Background
In June 1960, Ong Eng Guan submitted 16 resolutions to the People's Action Party's (PAP) Central Executive Committee criticising the leadership, open disputes with his Cabinet colleagues, including over the abolishment of the City Council, resulting in his dismissal from the cabinet. He was later expelled from the party, alongside S. V. Lingam and Ng Teng Kian on 27 July. [1] [2]
On 29 December 1960, Ong resigned from the Legislative Assembly, compelling the government to call a by-election. [3] Ong contested as an independent candidate and won, defeating PAP's Jek Yeun Thong despite the party's leadership actively campaigning for Jek. Ong's victory highlighted his enduring popularity.
On 20 April, nine days prior to the first by-election polling, another seat was vacated following the death of Anson's MP Baharuddin Mohammed Ariff. Workers' Party founder David Marshall, who was also a former Labour Front chief minister, would contest the seat.
Aftermath
Ong's landslide victory was attributed to his popularity with Hong Lim voters and his oratory skills. Incidentally, the PAP candidate Jek Yeun Thong was Ong's secretary during his time as Mayor in the City Council. Ong would form the United People's Party along with the two members on 18 June and would remain in his seat until his retirement in July 1965. However, following disagreements from the party, Lingam was later reinstated to PAP on 8 July 1962.
Marshall's victory marked the first WP presence in the legislature and the return to the Assembly since his resignation from the Labour Front in 1956; however, he lost his re-election bid in 1963. Anson would not elect another WP candidate again until two decades later in 1981, where Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam claimed the seat.
Two days after the Anson by-election, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew tendered his resignation and handed his role to the party's chairman Toh Chin Chye, who declined. Three days later, Lee then moved a motion of confidence in his own government; eight assembly members (AM) opposed the motion (which include David Marshall and members of the Singapore People's Alliance), while 16 abstained (which include the three members of Ong Eng Guan's UPP). [6]
Lee then expelled the 13 PAP members, who perceived that these members who abstained the vote were allegedly pro-communist and disdain loyalty to his government; these members then formed the far left Barisan Sosialis (BS). The party reduced its majority of seats to one, and would lose its government majority on 3 July 1962, ahead of the year's integration referendum, where Ho Puay Choo defected to BS, and the death of Ahmad Ibrahim on 13 July.
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