1st Parliament of Singapore | |||||
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Overview | |||||
Legislative body | Parliament of Singapore | ||||
Meeting place | Old Parliament House | ||||
Term | 8 December 1965 – 8 February 1968 | ||||
Government | People's Action Party | ||||
Opposition | Barisan Sosialis | ||||
Parliament of Singapore | |||||
Members | 51 | ||||
Speaker | Arumugam Ponnu Rajah (until 1966) Punch Coomaraswamy (from 1966) | ||||
Leader of the House | Toh Chin Chye | ||||
Prime Minister | Lee Kuan Yew | ||||
Leader of the Opposition | Lim Huan Boon (until 1965) Chia Thye Poh (1966) | ||||
Party control | PAP supermajority | ||||
Sessions | |||||
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The 1st Parliament of Singapore was a meeting of the Parliament of Singapore. It commenced its first and only session on 8 December 1965 and was dissolved on 8 February 1968. [1]
The members of the 1st Parliament had been elected in the 1963 general election to the 3rd Legislative Assembly of Singapore, which was renamed as the Parliament of Singapore following Singapore's independence in 1965. Parliament was controlled by a People's Action Party majority, led by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and his Cabinet. The Speakers were A P Rajah and Punch Coomaraswamy. [2]
The Parliament had 12 changes throughout the term, the most for any Parliament to date as of 2024; 11 members from Barisan Sosialis, alongside Fong Kim Heng as the only PAP's MP, were vacated and precipitated a series of elections between 1966 and 1968.
Party | Members | ||
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At start | At dissolution | ||
People's Action Party | 38 | 49 | |
Barisan Sosialis | 13 | 2 | |
Total | 51 | 51 | |
Government majority | 12 | 23 |
This is the list of the members of the 1st Parliament of Singapore on 8 December 1965.
Constituency | Incumbent | Date of by-election | New member | ||||||
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Name | Party | Date seat vacated | Cause of vacancy | Name | Party | ||||
Bukit Merah | Lim Huan Boon | BS | 31 December 1965 | Resignation | 18 January 1966 | Lim Guan Hoo | PAP | ||
Chua Chu Kang | Chio Cheng Thun | BS | 8 January 1966 | Resignation | 1 March 1966 | Tang See Chim | PAP | ||
Paya Lebar | Kow Kee Seng | BS | 8 January 1966 | Resignation | 1 March 1966 | Tay Boon Too | PAP | ||
Crawford | S. Thendayatha Bani | BS | 9 January 1966 | Resignation | 1 March 1966 | Sellappa Ramaswamy | PAP | ||
Bukit Timah | Lee Tee Tong | BS | 7 October 1966 | Resignation | 2 November 1966 | Chor Yeok Eng | PAP | ||
Jurong | Chia Thye Poh | BS | 7 October 1966 | Resignation | 2 November 1966 | Ho Kah Leong | PAP | ||
Joo Chiat | Fong Kim Heng | PAP | 18 October 1966 | Resignation | 2 November 1966 | Yeoh Ghim Seng | PAP | ||
Bukit Panjang | Ong Lian Teng | BS | 5 December 1966 | Resignation | 24 February 1967 | Pathmanaban Selvadurai | PAP | ||
Havelock | Loh Miaw Gong | BS | 5 December 1966 | Resignation | 24 February 1967 | Lim Soo Peng | PAP | ||
Jalan Kayu | Tan Cheng Tong | BS | 5 December 1966 | Resignation | 24 February 1967 | Teo Hup Teck | PAP | ||
Tampines | Poh Ber Liak | BS | 5 December 1966 | Resignation | 24 February 1967 | Chew Chin Han | PAP | ||
Thomson | Koo Young | BS | 5 December 1966 | Resignation | 7 March 1967 | Ang Nam Piau | PAP |
The People's Action Party (PAP) is a major conservative political party of the centre-right in Singapore. It is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in the Parliament of Singapore, alongside the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and the Progress Singapore Party (PSP).
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 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.
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).
Sinnathamby Rajaratnam, better known as S. Rajaratnam, was a Singaporean statesman, journalist and diplomat who served as the first Minister for Foreign Affairs between 1965 and 1980, and 2nd Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore between 1980 and 1985. Rajaratnam is widely recognised as one of the founding fathers of Singapore. He was also one of the founders of the People's Action Party (PAP), which has governed the country continuously since independence.
Toh Chin Chye was a Singaporean statesman and academic who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1968. Toh is widely recognised as one of the founding fathers of Singapore. He was also one of the founders of the People's Action Party (PAP), which has governed the country continuously since independence.
Indranee Thurai Rajah is a Singaporean politician and lawyer who has been serving as Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Finance since 2018, Second Minister for National Development and Leader of the House since 2020. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), she has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Tanjong Pagar–Tiong Bahru division of Tanjong Pagar GRC since 2015.
The coat of arms of Singapore is the heraldic symbol representing the sovereign island country and city-state of Singapore located in maritime Southeast Asia. It was adopted in 1959, the year Singapore attained self-governance from the British Empire, and remains in use after its independence in 1965. The committee that created it, headed by Toh Chin Chye, who was also responsible for the national flag and the national anthem of Singapore.
General elections were held in Singapore on 22 December 1984. President Devan Nair dissolved parliament on 4 December 1984 on the advice of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won 77 of the 79 seats, marking the first time since 1963 that at least one opposition candidate was elected to parliament in a general election, although the first presence of an opposition MP was in the 1981 Anson by-election.
General elections were held in Singapore on 3 September 1988. President Wee Kim Wee dissolved parliament on 17 August 1988 on the advice of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won 80 of the 81 seats. This was the last time Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew led the PAP in an 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.
The Central Executive Committee (CEC) is the highest executive committee within the 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 highest-ranking position in the party.
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. 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.
The 7th Parliament of Singapore was a meeting of the Parliament of Singapore. Its first session commenced on 9 January 1989 and was prorogued on 21 April 1990. Its second session commenced on 7 June 1990 and was prorogued on 29 January 1991. It commenced its third session on 22 February 1991 and was dissolved on 14 August 1991.
The 6th Parliament of Singapore was a meeting of the Parliament of Singapore. Its first session commenced on 25 February 1985 and was prorogued on 27 January 1986. It commenced its second session on 20 February 1986 and was dissolved on 17 August 1988.
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