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12 votes from the Central Executive Committee of PAP (excluding Chairman) | ||||||||||||||||
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This is the only Prime Ministerial Election in Singapore history. The People's Action Party Central Executive Committee met on the victory of the 1959 Singaporean general election to elect a Prime Minister. [1] At the end of the election, Lee Kuan Yew won by a mere 1 vote, that was voted by the then party Chairman Toh Chin Chye
1. Lee Kuan Yew, Secretary-General of People's Action Party
On 12 November 1954, Lee, together with a group of fellow English-educated middle-class men whom he himself described as "beer-swilling bourgeois", formed the 'socialist' People's Action Party (PAP) in an expedient alliance with the pro-communist trade unionists. This alliance was described by Lee as a marriage of convenience, since the English-speaking group needed the Chinese-speaking pro-communists' mass support base while the communists needed a non-communist party leadership as a 'smoke-screen' because the Malayan Communist Party was illegal. At that time, almost 70% of Singapore spoke Chinese and various Chinese dialects as their native tongues, and those who speak English as their native tongue only comprised 20% or so of the population. They were therefore, a minority. [2]
Their common aim was to agitate for self-government and put an end to British colonial rule.
An inaugural conference was held at the Victoria Memorial Hall, attended by over 1,500 supporters and trade unionists. Lee became secretary-general, a post he held until 1992, save for a brief period in 1957. [2]
2. Ong Eng Guan, Treasurer
A staunch anti-communist, he was a Chinese-educated orator who was one of the pioneer members of the People's Action Party (PAP) Ong was well-known among the Chinese community in Singapore, In the 1957 City Hall Elections, he was elected mayor after the PAP won 13 out of 32 seats contested, and due to the other opposition parties dividing themselves over the remaining 19 seats, the PAP gained the majority.
Ong's anti-colonial stance shocked the British government and every City Council meetings then were considered entertainment for the spectators there. Ong continued to be in helm over the city council for two years until when the PAP gained control over Singapore in 1959, when the council was scrapped.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | Percentage (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee Kuan Yew |  People's Action Party | 6+C | 50.00 | |
| Ong Eng Guan | People's Action Party | 6 | 50.00 | |
| Valid votes | 12 | 100.00 | ||
| Rejected votes | 0 | 0.00 | ||
| Total vote cast | 12 | 100.00 | ||
Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean statesman and lawyer who served as Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990, and is recognised as the nation's founding father. He was one of the founders of the People's Action Party, which has ruled the country continuously since independence.
The People's Action Party is a major conservative centre-right political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in parliament, alongside the Workers' Party (WP) and the Progress Singapore Party (PSP).
Ong Teng Cheong was a Singaporean architect, politician, former Deputy Prime Minister and served as the fifth president of Singapore from 1 September 1993 to 31 August 1999.
Barisan Sosialis is a defunct political party in Singapore. It was formed on 29 July 1961 and officially registered on 13 August 1961 by left-wing members of the People's Action Party (PAP) who had been expelled from the PAP. The prominent founding members of the Barisan were Dr Lee Siew Choh and Lim Chin Siong. It became the biggest opposition party in Singapore in the 1960s and the 1980s. The main objectives of the Barisan included eradicating colonialism, establishing a united independent and democratic Malayan nation comprising the Federation of Malaya and Singapore and introducing an economic system to promote prosperity and stability in society. The party was merged into the Workers' Party of Singapore in 1988.
Lim Chin Siong was a leftwing politician. He is one of the founders of the ruling People's Action Party with Lee Kuan Yew, S. Rajaratnam, Toh Chin Chye.
Operation Coldstore, sometimes spelled Operation Cold Store, was the code name for a covert security operation carried out in Singapore on 2 February 1963 which led to the arrest of 113 people, who were detained without trial under the Preservation of Public Service Security Ordinance (PSSO). In official accounts, the operation was a security operation "aimed at crippling the Communist open front organisation," which threatened Singapore's internal security. The operation was authorised by the Internal Security Council which was composed of representatives from the British, Singapore and Malayan Federal governments.
A referendum on the terms of integration into the Federation of Malaysia was held in Singapore on 1 September 1962.
Haji Omar Lim Yew Hock was a Singaporean and Malaysian politician of Chinese descent, who served as a Member of the Legislative Council and Assembly from 1948 to 1963, and the second Chief Minister of Singapore from 1956 to 1959.
General elections were held in Singapore on 21 September 1963. The elections saw the Malaysian ruling party, United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), backed with Singapore Alliance Party (SAP) in an attempt to oust the People's Action Party (PAP), after violating previous agreement not to do so and a highlight in the relations between UMNO and the PAP. However, the result was a victory for the PAP, which won 37 of the 51 seats in the Singapore Legislative Assembly. The 1963 election was the only election to date with no boundary changes to any of the 51 existing constituencies.
The 1964 Singapore Riots refer to a series of communal race-based civil disturbances between the Malays and Chinese in Singapore following its merger with Malaysia in 1963, and were considered to be the "worst and most prolonged in Singapore’s postwar history". The term is also used to refer specifically to two riots on 21 July 1964 and 2 September 1964, particularly the former, during which 23 people died and 454 others suffered severe injuries.
Ong Pang Boon, DUNU , is a former politician in Singapore who was a prominent first-generation member of the People's Action Party (PAP).
Toh Chin Chye was a Singaporean politician. He was one of the founders of the ruling People's Action Party with Lee Kuan Yew, Lim Chin Siong and S. Rajaratnam.
General elections were held in Singapore on 30 May 1959. They were held under the new constitution and the first in which all 51 seats in the Legislative Assembly were elected. This was the first election victory for the People's Action Party (PAP), as they won a landslide victory with 43 seats, and the party has since remained in power after the elections.
The self-governance of Singapore was carried out in several stages. Since the founding of Singapore in 1819, Singapore had been under the colonial rule of the United Kingdom. The first local elections on a limited scale for several positions in the government of Singapore started in 1948 following an amendment to the Constitution of Singapore.
Singapore, officially the State of Singapore, was one of the 14 states of Malaysia from 1963 to 1965. Malaysia was formed on 16 September 1963 by the merger of the Federation of Malaya with the former British colonies of North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore. This marked the end of a 144-year British rule in Singapore which began with the founding of modern Singapore by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819. At the time of merger, it was the smallest state in the country by land area.
Ong Eng Guan was a Hokkien Singaporean politician. An anti-communist, he was a Chinese-educated orator who was one of the pioneer members of the People's Action Party (PAP). Ong was well-known among the Chinese community in Singapore. He was elected to the City Council of Singapore and became to date the first and only duly elected mayor of Singapore in the 21 December 1957 fully elected City Council Election, after the PAP won 13 out of 32 City Council seats.
Eu Chooi Yip was a prominent member of the anti-colonial and Communist movements in Malaya and Singapore in the 1950s and 60s. Eu Chooi Yip was born in Kuantan, Malaysia.
In 1961, 2 by-elections were held in Singapore. The first by-election was held on 29 April and the nomination day was held on 11 March while the second by-election was held on 15 July with the nomination day held on 10 June.
The Central Executive Committee (CEC) is the highest ruling committee within Singapore's People's Action Party (PAP) and its "inner circle". The internal concentration of power in the PAP is vested in the CEC, headed by the secretary general, the PAP's internally most powerful position.
The University Socialist Club was a left-wing student group active from 1953 to 1971 that played an important role in the politics of colonial Malaya and post-colonial Malaysia and Singapore. Members of the club played a significant role in bringing about independence from Britain and in debates over the shape of the post-colonial nation. The club was instrumental in the formation and early success of the PAP and later, the Barisan Sosialis Party. Prominent members of the Club included Wang Gungwu, S.R. Nathan, Poh Soo Kai, Sydney Woodhull, Lim Hock Siew, and Tommy Koh and M. K. Rajakumar.
| General elections | |
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| By-elections | |
| Presidential elections | |
| Local elections | |
| Referendums | |
‡ uncontested | |
