People's Action Party
Categories: Political parties in Singapore | Social Democratic parties
- This article is about the People's Action Party of Singapore. For other groups with the same name, see People's Action Party (disambiguation).
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The People's Action Party (PAP) is a political party in Singapore. The party was formed in 1954 by English-educated middle-class men who had returned from Britain. PAP first contested the legislative elections (25 of 32 seats were allowed to be elected) of 1955, winning three seats, one by Lee Kuan Yew. PAP has controlled the Singapore government since the party won the first full general elections of 1959, winning all or vast majority seats of every general election.
Between 1963 and 1965, Singapore was a part of Malaysia and PAP functioned as a Malaysian party. However, the prospect that PAP might rule Malaysia upset PAP relations with UMNO and the Malay nationalist belief in the Tanah Melayu. The clash of personalities between Lee Kuan Yew and the Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman resulted in an ensuing crisis and led to Singapore's separation from Malaysia in 1965. Upon independence, PAP ceased operations outside of Singapore.
Because almost all professional politicians in Singapore are members of the People's Action Party, PAP has held the overwhelming majority of seats in Parliament since 1966, when the opposition Barisan Sosialis Party (Socialist Front), a left-wing group that split from PAP in 1961, resigned from Parliament, leaving PAP as the sole representative party. In the general elections of 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1980, PAP won all of the seats in an expanding parliament. After that, opposition parties could win at least 1 or 2 seats.
Adopting a traditionalist Leninist party organization together with a vanguard cadre from its communist-leaning faction the PAP Executive later expelled the leftist faction, bringing the ideological basis of the party into the centre, and later in the 60s, moving further to the right. Deeply suspicious of communist political ideologies although it onced allied with the communists against colonialism in Singapore during the party's early years, it has since considered itself subscribing to social democratic ideologies.
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Political and social control
While "safeguarding the freedom, and advancing the well-being, of Singaporeans through a representative and democratic government" is an objective of the party as per its constitution [1], its moves in consolidating power and eradicating its political rivals in the Singaporean political landscape is often considered authoritarian by liberalists largely based in the west. The use of the judicial system in sueing opposition members for libel, the imprisonment of opposition political leaders without trial, its widely-perceived control of the press and media, and the need for police permits to hold any kind of public talk, exhibition, or demonstration are commonly-cited examples to support this view.
One example of such oppression is all demonstrations against the 2003 Iraq war withered due to lack of demonstration permits registered by the demonstrators. The leading newspaper of Singapore, the Straits Times is often perceived as a propaganda newspaper because it rarely criticises of government policy, and covers little about the opposition. The PAP is alleged to commit gerrymandering, the redrawing of electoral districts before general elections to ensure that most of the districts elect PAP candidates. Both the Housing Development Board (in charge of public housing) and Land Transport Authority (in charge of public transit) have based the provision of their services on the voting of individual districts.
Leadership
For many years the party was led by Lee Kuan Yew, who was prime minister from 1959 to 1990. The current prime minister, and secretary general of PAP, is Lee Hsien Loong who succeeded Goh Chok Tong on 12 August, 2004. Lee Hsien Loong is the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew.
PAP's Election results
1955: won 3 of 25 elected seats, % NA.(PAP began in opposition with Lee Kuan Yew as opposition leader. The Labour Front won 13 seats and was the governing party.)
1959: won 43 of 51 seats, with 53% of the vote (since 1959, voting in Singapore has been compulsory).
1963: won 37 of 51 seats, with 47% of the vote (opposition votes were spilt between the Barisan Sosialis Party and the United People's Party).
1968: won all of the seats, with 84% of the vote.
1972: won all of the seats, with 69% of the vote.
1976: won all of the seats, with 72% of the vote.
1980: won all of the seats, with 77% of the vote.
1984: won all except 2 seats, with 65% of the vote.
1988: won 80 of 81 seats, with 63% of the vote.
1991: won 36 of 40 contested seats, with 61% of the vote.
1997: won 34 of 36 contested seats, with 65% of the vote.
2001: won 25 of 27 contested seats, with 75% of the vote.
See also
External link
id:Partai Aksi Rakyat ms:Parti Tindakan Rakyat nl:People's Action Party (Singapore) ja:人民行動党 zh:新加坡人民行动党