully in charge to hang on to power until they had become feeble would allow power to be wrested from them with no say in who their successors were 52 On 30 September at the Ordinary Party Conference power was transferred to the second generation of leaders who were elected to the Central Executive Committee in place of all the old CEC members of the 14 member CEC only Lee Kuan Yew remained the only old guard leader 52 According to a report to the Library of Congress the old guard were confident in their rectitude and discretion in using their extensive political powers for Singapore s common good but were not as confident in the next generation in doing so Various limits on executive power were considered in order to minimise the chances of corruption These included a popularly elected President of Singapore with substantial nonceremonial powers 53 This particular reform was enacted with a constitutional amendment in 1991 The old guard also sought to eschew the use of PAP as a central political institution seeking to depoliticise and disperse power among society and sought to include low level community leaders in government A policy of cross fertilisation was enacted exchange of leaders elites and talent would take place between private and government sectors civilian and military segments of society and between the party and the National Trades Union Congress 53 Second to third generation Edit The next generation of leaders in the late 1980s was split between the factions of then Brigadier General Lee Hsien Loong and the older more experienced Goh Chok Tong Lee Hsien Loong was supported by bureaucrats in the Ministry of Defence and army colleagues in the Singapore Armed Forces 53 Goh Chok Tong had more influence in the Singapore Civil Service the Cabinet and the government linked corporations 54 Lee Kuan Yew himself remained Prime Minister and in the CEC until 1990 when he stepped down in favour of Goh Chok Tong as PM Lee Hsien Loong became PM in 2004 Third to fourth generation Edit On 23 November 2018 fourth generation leadership members then Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat and then Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing were elected as the First and Second Assistant Secretaries General respectively the second and third highest positions of the party They had replaced then Assistant Secretary Generals Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam A significant step of the leadership transition from the third generation leaders to the fourth generation leaders On 1 May 2019 Heng Swee Keat was appointed the new and sole Deputy Prime Minister replacing Teo and Tharman He was then widely seen as the 4th and next Prime Minister and Secretary General of PAP succeeding incumbent Lee Hsien Loong However on 8 April 2021 Heng surprisingly announced he would step down as the fourth generation leader and step aside to pave way for younger and healthier leaders to take over the leadership and stressed that health and age as concerns of this decision After his decision several Cabinet members were seen as the possible candidates to succeed Heng ranging from Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing On 14 April 2022 Finance Minister Lawrence Wong was selected as the new leader of the PAP s fourth generation 4G team succeeding Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat who had stepped down as 4G leader 55 Wong received an overwhelming majority of support in the consultation process surpassing that of other nominees 56 His candidacy was unanimously endorsed by the cabinet and subsequently by the PAP MPs at a party caucus on 14 April 57 Organisation Edit People s Action Party activist during the 2011 general election People s Action Party headquarters in New Upper Changi Road During its initial years the party had adopted a traditional Leninist form of party organisation together with a vanguard cadre from its labour leaning faction The PAP Executive later expelled the leftist faction in 1961 bringing the ideological basis of the party into the centre and later in the 1960s moving further to the right In the beginning there were about 500 so called temporary cadres appointed 58 however the current number of cadres is unknown with the register of cadres being kept confidential In 1988 Wong Kan Seng revealed that there were more than 1 000 cadres Cadre members have the right to attend party conferences and to vote for and elect and to be elected into the Central Executive Committee CEC the pinnacle of party leaders To become a cadre a party member must be first nominated by the MP in their branch The candidate will then undergo three sessions of interview each with four to five ministers or MPs and the appointment is then made by the CEC About 100 candidates are nominated each year 59 Central Executive Committee and Secretary General Edit Political power in the party is concentrated in the CEC led by the secretary general The secretary general of the PAP is the leader of the party Due to PAP s electoral victories in every general election since 1959 the prime minister of Singapore has been by convention the secretary general of the PAP since 1959 Key appointments in the CEC are usually Cabinet members From 1957 onward the rules laid down that the outgoing CEC should recommend a list of candidates from which the cadre members can then vote for the next CEC This has recently changed so that the CEC nominates eight members and the party caucus selects the remaining ten Historically the position of Secretary General was not considered for the office of Prime Minister but rather the Central Executive Committee held an election to choose the prime minister There was a contest between PAP Secretary General Lee Kuan Yew and PAP Treasurer Ong Eng Guan prior to 1959 Lee subsequently won the leadership and was inaugurated as the first prime minister of Singapore 60 HQ Executive Committee Edit The next lower level committee is the HQ Executive Committee HQ EXCO which performs the party s administration and oversees 14 sub committees 61 The sub committees are the following Branch Appointments and Relations Constituency Relations Information and Feedback New Media Malay Affairs Membership Recruitment and Cadre Selection PAP Awards Political Education Publicity and Publication Social and Recreational Women s Wing WW Young PAP YP PAP Seniors Group PAP SG PAP Policy Forum PPF Young PAP and internet presence Edit The Young PAP is the youth wing of the party serving as a youth organisation for young adults and students in Singapore who support the PAP and have an interest in politics 62 The incumbent chairman of the youth wing is Janil Puthucheary 63 64 65 The YP s predecessor the PAP Youth Committee was established in 1986 under Lee Hsien Loong s tenure as Chairman then a Singapore Armed Forces Brigadier General All PAP members under the age of 35 were grouped under the Youth Committee In 1993 the Youth Committee was renamed the Young PAP In an effort to attract members then Chairman George Yeo said that people joining the YP could take positions different from central party leadership The age limit was raised from 35 to 40 66 Memberships are issued through the PAP branches under each constituency in Singapore 67 By 2005 the committee had grown to more than 6 000 members 68 In 2010 then Vice Chairman Zaqy Mohamad said the YP attracts over 1200 new members that year an increase on the 1000 new members in 2009 69 Since 1995 the youth wing of the PAP has had an internet presence that aims to correct misinformation about Singapore politics or culture 70 Young PAP is also in charge of several online websites since 1995 to create an online presence for the party under the urging of then Minister for Information and the Arts George Yeo 71 In February 2007 it was reported by The Straits Times that the PAP s new media committee chaired by Minister Ng Eng Hen had initiated an effort to counter critics anonymously on the Internet as it was necessary for the PAP to have a voice on cyberspace 72 The initiative was divided by two sub committees one of which was in charge of strategising the campaigns and is co headed by Minister Lui Tuck Yew and MP Zaqy Mohamad The other sub committee new media capabilities group led by MPs Baey Yam Keng and Josephine Teo executed the strategies The initiative was set up after the 2006 general election and also included around 20 IT savvy PAP activists 72 After popular forum Sintercom was shut down in 2001 the Young PAP offered their own forum for moderated discussions 73 They have since set up various blogs and social media accounts with multimedia content to engage the masses 74 75 76 Ideology EditAsian democracy Edit The PAP has often set forth the idea of Asian democracy and values drawing from a notion of Asian culture and Confucianism to construct ideological bulwarks as an alternative to Western democracy Nevertheless the presence of many aspects of liberal democracy in Singapore s public policy exists such as the recognition of democratic institutions and the rule of law Professor Hussin Mutalib from the National University of Singapore NUS opines that for Lee Kuan Yew Singapore would be better off without Western style liberal democracy 77 Consequently the governance of the PAP has occasionally been characterised by some observers especially in the West as relatively semi authoritarian or nanny like by liberal democratic standards with the introduction of unique laws such as banning the sales of chewing gum in 1992 for cleanliness purposes 51 According to Kenneth Paul Tan from the NUS it proclaimed that the reason many Singaporeans continue to vote for the PAP are due to the fact that economic considerations pragmatism and stability triumphs over accountability and checks and balances by opposition parties 78 It has also been noted that despite the PAP having effective control over the state apparatus they have proven themselves to Singaporeans as being much more transparent than risk having an alternative party govern the country Singapore has been considered as being one of the least corrupt countries in the world by international observers such as Transparency International 79 Indeed many political observers has added that many Singaporeans willingly accept this arrangement by conceding some rights of personal liberty in return the party that has run Singapore since its founding delivers progress and predictability The PAP has won significant genuine support amongst the people for rapidly developing the country as well as overseeing economic success and stability after the often turbulent periods prior to its independence 80 Accordingly this has led many Singaporeans into becoming highly risk averse in voting for other parties due to their perception that it may led to a decreased prosperity of the country 80 Economic policies Edit See also Government of Singapore Investment Corporation and Temasek Holdings The party economic ideology has always accepted the need for some welfare spending and pragmatic economic interventionism However free market policies have been popular since the 1980s as part of the wider implementation of a meritocracy in civil society and Singapore frequently ranks extremely highly on indices of economic freedom published by economically liberal organisations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund Singapore is also the only Asian country with the top AAA sovereign rating from the Big Three credit rating agencies of S amp P Moody s and Fitch Lee Kuan Yew once said in 1992 Through Hong Kong watching I concluded that state welfare and subsidies blunted the individual s drive to succeed I watched with amazement the ease with which Hong Kong workers adjusted their salaries upwards in boom times and downwards in recessions I resolved to reverse course on the welfare policies which my party had inherited or copied from British Labour Party policies 81 Notably since Singapore s independence in 1965 the party has also supported the creation of state owned enterprises known within Singapore as Government linked Corporations GLCs in order to jumpstart industrialisation spearhead economic development and lead to economic growth primarily job creation in various sectors of the Singaporean economy as there was a lack of private sector funds and expertise particularly in the early years of nationhood Various GLCs were formed to pursue strategic sectors such as in ship building and repair Sembcorp Marine Keppel Corporation aviation and defence Singapore Airlines ST Engineering telecommunications Singtel real estate CapitaLand and development finance DBS Bank amongst others In addition various GLCs were set up as private public partnerships notable as joint ventures or strategic alliances with foreign companies or investors with relevant expertise particularly in the petrochemicals and oil refining industries Social policies Edit Since the early years of the PAP s rule the idea of survival has been a central theme of Singaporean politics According to Diane Mauzy and R S Milne most analysts of Singapore have discerned four major ideologies of the PAP namely pragmatism meritocracy multiracialism and Asian values or communitarianism 82 In January 1991 the PAP introduced the White Paper on Shared Values which tried to create a national ideology and institutionalise Asian values At an Institute of Policy Studies dialogue held on 2 July 2015 Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke about the need to maintain a Jeffersonian natural aristocracy in the system to instill a culture of respect and to avoid anarchy 83 Views on other ideologies Edit The party is deeply suspicious of communist political ideologies despite a brief joint alliance with the pro labour co founders of the PAP during the party s early years who were eventually accused of being communists In 2015 the party was seen by some observers to have adopted a left of centre tack in certain areas in order to remain electorally dominant 84 The socialism practised by the PAP during its first few decades in power was of a pragmatic kind as characterised by the party s rejection of nationalisation According to Chan Heng Chee by the late 1970s the intellectual credo of the government rested explicitly upon a philosophy of self reliance similar to the rugged individualism of the American brand of capitalism Despite this the PAP still claimed to be a socialist party pointing out its regulation of the private sector activist intervention in the economy and social policies as evidence of this 85 In 1976 the PAP resigned from the Socialist International after the Dutch Labour Party had proposed to expel the PAP on charges of violation of human rights and indefinite detention of political prisoners without trial 86 87 Symbolism Edit The PAP symbol which is a red thunderbolt and blue circle on white stands for action inside multicultural unity It also appears on party flags on parades PAP members at party rallies have customarily worn a uniform of white shirts and white trousers which symbolises incorruptibility and purity of the party s ideologies of the government 88 Leadership EditList of chairmen Edit Portrait Name birth death Term of office Time in officeToh Chin Chye 10 December 1921 3 February 2012 21 November 1954 5 January 1981 26 years 45 days Ong Teng Cheong 22 January 1936 8 February 2002 5 January 1981 16 August 1993 12 years 223 days Tony Tan born 7 February 1940 1 September 1993 3 December 2004 11 years 93 days Lim Boon Heng born 18 November 1947 3 December 2004 1 June 2011 6 years 180 days Khaw Boon Wan born 8 December 1952 1 June 2011 23 November 2018 7 years 175 days Gan Kim Yong born 9 February 1959 23 November 2018 26 November 2022 4 years 3 days Heng Swee Keat born 15 April 1961 26 November 2022 Incumbent 125 daysList of secretaries general Edit Portrait Name birth death Term of office Time in office Refs Lee Kuan Yew 16 September 1923 23 March 2015 21 November 1954 3 August 1957 2 years 255 days 89 90 T T Rajah 28 December 1919 13 March 1996 13 August 1957 3 September 1957 21 days 91 92 Lee Kuan Yew 16 September 1923 23 March 2015 20 October 1957 14 November 1992 35 years 25 days 93 94 Goh Chok Tong born 20 May 1941 15 November 1992 6 November 2004 11 years 357 days 94 95 Lee Hsien Loong born 10 February 1952 7 November 2004 Incumbent 18 years 144 days 95 Central Executive Committee Edit As of 26 November 2022 the Central Executive Committee comprises the following members 96 Title NameChairman Heng Swee KeatVice Chairman Masagos ZulkifliSecretary General Lee Hsien LoongTreasurer K ShanmugamOrganising Secretaries Grace FuEdwin Tong a Deputy Secretary General Lawrence WongAssistant Secretaries General Chan Chun SingDesmond LeeAssistant Treasurer Ong Ye KungMembers Alex Yeo b Cheryl Chan b Indranee RajahJosephine Teo a Ng Chee Meng b Tan Chuan JinTan See Leng b Vivian BalakrishnanCurrent Members of Parliament EditSingle Member Constituency Edit No Name Constituency Length of service cumulative 1 Murali Pillai Bukit Batok SMC 2016 present2 Liang Eng Hwa Bukit Panjang SMC 2006 present3 Amy Khor Hong Kah North SMC 2001 present4 Henry Kwek Kebun Baru SMC 2020 present5 Tin Pei Ling MacPherson SMC 2011 present6 Gan Siow Huang Marymount SMC 2020 present7 Lim Biow Chuan Mountbatten SMC 2006 present8 Patrick Tay Pioneer SMC 2011 present9 Sitoh Yih Pin Potong Pasir SMC 2011 present10 Sun Xueling Punggol West SMC 2015 present11 Melvin Yong Radin Mas SMC 2020 present12 Yip Hon Weng Yio Chu Kang SMC 2020 present13 Grace Fu Yuhua SMC 2006 present4 Member Group Constituency Edit No Name Constituency Division Length of service cumulative 1 Ng Eng Hen Bishan Toa Payoh GRC Toa Payoh Central 2001 present2 Chee Hong Tat Toa Payoh West Thomson 2015 present3 Chong Kee Hiong Bishan East Thomson 2015 present4 Saktiandi Supaat Toa Payoh East Novena 2015 present5 Gan Kim Yong Chua Chu Kang GRC Choa Chu Kang 2001 present6 Low Yen Ling Bukit Gombak 2011 present7 Don Wee Boon Hong Brickland 2020 present8 Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim Keat Hong 2020 present9 Vivian Balakrishnan Holland Bukit Timah GRC Cashew 2006 present10 Sim Ann Bukit Timah 2011 present11 Christopher de Souza Ulu Pandan 2006 present12 Edward Chia Zhenghua 2020 present13 Josephine Teo Jalan Besar GRC Kreta Ayer Kim Seng 2006 present14 Heng Chee How Whampoa 2001 present15 Denise Phua Kampong Glam 2006 present16 Wan Rizal Wan Zakariah Kolam Ayer 2020 present17 Lawrence Wong Marsiling Yew Tee GRC Limbang 2011 present18 Alex Yam Yew Tee 2011 present19 Zaqy Mohamad Marsiling 2006 present20 Hany Soh Woodgrove 2020 present5 Member Group Constituency Edit No Name Constituency Division Length of service cumulative 1 Lee Hsien Loong Ang Mo Kio GRC Teck Ghee 1984 present2 Darryl David Ang Mo Kio Hougang 2015 present3 Nadia Ahmad Samdin Cheng San Seletar 2020 present4 Ng Ling Ling Jalan Kayu 2020 present5 Gan Thiam Poh Fernvale 2011 present6 Heng Swee Keat East Coast GRC Bedok 2011 present7 Maliki Osman Siglap 2011 present8 Tan Kiat How Kampong Chai Chee 2020 present9 Cheryl Chan Fengshan 2015 present10 Jessica Tan Changi Simei 2006 present11 Tharman Shanmugaratnam Jurong GRC Taman Jurong 2001 present12 Tan Wu Meng Clementi 2015 present13 Rahayu Mahzam Bukit Batok East 2015 present14 Shawn Huang Wei Zhong Jurong Spring 2020 present15 Xie Yao Quan Jurong Central 2020 present16 Tan Chuan Jin Marine Parade GRC Kembangan Chai Chee 2011 present17 Edwin Tong Joo Chiat 2015 present18 Seah Kian Peng Braddell Heights 2006 present19 Tan See Leng Marine Parade 2020 present20 Mohd Fahmi Aliman Geylang Serai 2020 present21 K Shanmugam Nee Soon GRC Chong Pang 1988 present22 Carrie Tan Nee Soon South 2020 present23 Derrick Goh Nee Soon Link 2020 present24 Louis Ng Nee Soon East 2015 present25 Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim Nee Soon Central 2011 present26 Teo Chee Hean Pasir Ris Punggol GRC Pasir Ris West 1992 present27 Janil Puthucheary Pasir Ris Coast 2015 present28 Mohamed Sharael Taha Pasir Ris East 2020 present29 Yeo Wan Ling Punggol Shore 2020 present30 Desmond Tan Pasir Ris Central 2020 present31 Ong Ye Kung Sembawang GRC Sembawang Central 2015 present32 Vikram Nair Admiralty 2011 present33 Lim Wee Kiak Canberra 2015 present34 Poh Li San Sembawang West 2020 present35 Mariam Jaafar Woodlands 2020 present36 Masagos Zulkifli Tampines GRC Tampines West 2006 present37 Baey Yam Keng Tampines North 2006 present38 Desmond Choo Tampines Changkat 2015 present39 Cheng Li Hui Tampines East 2015 present40 Koh Poh Koon Tampines Central 2015 present41 Chan Chun Sing Tanjong Pagar GRC Buona Vista 2011 present42 Indranee Rajah Tanjong Pagar Tiong Bahru 2001 present43 Joan Pereira Henderson Dawson 2015 present44 Eric Chua Queenstown 2020 present45 Alvin Tan Moulmein Cairnhill 2020 present46 S Iswaran West Coast GRC West Coast 2001 present47 Desmond Lee Boon Lay 2011 present48 Foo Mee Har Ayer Rajah Gek Poh 2011 present49 Ang Wei Neng Nanyang 2020 present50 Rachel Ong Sin Yen Telok Blangah 2020 presentElectoral history EditLegislative Assembly Edit Election Seats up for election Seats contested by party Seats won by walkover Contested seats won Contested seats lost Total seats won Change Total votes Share of votes Resulting government Party leader1955 25 4 0 3 1 3 25 3 13 634 8 7 Opposition Lee Kuan Yew1959 51 51 0 43 8 43 51 40 281 891 54 1 Supermajority1963 51 51 0 37 14 37 51 6 272 924 46 9 SupermajorityLegislative Assembly by electionsElection Seats up for election Seats contested by party Contested seats won Contested seats lost Total votes Share of votes Outcome of election Constituency contested Party leader1957 2 1 1 0 4 707 37 0 1 seat hold Tanjong Pagar SMC Lee Kuan Yew1961 2 2 0 2 5 872 31 1 1 seat lost to Independent 1 seat lost to WP Anson SMCHong Lim SMC1965 1 1 0 1 6 398 59 5 1 seat gained from UPP Hong Lim SMCMalaysian Parliament Edit Election Seats up for election Seats contested by party Seats won by walkover Contested seats won Contested seats lost Total seats won Change Total votes Share of votes Resulting government Party leader1964 144 11 0 1 10 1 144 1 42 130 2 0 Opposition Lee Kuan YewParliament Edit Election Seats up for election Seats contested by party Seats won by walkover Contested seats won Contested seats lost Total seats won Change Total votes Share of votes Resulting government Party leader1968 58 58 51 7 0 58 58 21 65 812 86 7 Won all seats Lee Kuan Yew1972 65 65 8 57 0 65 65 7 524 892 70 4 Won all seats1976 69 69 16 53 0 69 69 4 590 169 74 1 Won all seats1980 75 75 37 38 0 75 75 6 494 268 77 7 Won all seats1984 79 79 30 47 2 77 79 2 568 310 64 8 Supermajority1988 81 81 11 69 1 80 81 3 848 029 63 2 Supermajority1991 81 81 41 36 4 77 81 3 477 760 61 0 Supermajority Goh Chok Tong1997 83 83 47 34 2 81 83 4 465 751 65 0 Supermajority2001 84 84 55 27 2 82 84 1 470 765 75 3 Supermajority2006 84 84 37 45 2 82 84 748 130 66 6 Supermajority Lee Hsien Loong2011 87 87 5 76 6 81 87 1 1 212 514 60 14 Supermajority2015 89 89 0 83 6 83 89 2 1 576 784 69 86 Supermajority2020 93 93 0 83 10 83 93 1 524 781 61 24 SupermajorityParliamentary by electionsElection Seats up for election Seats contested by party Seats won by walkover Contested seats won Contested seats lost Total votes Share of votes Outcome of election Constituency contested Party leader1966 7 7 6 1 0 9 082 82 9 7 seats gained from BS Bukit Merah SMCBukit Timah SMCChua Chu Kang SMCCrawford SMCJoo Chiat SMCJurong SMCPaya Lebar SMC Lee Kuan Yew1967 5 5 4 1 0 9 407 83 6 5 seats gained from BS Bukit Panjang SMCHavelock SMCJalan Kayu SMCTampines SMCThomson SMC1970 5 5 3 2 0 14 545 69 9 5 seats hold Delta SMCHavelock SMCKampong Kapor SMCUlu Pandan SMCWhampoa SMC1979 7 7 2 5 0 53 222 72 7 7 seats hold Anson SMCGeylang West SMCMountbatten SMCNee Soon SMCPotong Pasir SMCSembawang SMCTelok Blangah SMC1981 1 1 0 0 1 6 359 47 1 1 seat lost to WP Anson SMC1992 4 4 0 4 0 48 965 72 9 4 seats hold Marine Parade GRC Goh Chok Tong2012 1 1 0 0 1 8 223 37 9 No seat Hougang SMC Lee Hsien Loong2013 1 1 0 0 1 12 856 43 7 1 seat lost to WP Punggol East SMC2016 1 1 0 1 0 14 428 61 21 1 seat hold Bukit Batok SMCSee also EditPAP Community Foundation Party Whip of the People s Action Party Politics of Singapore List of political parties in SingaporeReferences EditCitations Edit Goldblatt David 2005 Governance in the Asia Pacific Routledge p 293 Berger Mark 2014 Rethinking the Third World Macmillan p 98 Tan Kenneth Paul 2016 Governing Global City Singapore Taylor amp Francis p 91 Kuah Pearce Khun Eng 2010 Rebuilding the Ancestral Village Hong Kong University Press p 37 Lim Benny 18 January 2017 Nation building reboot needed The Straits Times Archived from the original on 14 November 2018 Retrieved 19 November 2018 Archived copy Archived from the original on 16 January 2018 Retrieved 16 January 2018 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint archived copy as title link Singh Bilveer 2017 Understanding Singapore Politics World Scientific Publishing Company p 36 a b Diane K Mauzy and R S Milne 2002 Singapore Politics Under the People s Action Party Routledge p 147 ISBN 0 415 24653 9 Rodan Gary The Internet and Political Control in Singapore PDF Archived PDF from the original on 24 February 2017 Retrieved 6 November 2017 Reyes Sebastian 29 September 2015 Singapore s Stubborn Authoritarianism Harvard Political Review Harvard Political Review Archived from the original on 30 January 2018 Retrieved 6 November 2017 Singapore s Cadre System www asiasentinel com Retrieved 15 May 2021 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Lam Peng Er 1999 Lee s lieutenants Singapore s old guard Allen amp Unwin ISBN 978 1 86508 172 4 GIGA IAS Booth A9 at ICAS 10 Conference in Chiang Mai Thailand 20 23 July 2017 Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs 35 3 204 2016 doi 10 1177 186810341603500312 ISSN 1868 1034 Oliver Steven Ostwald Kai 2018 Explaining Elections in Singapore Dominant Party Resilience and Valence Politics Journal of East Asian Studies 18 2 129 156 doi 10 1017 jea 2018 15 ISSN 1598 2408 S2CID 232329919 Index of Economic Freedom Promoting Economic Opportunity and Prosperity by Country www heritage org Retrieved 18 November 2021 Ortmann Stephan December 2009 Singapore The Politics of Inventing National Identity Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs 28 4 23 46 doi 10 1177 186810340902800402 S2CID 73649569 SAF remains final guarantor of Singapore s independence Singapore Channel NewsAsia 1 July 2007 Archived from the original on 16 May 2011 Retrieved 19 February 2011 Lunch Talk on Defending Singapore Strategies for a Small State by Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean Press release Ministry of Defence 21 April 2005 Archived from the original on 24 October 2007 Retrieved 19 February 2011 Desker Barry Guan Chong Kwa Chong Guan 2012 Goh Keng Swee A Public Career Remembered World Scientific ISBN 9789814291392 Josey Alex 15 February 2013 Lee Kuan Yew The Crucial Years Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd ISBN 9789814435499 Leong Ching 2004 PAP 50 Five Decades of the People s Action Party Singapore People s Action Party Lee Kuan Yew 15 September 2012 The Singapore Story Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd ISBN 9789814561761 Nine Form New Political Party in Singapore The Straits Times 24 October 1954 Archived from the original on 17 August 2017 Retrieved 17 August 2017 The PAP bosses The Straits Times 12 July 1955 Archived from the original on 18 January 2018 Retrieved 18 September 2017 Yap Sonny Richard Lim Weng K Leong 2010 Men in White The Untold Story of Singapore s Ruling Political Party ISBN Singapore Straits Times Press p 54 ISBN 978 9814266512 Elected into the Legislative Assembly were from left National Archives of Singapore 3 April 1955 Archived from the original on 18 August 2017 Retrieved 17 August 2017 The Results The Straits Times 3 April 1955 Archived from the original on 18 August 2017 Retrieved 17 August 2017 Labour Wins Marshal Will Be Chief Minister Archived from the original on 18 August 2017 Retrieved 17 August 2017 Wong Hongyi 2009 Lim Chin Siong Singapore Infopedia National Library Board Singapore Archived from the original on 28 July 2009 Mr Lim Sits on The Fence Archived from the original on 18 August 2017 Retrieved 17 August 2017 The Guilty Men By Goode The Straits Times 17 May 1955 Archived from the original on 18 August 2017 Retrieved 17 August 2017 Who s Who The Top 15 Names The Straits Times 28 October 1956 Archived from the original on 18 August 2017 Retrieved 17 August 2017 a b Ministry of Finance August 2015 INCOME GROWTH INEQUALITY AND MOBILITY TRENDS IN SINGAPORE PDF Ministry of Finance Occasional Paper Archived PDF from the original on 7 April 2016 Retrieved 14 April 2016 Leong Weng Kam 10 June 2016 Ex PAP man recounts 1957 kelong meeting The Straits Times Archived from the original on 21 September 2016 Retrieved 19 August 2016 Chew Melanie 29 July 2015 Leaders of Singapore World Scientific p 80 ISBN 9789814719452 a b c Tan Jing Quee 2001 Comet in our sky Lim Chin Siong in history Insan ISBN 983 9602 14 4 Seng Kah 20 December 2014 British archives personal accounts confirm extent of Communist United Front activities here PM Lee The Straits Times Archived from the original on 31 August 2017 Retrieved 31 August 2017 Kah Seng Loh 15 January 2015 An annotated bibliography of Operation Coldstore New Mandala New Mandala Archived from the original on 31 August 2017 Retrieved 31 August 2017 2 45 am PAP ROMPS HOME WITH LANDSLIDE VICTORY The Straits Times 31 May 1959 Archived from the original on 18 August 2017 Retrieved 17 August 2017 LEE IS PREMIER Archived from the original on 18 August 2017 Retrieved 17 August 2017 Unlocking The Gates The Straits Times 3 June 1959 Archived from the original on 21 August 2017 Retrieved 21 August 2017 When Lee lost control of PAP for 10 days The Straits Times 12 September 2009 PAP rebels to form an opposition party Archived from the original on 18 August 2017 Retrieved 17 August 2017 Merger issue Dr Toh hits out at six top unionists Archived from the original on 18 August 2017 Retrieved 17 August 2017 Acemoglu Daron Robinson James A 2005 Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy Cambridge Press pp 8 10 ISBN 9780521855266 a b Thum Ping Tjin November 2013 The Fundamental Issue is Anti colonialism Not Merger Singapore s Progressive Left Operation Coldstore and the Creation of Malaysia ARI Working Paper 211 Singapore Legislative Assembly By Election April 1961 gt Hong Lim singapore elections com Archived from the original on 1 June 2016 Retrieved 19 August 2016 Poh Soo K Tan Jing Quee Koh Kay Yew 2010 The Fajar Generation The University Socialist Club and the Politics of Postwar Malaya and Singapore Petaling Jaya SIRD pp 59 60 ISBN 9789833782864 Lawyers Rajah Tann join Barisan Socialis The Straits Times 15 August 1961 Archived from the original on 30 August 2018 Retrieved 18 September 2017 Loh Kah S 2012 The University Socialist Club and the Contest for Malaya Tangled Strands of Modernity Amsterdam Amsterdam University Press pp 24 25 ISBN 978 9089644091 a b Tan Kenneth Paul 2012 The Ideology of Pragmatism Neo liberal Globalisation and Political Authoritarianism in Singapore Journal of Contemporary Asia 42 1 67 92 doi 10 1080 00472336 2012 634644 S2CID 56236985 a b Quah Jon 1985 Singapore in 1984 Leadership Transition in an Election Year Asian Survey 25 2 225 doi 10 2307 2644306 JSTOR 2644306 a b c LePoer Barbara Key political issues Succession Countrystudies Library of Congress Worthington Ross 2002 Governance in Singapore Routledge ISBN 978 0 7007 1474 2 Finance Minister Lawrence Wong endorsed as leader of 4G team PM Lee www channelnewsasia com 14 April 2022 Singapore PM Lee Signals Lawrence Wong Becomes New Successor www bloombergquint com 14 April 2022 Lawrence Wong selected as leader of Singapore s PAP 4G team PM Lee sg news yahoo com 14 April 2022 Diane K Mauzy and R S Milne 2002 Singapore Politics Under the People s Action Party Routledge p 41 ISBN 0 415 24653 9 Koh Buck Song 4 April 1998 The PAP cadre system The Straits Times Singapore Archived from the original on 8 January 2018 Retrieved 10 January 2006 Lee Kuan Yew elected as Prime Minister of Singapore AsiaOne 10 September 2009 Archived from the original on 14 February 2011 Retrieved 16 December 2012 About the Leadership HQ Executive Committee People s Action Party Archived from the original on 6 May 2006 Retrieved 10 May 2006 Tan Kenneth Paul 1 January 2007 Renaissance Singapore Economy Culture and Politics Economy Culture and Politics NUS Press pp 162 231 236 ISBN 9789971693770 People s Action Party Central Executive Committee People s Action Party 2 December 2011 Retrieved 25 December 2012 Chan Chun Sing is new Young PAP chairman www asiaone com Retrieved 6 September 2017 Young PAP members Who they are Today 9 December 2000 Retrieved 6 September 2017 Rodan Gary 1996 Political oppositions in industrialising Asia Psychology Press p 101 ISBN 978 0 415 14865 8 Getting out of apathy zone www asiaone com Retrieved 6 September 2017 Young PAP taps S poreans abroad The New Paper Singapore 5 January 2008 More joining Young PAP Zaqy TODAY 8 November 2010 Retrieved 6 September 2017 Mickey Unbound Wired 1 July 1995 Archived from the original on 10 February 2016 Retrieved 6 November 2017 Chen Tommi 14 March 1995 Internet world watches as Young PAP enters cyberspace The Straits Times a b Li Xueying 3 February 2007 PAP moves to counter criticism of party Govt in cyberspace The Straits Times Singapore Want to talk politics TODAY 24 August 2001 Retrieved 6 September 2017 Chang Rachel 18 March 2010 YP to close 2 Facebook pages The Straits Times Retrieved 7 September 2017 See you on Facebook TODAY 9 July 2008 Retrieved 6 September 2017 Au Yong Rachel 14 May 2014 PAP responds to criticisms of viral video by its youth wing The Straits Times Retrieved 6 September 2017 Hussin Mutalib 2004 Parties and Politics A Study of Opposition Parties and the PAP in Singapore Marshall Cavendish Adademic p 20 ISBN 981 210 408 9 Tan Kenneth Paul 2007 Singapore s National Day Rally speech A site of ideological negotiation Journal of Contemporary Asia 37 3 292 308 doi 10 1080 00472330701408635 S2CID 145405958 Ong Justin 28 January 2021 Singapore ranked third as least corrupt country in the world top in Asia Transparency International The Straits Times Retrieved 20 November 2021 a b Heijmans Philip J 8 November 2021 Why Singapore s ruling party easily wins big in every election japantimes co jp Japan Times Retrieved 28 December 2020 Plenty of voters happily support the government and don t see any issues with the electoral system The PAP has a proven track record of improving living standards and eliminating corruption helping transform Singapore from a small trading port into one of the world s wealthiest nations Per capita gross domestic product soared more than 150 times over the past six decades and is now higher than countries like the U S Germany and Australia Roger Kerr 9 December 1999 Optimism for the New Millennium Rotary Club of Wellington North Archived from the original on 7 March 2006 Retrieved 10 May 2006 Christopher Tremewan 1996 The Political Economy of Social Control in Singapore St Anthony s Series Palgrave Macmillan p 105 ISBN 978 0 312 15865 1 Unnatural aristocrats The Economist Archived from the original on 28 July 2018 Retrieved 28 July 2018 Azhar Saeed Chalmers John 6 September 2015 Singapore s rulers hope a nudge to the left will keep voters loyal Reuters Archived from the original on 1 December 2017 Retrieved 21 November 2017 Driven by Growth Political Change in the Asia Pacific Region edited by James W Morley PAP bows out of Socialist International Workers Party of Singapore June 1976 Archived from the original on 17 September 2007 Retrieved 4 October 2009 Main Singapore Party Quits The Socialist International The New York Times 1 June 1976 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 12 March 2023 Our Party People s Action Party Retrieved 8 November 2021 Yap Lim amp Leong 2010 p 55 57 Yap Lim amp Leong 2010 p 99 Yap Lim amp Leong 2010 p 100 Rajah quits as leader of PAP The Straits Times 4 September 1957 Retrieved 9 December 2012 Yap Lim amp Leong 2010 p 111 a b Jayakumar 2021 p 710 a b Jayakumar 2021 p 712 People s Action Party 2022 Central Executive Committee People s Action Party Retrieved 26 November 2022 a b This member was co opted into the CEC on 6 November 2022 a b c d This member was co opted into the CEC on 26 November 2022 Sources Edit BooksGoh Cheng Teik 1994 Malaysia Beyond Communal Politics Pelanduk Publications ISBN 967 978 475 4 Yap Sonny Lim Richard Leong Weng K 2010 Men in White The Untold Story of Singapore s Ruling Political Party Straits Times Press ISBN 9789814266512 Jayakumar Shashi 2021 A History of the People s Action Party 1985 2021 NUS Press ISBN 9789813251281 Online sources Singapore People s Action Party Archived 10 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine Country Studies Series by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress Retrieved 15 July 2020 James Chin The 2015 Singapore Swing Depoliticised Polity and the Kiasi Kiasu Voter Archived 6 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine The Round Table Vol 105 Iss 2 2016 doi 10 1080 00358533 2016 1154383 External links EditPeople s Action Party at Wikipedia s sister projects Definitions from Wiktionary Media from Commons News from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Data from Wikidata Scholia has a profile for People s Action Party Q371395 Official websitePortals Conservatism Politics Singapore Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title People 27s Action Party amp oldid 1147365046, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.