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Progressive Party | |
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Chinese name | 进步党 Jìnbù Dǎng |
Malay name | Parti Progresif ڤرتي ڤروݢريسيف |
Tamil name | முற்போக்குக் கட்சி Muṟpōkkuk kaṭci |
Founder | Tan Chye Cheng |
Founded | 25 August 1947 |
Dissolved | 10 May 1956 |
Merged into | Liberal Socialist Party |
Succeeded by | Liberal Socialist Party |
Ideology | Reformism |
Colours | Purple |
The Singapore Progressive Party (abbreviation: PP), or simply the Progressive Party, was a political party that was formed on 25 August 1947. It won the 1948 Legislative Assembly general elections with half of the contested seats in the Legislative Assembly, 3 out of 6. At that time, the self-government power of the Legislative Assembly was still rather limited.
The party was founded by three lawyers, namely Tan Chye Cheng, John Laycock and Nazir Ahmad Mallal. All three were educated at the University of London and were three of the six first ever elected legislative councillors in Singapore. The party was Singapore's first political party.
The Progressive Party was heavily backed by and made up of English-speaking upper class professionals. Its campaign ideology was to advocate progressive and gradual reforms, rather than sudden, quick, radical ones, which fell in line with British policy at the time, to slowly let Singapore gain full self-government. This approach was criticised vehemently by David Saul Marshall, leader of the Labour Front who instead wanted rapid reform.
In the Legislative Council, the SPP worked closely with the British Government. The SPP fought for equal treatment with both local and European civil servants, but this did not please the Chinese-educated locals, who were very unhappy with the SPP's Pro-British stance.
In 1951, PP drafted a law for the setting up of a Central Provident Fund, [1] and it was approved by the British government in 1954, this CPF scheme provides financial security for workers in their retirement or for workers who were unable to work, this scheme came into effect in 1955, when David Marshall took office, and even after so many years, the CPF scheme despite having a few revisions and changes, remains in Singapore.
Election | Seats up for Election | Seats contested by Party | Contested seats won | Contested seats lost | Total seats won | Change | Total votes | Share of votes | Swing | Resulting Government | Party Leader |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1948 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 / 6 | 3 | 11,754 | 49.49 / 100 | 49.49% | — | Tan Chye Cheng |
1951 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 6 / 9 | 3 | 11,202 | 45.37 / 100 | 4.12% | — | Tan Chye Cheng |
Election | Seats up for Election | Seats contested by Party | Contested seats won | Contested seats lost | Total seats won | Change | Total votes | Share of votes | Resulting Government | Party Leader |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1948 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 / 1 | 705 | 23.91 / 100 | — | Tan Chye Cheng | |
Election | Seats up for Election | Seats contested by Party | Contested seats won | Contested seats lost | Total seats won | Change | Total votes | Share of votes | Swing | Resulting Government | Party Leader |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1955 | 25 | 22 | 4 | 18 | 4 / 25 | 2 | 38,695 | 24.75 / 100 | 20.62% | Opposition | Tan Chye Cheng |
Election | Seats up for Election | Seats contested by Party | Contested seats won | Contested seats lost | Total seats won | Change | Total votes | Share of votes | Swing |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
April 1949 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 3 | 13 / 18 | 13 | 10,874 | 73.89 / 100 | New Party |
December 1949 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 12 / 18 | 1 | 3,907 | 50.05 / 100 | 23.84% |
1950 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 9 / 18 | 3 | 3,902 | 32.41 / 100 | 17.64% |
1951 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 9 / 18 | 6,729 | 43.20 / 100 | 10.79% | |
1952 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 9 / 18 | 9,637 | 42.88 / 100 | 0.32% | |
1953 | 6 (including 1 unopposed) | 4 | 3 | 1 | 9 / 18 | 8,532 | 40.52 / 100 | 2.36% | |
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The history of the modern state of Singapore dates back to its founding in the early 19th century; however, evidence suggests that a significant trading settlement existed on the island in the 14th century. The last ruler of the Kingdom of Singapura, Parameswara, was expelled by the Majapahit or the Siamese before he founded Malacca. Singapore then came under the Malacca Sultanate and subsequently the Johor Sultanate. In 1819, British statesman Stamford Raffles negotiated a treaty whereby Johor would allow the British to locate a trading port on the island, ultimately leading to the establishment of the Crown colony of Singapore in 1867. Important reasons for the rise of Singapore were its nodal position at the tip of the Malay Peninsula flanked by the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the presence of a natural sheltered harbour, as well as its status as a free port.
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The Colony of Singapore was a Crown colony of the United Kingdom that encompassed what is modern-day Singapore from 1946 to 1958. During this period, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Labuan were also administered from Singapore. Singapore had previously been established as a British colony since 1824, and had been governed as part of the Straits Settlements since 1826. The colony was created when the Straits Settlements was dissolved shortly after the Japanese occupation of Singapore ended in 1945. The power of the British Government was vested in the governor of Singapore. The colony eventually gained partial internal self-governance in 1955, and lasted until the establishment of the State of Singapore in 1958, with full internal self-governance granted in 1959.
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 British. 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.
The Legislative Assembly of the State of Singapore was the legislature of the Government of Singapore from 1955 to 1965 and is the predecessor of the Parliament of Singapore. The Rendel Constitution, proposed in 1953, sought to give the local population more self-governance as the Merdeka independence movement grew. The Constitution took effect upon the conclusion of the 1955 general election, creating the new Legislative Assembly to replace the Legislative Council of Singapore. In contrast to the Legislative Council, the majority of seats in the Legislative Assembly in 1955 were allotted by election rather than appointment by the British colonial government. 25 seats were elected and 7 were appointed. The British colonial government still reserved significant power, such as that of veto and control of certain aspects of the government.
Howe Yoon Chong was a Singaporean politician and civil servant who served as Minister for Defence between 1979 and 1982, and Minister for Health between 1982 and 1985. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Potong Pasir SMC between 1979 and 1984.
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The following lists events that happened during 1955 in Colony of Singapore.
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