Singapore general election, 1959
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The 1959 Singapore legislative assembly general election was a general election held in Singapore on 30 May 1959 to choose the members of the Legislative Assembly of Singapore. Under the Constitution of Singapore in 1959, the members of Legislative Assembly was fully determined by the population of Singapore, and the political party who won the majority of the assembly seats would form the ruling government, much like the modern Parliament of Singapore. Candidates were nominated on 25 April 1959 and the actual polls were held on 30 May. The People's Action Party (PAP) eventually won the general election in a landslide, winning 43 out of 51 seats.
The 1959 general election was the PAP's first victory in terms of being the ruling party of Singapore. Presently it continues to be the ruling party of Singapore, and has never lost control of the Singaporean legislature since the 1959 elections. It was the first election after which Singapore officially achieved self rule.
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[edit] An election of firsts
The 1959 general election was also the first election to be held since full internal self-government was granted by the British Empire, which Singapore was part of at the time. Compulsory voting was also implemented for the first time.
Singapore was not fully independent, as the British still controlled external affairs such as the military and foreign relations. However, Singapore was now a recognised state and the entire Legislative Assembly for the first time was wholly determined by the local population. Previously under the Rendel Constitution, which was a 1955 reform of the Constitution of Singapore, the legislature and its leaders could not fully be determined by the population. The British government instead appointed 7 of the 33 total members, although the rest was by election with limited suffrage. This itself was an improvement from the pre-1955 Legislative Council of Singapore when only 6 out of over twenty members were elected.
[edit] Campaign issues and platforms
[edit] Discontent with the Labour Front
The ruling party at the time was the Labour Front, which had won the general election of 1955. David Saul Marshall, who headed the Labour Front in 1955 and was chosen as Chief Minister, had since resigned in 1956. By 1959, the Labour Front was in turmoil, although they had been very successful at campaigning in 1955. Much of the issues resounded around the topic of independence as well as political issues such as the communist insurgency led by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) which had been causing the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960).
During the 1955 election, the PAP protested against the existence of appointed members as set forth by the Rendel Constitution, and become the main opposition party following the election, and the Singapore Progressive Party (SPP) which had been one of the most dominant parties in the 1948 election and the 1951 election had become increasingly displaced at this point. The desire for independence and self-government epitomised by the Malay term Merdeka, had started to become immediate. This was reflected when the cry of "We want Merdeka now!" was taken up by those demanding immediate independence. The SPP fell out of favour as it was perceived by much of the electorate by working for reform too slowly.
David Marshall was vocally anti-British and anti-colonialist, and the British found it difficult to come to an agreement or a compromise. Eventually after failing to reach any agreement about a definite plan for self-government he resigned in 1956, following a pledge that he would achieve self-government or resign. Lim Yew Hock, another Labour Front member, took his place. He pursued an aggressive anti-communist campaign and manage to convince the British to make a definite plan for self-government. The Constitution of Singapore was revised accordingly in 1958, replacing the Rendel Constitution with one that granted Singapore self-government and the ability for its own population to fully elect its Legislative Assembly.
However, Lim's tactics against the communists alienated a large part of the Singaporean Chinese electorate, the demographics which was targeted most during the anti-communist campaign. There were also allegations of a violation of civil rights issues as many activists were detained without trial with the justification of internal security and tear gas were used against demonstrating students from several Chinese schools, both anti-colonialist and anti-communist alike.
[edit] Campaign of the People's Action Party
The People's Action Party made an election issue out of the harsh repression by Lim Yew Hock. The PAP was left-wing at the time and attracted many sympathisers. In addition to many left-wing members, there were also many centrist members and a handful of right-wing members at the time. The party was thus able to attract support from a large and diverse electorate.
The PAP pursued an aggressive election campaign which included large rallies and door-to-door campaigning. As the Labour Front government was rife with corruption and perceived misdealing, the PAP capitalised on this by promoting a "corruption-free" image, and its members' white robes were to signify the purity that the PAP declared it had in contrast to the Labour Front. The name of the PAP promising "action" and reform went along with this portrayal. Already a formidable faction at the 1955 general elections, the PAP grew exceptionally popular.
[edit] Results
The voter turnout for the election was 527,919 out of a total 586,098 voters, or 92.9% of the total eligible voters. This was a huge turnout, especially when compared to the 1955 general election in which only 158,075 of 300,199 voters turned out, or 52.7% of the total eligible voters. There were two historical attributions for this. One was the implementation of compulsory voting, the other the removal of suffrage restrictions that had previously limited voting rights to those born in Singapore, or those who had lived there for a certain amount of time.
Over 51 seats were available for contesting during the election, which was almost a 50% increase from the total seats at the 1955 general election, and more than double of the seats if only elected seats are considered. In contrast to the elections that would follow in the future after the 1963 general election, there were no walkovers.
| Parties and alliances | Leader | Contested seats |
Seats won | Popular vote | % | +/- | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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People's Action Party | Lee Kuan Yew | 51 | 43 | 281,891 | 54.1% | +45.4% |
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Singapore People's Alliance | Lim Yew Hock | 39 | 4 | 107,755 | 20.7% | - |
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United Malays National Organisation: | Tunku Abdul Rahman | 8 | 3 | 27,448 | 5.3% | - |
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Liberal Socialist Party | E. H. Holloway | 32 | 0 | 42,805 | 8.2% | - |
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Workers' Party | David Saul Marshall | 3 | 0 | 4,127 | 0.8% | - |
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Labour Front | Francis Thomas | 3 | 0 | 3,414 | 0.7% | -26.4% |
| Independents | 34 | 1 | 35,341 | 6.8% | -2.9% | ||
| other | - | - | - | 25,138 | 4.2% | - | |
| Total | 51 | 527,919 | 92.9% | ||||
| Invalid votes | 6,648 | 1.3% | |||||
| Did not vote | 58,179 | 7.1% | |||||
| Total voting electorate | 586,098 | 100.0% | |||||
[edit] Legacy
With the successful conclusion of the election, all the members of the Parliament were now elected, and thus achieved full consent of the governed. The PAP as ruling party was able to form a new government of Singapore on 3 June 1959 that was fully elected which could now adopt domestic policy without oversight from the colonial administration. The United Kingdom still however controlled the military forces, foreign affairs and had a joint responsibility in internal security under agreement. However, the year of the conclusion of the elections and the formation of the new government — 1959 — is generally the date specified by historians for the achievement of self-government for Singapore, even though the Constitution had been amended in 1958.
Before taking over the governance of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew secured the release of several PAP members, including left-wing leader Lim Chin Siong, who were arrested under the Emergency Regulation in 1956 and 1957. During the election campaign, Lee had advocated for their release as part of his election platform, and thus was able to mobilise the support of many trade union members.
After their release, Lim Chin Siong and his affiliates would later challenge Lee's leadership in the PAP, leading the expulsion of most of the left-wing members from the PAP in 1961. The expelled members formed the Barisan Sosialis, and would contest the 1963 general elections against the PAP. Although having been crippled by Operation Coldstore, they put up a fight that to date, is the only election that threatened to remove the PAP from power while it was an existing ruling party. It however lost and went into a decline, affirming the PAP as ruling party.
[edit] External links
- Singapore elections: 1959
- Documentation of the districts for Singapore during the 1959 elections
- David Marshall and Merdeka
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