1965 Hong Lim by-election

Last updated
1965 Hong Lim by-election
Flag of Singapore.svg
  1961 10 July 1965 1966  
Registered11,837
Turnout10,858 (91.73%) Decrease2.svg 3.77%
 Majority partyMinority party
 
Candidate Lee Khoon Choy Ong Chang Sam
Party PAP BS
Popular vote6,3984,346
Percentage59.55%40.45%
SwingIncrease2.svg 26.28%Increase2.svg 19.87%

Assemblyman before election

Ong Eng Guan
UPP

Elected Assemblyman

Lee Khoon Choy
PAP

The by-election was held on 10 July 1965, with the nomination day held on 30 June 1965. Merely a month before Singapore's separation from Malaysia and independence, UPP chief, and the party's sole Assembly Member Ong Eng Guan resigned his seat and retired from politics, triggering a by-election.

Contents

Background

This last Legislative Assembly election became a straight fight between Singapore's two main parties, the People's Action Party (PAP) and Barisan Sosialis (BS), and both fielded former PAP AMs as candidates. The PAP was by then a full national party with a presence in Malaysia, despite winning only one seat of the 11 it contested in the federal election of 1964.

After Singapore was ejected from the Federation, PAP's only Malaysian legislator, Devan Nair, converted the party's extension into the Peninsular Malaysia into the Democratic Action Party (DAP), replacing the "thunderflash" in the PAP's symbol with a "rocket", but a few years later he quit Malaysia politics and returned to Singapore. The DAP remains a political party in Malaysia to this day, being as of 2019 part of the Pakatan Harapan coalition.

Historical significance

This was the last Legislative Assembly election to see a straight fight between the PAP and BS.

The following year, BS withdrew all its members from parliament; it went on to boycott the next election, in 1968.

Election deposit

The election deposit was set at $500.

Results

By-election 10 July 1965: Hong Lim
CandidatePartyVotes%+/–
Lee Khoon Choy People's Action Party 6,39859.55+26.2
Ong Chang Sam Barisan Sosialis 4,34640.45+19.9
Total10,744100.00
Valid votes10,74498.95
Invalid/blank votes1141.05
Total votes10,858100.00
Registered voters/turnout11,83791.73+0.7
Majority2,05219N/A
People's Action Party gain from United People's Party

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's Action Party</span> Political party in Singapore

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 opposition Workers' Party (WP) and Progress Singapore Party (PSP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Malays National Organisation</span> National political party in Malaysia

The United Malays National Organisation ; abbreviated UMNO or less commonly PEKEMBAR, is a nationalist right-wing political party in Malaysia. As the oldest continuous national political party within Malaysia, UMNO has been known as Malaysia's "Grand Old Party".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Action Party</span> Malaysian political party

The Democratic Action Party is a centre-left social democratic political party in Malaysia. As one of four component parties of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, it formed the federal government after defeating Barisan Nasional in the 2018 Malaysian general election, ending the party's 53 year-long stay in the opposition. However, before the coalition finished its first term, defections from partnering parties caused it to lose power after 22 months, culminating in the 2020 Malaysian political crisis. At the 2022 Malaysian general election, the PH coalition which the DAP was part of was returned to power again, albeit without a majority, leading it to form a unity government with political rivals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barisan Sosialis</span> Political party in Singapore

Barisan Sosialis was a 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 Lee Siew Choh and Lim Chin Siong. It became the biggest opposition party in Singapore in the 1960s and the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in Singapore</span> Overview of elections in Singapore

There are currently two types of elections in Singapore: parliamentary and presidential elections. According to the Constitution of Singapore, general elections for Parliament must be conducted within three months of the dissolution of Parliament, which has a maximum term of five years from the first sitting of Parliament, and presidential elections are conducted every six years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lim Chin Siong</span> Singaporean politician (1933–1996)

Lim Chin Siong was a Singaporean politician and union leader active in Singapore in the 1950s and 1960s. He was one of the founders of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), which has governed the country continuously since independence. Lim also used his popularity to galvanise many trade unions in support of the PAP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lim Yew Hock</span> Malaysian politician

Lim Yew Hock was a Singaporean-born Malaysian politician and diplomat who served as Chief Minister of Singapore between 1956 and 1959. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Cairnhill between 1959 and 1963 and previously a Member of the Legislative Council and later Legislative Assembly between 1948 and 1963. He was the 2nd de facto Leader of the Opposition between 1959 and 1963. He and his family elected to take up Malaysian citizenship after Singapore's independence from Malaysia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1963 Singaporean general election</span>

General elections were held in Singapore on 21 September 1963, five days after Singapore became part of Malaysia. Voters elected all 51 members of the Legislative Assembly. The elections were the only ones to date with no boundary changes to any existing constituencies prior to the elections. The result was a victory for the People's Action Party (PAP), which won 37 of the 51 seats, while the majority of the remaining seats were won by Barisan Sosialis (BS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Singapore People's Alliance</span> Former Political party in Singapore

The Singapore People's Alliance was a political coalition in Singapore founded in 1958, comprising the Labour Front and Liberal Socialist Party. It has never won any seats in the Parliament of Singapore. However, the party did win 4 seats to the Singaporean Legislative Assembly in the general election of 1959 under the leadership of former Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock, with a popular vote of 107,755 or 20.7% of the total number of votes. Following the election, the Liberal Socialist Party merged into it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Singapore Alliance Party</span> Political party in Singapore

The Singapore Alliance Party, or simply the Singapore Alliance, was a political coalition formed on 2 June 1961 that contested several elections in Singapore, notably the 1955 Elections of Singapore and the 1963 Elections of Singapore. It consisted of the local branch of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the Malay Union, the local chapters of the Malayan Chinese Association and the Malayan Indian Congress, and former Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock's Singapore People's Alliance (SPA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1959 Singaporean general election</span>

General elections were held in Singapore on 30 May 1959. They were held under the new constitution and were the first in which all 51 seats in the Legislative Assembly were filled by election. This was the first election victory for the People's Action Party (PAP), as they won a landslide victory with 43 seats. The party has remained in power ever since.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self-governance of Singapore</span> Historical progress from UK colony (1819) to sovereign state (1965)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Singapore in Malaysia</span> 1963–1965 Singaporean statehood in Malaysia

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 the 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, but the largest by population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ong Eng Guan</span> Singaporean politician

Ong Eng Guan was a Singaporean politician who served as Minister for National Development between 1959 and 1960. An anti-communist, Ong was a Chinese-educated orator who became popular among the Chinese community in Singapore. He was also one of the pioneering members of the governing People's Action Party (PAP). He was elected into the City Council of Singapore and became the first and only elected mayor in Singapore's history after the 1957 City Council election.

Two by-elections were held in 1961. The first by-election, for the Hong Lim constituency, was held on 29 April with the nomination day held on 11 March, while the second by-election, for the Anson constituency, was held on 15 July with the nomination day held on 10 June.

Chen Man Hin was a Chinese-born Malaysian politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Seremban from September 1974 to April 1982 and again from November 1983 to October 1990, Seremban Timor from May 1969 to September 1974 and Member of the Negeri Sembilan State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Rahang from December 1965 to April 1982. He was a founding member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), presently a component party of the Pakatan Harapan (PH), formerly Pakatan Rakyat (PR), Barisan Alternatif (BA) and Gagasan Rakyat (GR) opposition coalitions. He served as the 1st Life Advisor of DAP from December 1999 to his death in August 2022 as well as the 1st and founding National Chairman of DAP from its founding in March 1966 to his resignation in December 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Penang state election</span> 12th state election of Penang, held on 8 March 2008

The 12th Penang election was held on 8 March 2008. Polling took place in 40 constituencies throughout the State of Penang, with each electing a State Assemblyman to the Penang State Legislative Assembly. The election was conducted by the Malaysian Election Commission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Balakong by-election</span> Malaysian state legislative by-election

A by-election was held on 8 September 2018 for the Selangor State Legislative Assembly seat of Balakong. The seat became vacant after the death of the incumbent assemblyman, Eddie Ng Tien Chee on 20 July 2018 in a traffic accident on the Cheras–Kajang Expressway. Eddie Ng was a member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of the state ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition. This was the second casual vacancy in the Assembly since the May 2018 general election after Sungai Kandis, which held a by-election in August 2018. The by-election will be held on the same day as the Seri Setia by-election. In the last 2018 general election, Ng defeated Barisan Nasional (BN)'s Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) candidate, Lim Chin Wah and Mohamad Ibrahim Ghazali of Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), with a vote majority of 35,538.

The 3rd Legislative Assembly of Singapore was a meeting of the Legislative Assembly of Singapore. Its first and only session started on 22 October 1963 and ended on 16 June 1965. The assembly was dissolved on 9 August 1965 and was succeeded by the 1st Parliament of Singapore.

References