Barisan Sosialis

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Barisan Sosialis Socialist Front 社会主义阵线
Founded	1961
Dissolved	1988
Merged into	Workers' Party of Singapore
Political position	Left-wing
Colours	Dark blue
Politics of Singapore Political parties Elections

The Barisan Sosialis (Malay for Socialist Front; Chinese: 社会主义阵线) is a former Singaporean left-wing political party formed in 1961, by left-wing members of the People's Action Party (PAP) and led by Dr Lee Siew Choh and Lim Chin Siong.

Formation

The party was formed when the leftist members of the PAP were dismissed by then party leader Lee Kuan Yew. The key event leading to the breakup was the motion of confidence of the government in which 13 PAP assemblymen crossed party lines and abstained from voting. Together with six prominent left-leaning leaders from trade unions, the breakaway members established this new party. At the time of inception, it had popular support rivalling or even superseding that of the PAP. 35 of the 51 branches of PAP and 19 of its 23 organising secretaries went to the Barisan Sosialis.

Key Developments

The leftist Barisan Sosialis was slammed by the PAP as a Communist front and attacked vehemently as being a radical pro-Communist group. The PAP, however, were also shocked by the split- these sentiments were emphasised when PAP member Goh Keng Swee commented on the schism (which, at the time, he clearly believed would end the PAP's dominance) in an interview with Dennis Bloodworth :

“…what shook us was not that we had lost the fight to the Communists but it was done with such contemptuous ease: one flick of the hand, and we were down on the floor”.

Nevertheless, many Barisan Sosialis members did have (to varying extents) admiration and belief in the leftist ideals of Communism as well as Socialism due to the influence of Communist China. This communist orientation was used by the PAP to damage their reputation and viability in the Singaporean context.

Merger Issue

Main article: Singaporean national referendum, 1962

Barisan Sosialis disagreed with the 1962 planned merger to form Malaysia, for two solid main reasons. To begin with, it was believed that if Singapore joined the Malaysian Federation, the anti-Communist Malaysian government (UMNO) would be much harsher (on communists) than the existing Singapore government- this was, in fact, to the benefit of the PAP's anti-communist intents as a whole. In the referendum deciding the merger, none of three options provided for voting were against merger. The Barisan Sosialis called on its supporters to cast blank votes in protest, in which roughly 25% did. However, this attempt was circumvented by the PAP, which proceeded to count all blank votes as a vote for a loosely federal autonomous position for Singapore within Malaysia. Besides that, Barisan Sosialis also felt that the terms of Singapore's membership in the Malaysian Federation were not fair to Singaporean citizens. According to a clause of the White Paper of 1962, Singapore-born citizens (residents of Singapore) would be granted automatic citizenship in the Malaysian Federation but would have to apply for other documents (for example passports, certificates) by themselves.

Operation Cold Store and the 1963 Election

Main articles: Operation Coldstore and Singaporean general election, 1963

In February 1963, many members of Barisan Sosialis were arrested during the enactment of Operation Coldstore by the ISD. Despite that, in the 1963 state elections, the Barisan Sosialis won 13 out of 51 seats, becoming the second largest as well as the leading opposition party. Barisan Sosialis as a party was unsatisfied with the result, however, as victory had been expected. Additionally, partly because of a split in the opposition votes, only 14 seats were won in total (including one from the United People's Party) despite earning 53% of popular support. After the elections, in a series of 'anti-Communist' and 'anti-subversion' activities, the Internal Security Department would continue to arrest members of the Barisan Sosialis, including MPs. One famous example is Chia Thye Poh, an MP who was imprisoned without trial in 1965 and only released in 1998 as one of the longest-serving political prisoners in the world. Even then, his current conditions of release effectively bar him from participating in any politically related activities. Chia was consistently labelled as a Communist by the PAP, which supports their claims with testimonies from 2 ex-members of the underground Malayan Communist Party. Chia, however, has maintained throughout his imprisonment and afterwards that he is a prisoner of conscience.

Decline

After Singapore's independence from Malaysia, the party's members of parliament began resigning one by one in 1966. Though the Barisan Sosialis' official position was to 'take the fight to the streets', its morale was already eroding due to its failure to stop the merger. In the by-elections for these vacant seats, the PAP had a clean sweep. Calls for blank ballots by the Barisan Sosialis went unheeded. By 1968, there were no opposition members of parliament and it was 13 years before an opposition party won a single seat during the Anson by-election of 1981.

In an election rally in 1980, party chairman Dr Lee Siew Choh apologised to the voters for Barisan Sosialis's actions in 1966. In 1988, the Barisan Sosialis was officially dissolved and its members, led by Dr Lee Siew Choh, joined the Workers' Party of Singapore.

Notes

^ Bloodworth, Dennis. (1986). The Tiger and the Trojan Horse, Singapore: Times Books International, 1986.