Singapore People's Action Party
In November 1954, the People's Action Party
(
PAP--see Glossary)
was inaugurated at a gathering of 1,500 people in Victoria
Memorial
Hall. The party was formed by a group of British-educated,
middle-
class Chinese who had returned to Singapore in the early
1950s
after studying in Britain. Led by twenty-five-year-old Lee
Kuan
Yew, as secretary general, Toh Chin Chye, Goh Keng Swee,
and S.
Rajaratnam, the party sought to attract a following among
the
mostly poor and non-English-speaking masses. Lee had
served as a
legal adviser to a number of trade unions and, by 1952,
had earned
a reputation for his successful defense of the rights of
workers.
He also helped defend Chinese students arrested during the
1954
student demonstrations protesting national service. Lee, a
fourth-
generation Singaporean, was educated at Raffles
Institution and
Cambridge University, where he took a double first
(first-class
honors in two subjects) in law. Through his work with the
unions
and student groups, Lee had made many contacts with
anticolonialists, noncommunists and communists alike.
Present at the inauguration of the PAP were a number of
noted
communists and procommunists, including Fong Swee Suan and
Devan
Nair, who both joined the new party. Also present were
Malayan
political leaders Tunku Abdul Rahman, president of UMNO,
and Sir
Tan Cheng Lock, president of the Malayan Chinese
Association (MCA).
The PAP proposed to campaign for repeal of the Emergency
regulations, union with Malaya, a common Malayan
citizenship,
Malayanization of the civil service, and free compulsory
education.
Ending colonialism, however, was the first priority of Lee
and the
PAP leadership, although they concluded this could be
accomplished
only with support from the Chinese-educated public and the
communist-controlled trade unions. The PAP, calculating
that a
united front with the communists was necessary to end
colonialism,
declared itself noncommunist, neither pro- nor
anticommunist,
preferring to put off until after independence any
showdown with
the communists.
Meanwhile, two other political parties prepared to
contest the
upcoming election. The Progressive Party, whose leaders
had earned
a reputation as the "Queen's Chinese" for their
procolonial
positions and conservative economic policies, had little
appeal for
the masses of working-class Chinese who were newly
enfranchised to
vote in the 1955 election. Automatic registration of
voters had
increased the electorate from 76,000 in 1951 to more than
300,000.
Shortly before the elections, wealthy and influential
members of
the Chinese Chamber of Commerce formed the new Democratic
Party,
which championed the causes of improved Chinese education,
establishment of Chinese as an official language, and
liberal
citizenship terms for the China-born. Although these
issues
appealed to Singapore's China-born lower classes, this
same group
was disenchanted with the party's conservative economic
platform,
which closely resembled that of the Progressive Party.
Election fever gripped Singapore during the month-long
campaign, and the results of the April 2 contest sent
shock waves
as far as Britain, where it had been expected that the
Progressive
Party would win handily. Surprising even itself, the
Labour Front
won ten of the twenty-five seats and formed a coalition
government
with the UMNO-MCA Alliance, which won three seats. Three
ex-officio
members and two nominated members joined with the
coalition,
forming a group of seventeen in the thirty-two-member
assembly. The
Progressives won only four seats and the Democratic Party
just two,
in a clear rejection of colonial rule and procolonial
politics. The
PAP won three of the four seats it had contested,
including a seat
in one of Singapore's poorest sections won by Lee Kuan Yew
and one
seat won by Lim Chin Siong. Lim had the backing of
organized labor
and led the procommunist wing of the party while Lee led
the
noncommunist wing.
The Labour Front government, with David Marshall as
Singapore's
first chief minister, faced serious problems from the
start. The
communists launched a campaign of strikes and student
unrest in an
attempt to destabilize the government. Only about
one-third of the
275 strikes called in 1955 were for better wages and
working
conditions; the remainder were sympathy strikes or strikes
to
protest imprisonment of labor union officials. Riots broke
out on
May 12 when police attempted to break up an illegal picket
line
formed by striking bus workers and Chinese school
students. Four
people were killed and thirty-one injured in that single
incident,
which became known as "Black Thursday." Although the
government
arrested some students, Marshall eventually backed down
and agreed
to the registration of the Singapore Chinese Middle School
Students' Union because he was in sympathy with the
students'
grievances against the colonial education system. In
registering
their union, the students agreed to the condition that the
union
keep out of politics; the communist leaders of the union,
however,
had no intention of keeping the agreement.
Along with problems with labor and students, Marshall
faced
constant conflict with the colonial government over his
determination not to be a figurehead controlled by the
governor.
When the governor, Sir Robert Black, refused to allow
Marshall to
appoint four assistant ministers, Marshall threatened to
resign
unless Singapore was given immediate self-government under
a new
constitution. The Colonial Office agreed to hold
constitutional
talks, which came to be known as Merdeka (freedom
in Malay)
talks, in London in April 1956. Marshall led to the talks
a
thirteen-man delegation comprising members of all the
legislative
parties and including Lee and Lim Chin Siong. The British
offered
to grant Singapore full internal self-government but
wanted to
retain control over foreign affairs and internal security.
They
proposed a Defence and Internal Security Council, with
three
delegates each from Britain and Singapore, to be chaired
by the
British high commissioner in Singagore, who would have the
casting
ballot (the deciding vote in case of a tie). Marshall had
promised
he would resign if he failed to obtain internal
self-government,
and the talks broke down over the issue of the casting
ballot. The
delegation returned to Singapore, and Marshall resigned in
June and
was succeeded by the deputy chief minister, Lim Yew Hock.
By July the Singapore Chinese Middle Schools Students'
Union
had begun planning a campaign of agitation against the
government.
The Lim Yew Hock government moved first, however,
dissolving seven
communist-front organizations, including the student
union, and
closing two Chinese middle schools. This touched off a
protest sit-
in at Chinese high schools organized by Lim Chin Siong
that ended
in five days of rioting in which thirteen people were
killed.
Troops were brought in from Johore to end the disturbance,
and more
than 900 people were arrested, including Lim Chin Siong,
Fong Swee
Suan, and Devan Nair. The British approved of the
Singapore
government's tough action toward the agitators, and when
Lim Yew
Hock led a delegation to London for a second round of
constitutional talks in March 1957, the Colonial Office
proposed a
compromise on the internal security issue. The Singapore
delegation
accepted a proposal whereby the Internal Security Council
would
comprise three Singaporeans, three Britons, and one
delegate from
what was soon to be the independent Federation of Malaya,
who would
hold the casting ballot. The Singapore delegation returned
to a
hero's welcome; the Legislative Assembly accepted the
proposals,
and a delegation was scheduled to go to London in 1958 for
a third
and final round of talks on the new constitution.
Although the moderates led by Lee Kuan Yew retained
control of
the PAP Central Executive Committee, by 1956 the
procommunists held
sway over the membership and many of the mass
organizations and PAP
branches. At the annual general meeting in August 1957,
the
procommunists won six of the twelve seats on the
committee. Lee
Kuan Yew and the other moderates refused to take office in
order to
avoid becoming front men for the leftists. On August 21,
the Lim
Yew Hock government reacted to the situation by arresting
thirty-
five communists, including five of the new members of the
PAP
Central Executive Committee, some PAP branch officials,
and labor
and student leaders. Lee and the moderates were able to
regain
control of the party and, the following November, amended
the
party's constitution to consolidate moderate control by
limiting
voting for the central executive committee to the full
cadres (full
members), who were literate Singapore citizens over the
age of
twenty-one who had been approved as cadres by the central
executive
committee.
Meanwhile, the Lim Yew Hock government continued to
make
further progress on issues related to Singapore's
self-government.
A Citizenship Ordinance passed in 1957 provided Singapore
citizenship for all born in Singapore or the Federation of
Malaya
and for British citizens of two years' residence;
naturalization
was offered to those who had resided in Singapore for ten
years and
would swear loyalty to the government. The Legislative
Assembly
voted to complete Malayanization of the civil service
within four
years beginning in 1957. The Education Ordinance passed in
1957
gave parity to the four main languages, English, Chinese,
Malay,
and Tamil. By 1958 the Ministry of Education had opened
nearly 100
new elementary schools, 11 new secondary schools, and a
polytechnic
school and set up training courses for Malay and Tamil
teachers.
Lim Yew Hock led the Singapore delegation to the third
round of
constitutional talks in April 1958. The talks resulted in
an
agreement on a constitution for a State of Singapore with
full
powers of internal government. Britain retained control
over
foreign affairs and external defense, with internal
security left
in the hands of the Internal Security Council. Only in the
case of
dire emergency could Britain suspend the constitution and
assume
power. In August 1958, the British Parliament changed the
status of
Singapore from a colony to a state, and elections for the
fifty-
one-member Legislative Assembly were scheduled for May
1959. Voting
was made compulsory for all adult Singapore citizens, but
the
British refused to allow persons with records of
subversive
activity to stand for election. Ten parties contested the
election,
but none was as well organized as the PAP, which under Lee
Kuan Yew
ran a vigorous campaign with huge weekly rallies.
Campaigning on a
platform of honest efficient government, social and
economic
reform, and union with the Federation of Malaya, the PAP
scored a
stunning victory by winning forty-three of the fifty-one
seats. The
badly divided and scandal-ridden Labour Front had
reorganized as
the Singapore People's Alliance, which won four seats,
including
one for Lim Yew Hock. The remaining seats were won by
three UMNO-
MCA Alliance candidates and one independent. Marshall's
Workers'
Party failed to win any seats.
Both foreign and local businesses feared that the PAP
victory
signaled Singapore's slide toward communism, and many
moved their
headquarters to Kuala Lumpur. Lee indeed refused to take
office
until the eight procommunist PAP detainees arrested in
1956 and
1957 were released, and he appointed several of them,
including Lim
Chin Siong, Fong Swee Suan, and Devan Nair, to government
posts.
Lee's closest advisors, however, were moderates Goh Keng
Swee, Toh
Chin Chye, and S. Rajaratnam.
The first task of the new PAP government was to instill
a sense
of unity and loyalty in Singapore's diverse ethnic
populace. A new
national flag, crest, and anthem were introduced, and the
new
Ministry of Culture organized open-air cultural concerts
and other
events designed to bring the three main ethnic groups
together.
Malay, Chinese, Tamil, and English were all made official
languages, but, with its eye on a future merger with
Malaya, the
government made Malay the national language. Considered
the
indigenous people and yet the most disadvantaged, Malays
were
provided with free primary and secondary education.
After national unity, the second most important task
facing the
new government was that of transforming Singapore from an
entrepôt
economy dependent on the Malayan commodity trade with no
tradition
of manufacturing to an industrialized society. A four-year
development plan, launched under Minister of Finance Goh
Keng Swee
in 1961, provided foreign and local investors with such
incentives
as low taxation rates for export-oriented manufactures,
tax
holidays for pioneer industries, and temporary protective
tariffs
against imports. The plan set aside a large area of swamp
wasteland
as an industrial estate in the Jurong area and emphasized
labor-
intensive industries, such as textiles. The overhaul of
Singapore's economy was urgently needed in order to combat
unemployment and pay for badly needed social services. One
of the
most serious problems was the lack of adequate housing. In
1960 the
Housing and Development Board (HDB) was set up to deal
with the
problems of slum clearance and resettlement. Under the
direction of
the banker and industrialist Lim Kim San, the HDB
constructed more
than 20,000 housing units in its first three years. By
1963
government expenditures on education had risen to S$10
million from
S$600,000 in 1960.
Despite the signs of economic progress, the PAP leaders
believed that Singapore's survival depended on merger with
Malaysia. "Major changes in our economy are only possible
if
Singapore and the Federation are integrated as one
economy,"
remarked Goh Keng Swee in 1960. "Nobody in his senses
believes that
Singapore alone, in isolation, can be independent," stated
an
official government publication that same year. The
procommunists
within the party, however, opposed merger because they saw
little
chance of establishing a procommunist government in
Singapore as
long as Kuala Lumpur controlled internal security in the
new state.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the conservative UMNO government
in Kuala
Lumpur, led by Tengku Abdul Rahman, were becoming
increasingly
resistant to any merger with Singapore under the PAP,
which they
considered to be extremely left wing.
Moreover, Malayan leaders feared merger with Singapore
because
it would result in a Chinese majority in the new state.
When a
fiercely contested Singapore by-election in April 1961
threatened
to bring down the Lee Kuan Yew government, however, Tengku
Abdul
Rahman was forced to consider the possibility that the PAP
might be
replaced with a procommunist government, a "Cuba across
the
causeway."
Accordingly, on May 27, 1961, in a speech in Kuala
Lumpur to
the Foreign Correspondents' Association, Tengku Abdul
Rahman made
a surprise proposal of an association of states that would
include
the Federation of Malaya, the British Borneo territories,
and
Singapore. In this proposed Malaysia, the Malay population
of
Sarawak and North Borneo (now Sabah) would offset
numerically the
Singapore Chinese, and the problem of a possible "Cuba
across the
causeway" would be solved.
The proposal, however, led almost immediately to a
split
between the moderate and procommunist forces within the
PAP. In
July Lee demanded and received a vote of confidence on the
issue of
merger from the Legislative Assembly. Following the vote,
Lee
expelled sixteen rebel PAP assemblymen from the party
along with
more than twenty local officials of PAP. In August the
rebel PAP
assemblymen formed a new opposition party, the
Barisan Sosialis
(The Socialist Front--see Glossary)
with Lim Chin Siong as
secretary general. The new party had considerable support
among PAP
local officials as well as at the grass-roots level. Of
the fifty-
one branch committees, thirty-five defected to Barisan,
which also
controlled two-thirds of organized labor.
The battle lines were clearly drawn when Lee Kuan Yew
announced
a referendum on the question of merger to be held in
September
1962. Lee launched a campaign of thirty-six radio
broadcasts in
three languages to gain support for the merger, which was
opposed
by the Barisan Sosialis as a "sell-out." Of the three
merger plans
offered on the referendum, the PAP plan received 70
percent of the
votes, the two other plans less than 2 percent each, and
26 percent
of the ballots were left blank.
Having failed to stop the merger at home, the Barisan
Sosialis
turned its efforts abroad, joining with left-wing
opposition
parties in Malaya, Sarawak, Brunei, and Indonesia. These
parties
were opposed to the concept of Malaysia as a
"neocolonialist plot,"
whereby the British would retain power in the region.
President
Sukarno of Indonesia, who had entertained dreams of the
eventual
establishment of an Indonesia Raya (Greater Indonesia)
comprising
Indonesia, Borneo, and Malaya, also opposed the merger;
and in
January 1963 he announced a policy of
Confrontation
(Konfrontasi-- see Glossary) against the proposed new state. The
Philippines,
having revived an old claim to Sabah, also opposed the
formation of
Malaysia. The foreign ministers of Malaya, Indonesia, and
the
Philippines met in June 1963 in an attempt to work out
some
solution. Malaya agreed to allow the United Nations (UN)
to survey
the people of Sabah and Sarawak on the issue, although it
refused
to be bound by the outcome. Brunei opted not to join
Malaysia
because it was unable to reach agreement with Kuala Lumpur
on the
questions of federal taxation of Brunei's oil revenue and
of the
sultan of Brunei's relation to the other Malay sultans.
Data as of December 1989
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