- formed by a group of British-educated, middle- class Chinese who had returned to Singapore in the early 1950s after studying in Britain
- led by twenty-five-year-old Lee Kuan Yew, as secretary general, Toh Chin Chye, Goh Keng Swee, and S. Rajaratnam
- 2nd elections in May 1959
- Voting was made compulsory for all adult Singapore citizens, but the British refused to allow persons with records of subversive activity to stand for election
- PAP, which under Lee Kuan Yew ran a vigorous campaign with huge weekly rallies
- scored a stunning victory by winning forty-three of the fifty-one seats.
- first task of the new PAP government was to instill a sense of unity and loyalty in Singapore's diverse ethnic populace
- new national flag, crest, and anthem were introduced, and the new Ministry of Culture organized open-air cultural concerts and other events designed to bring the three main ethnic groups together
- the second most important task facing the new government was that of transforming Singapore from an entrepôt economy dependent on the Malayan commodity trade with no tradition of manufacturing to an industrialized society
- set aside a large area of swamp wasteland as an industrial estate in the Jurong area and emphasized labor- intensive industries, such as textiles
- verhaul of Singapore's economy was urgently needed in order to combat unemployment and pay for badly needed social services
- In 1960 the Housing and Development Board (HDB) was set up to deal with the problems of slum clearance and resettlement
- they believed in the Merger with Malaya
http://countrystudies.us/singapore/10.htm
Viewpoints:
PAP was a dedicated and a committed government right from the start and had clear visions about what they had to do for Singapore's progress. Everything was planned out, most probebly even before they won the elections. and this showed that they were a made up of efficient members who were driven towards their goals. This is probably one of the reasons why they have been able to win election after election many years down the road.
- Mani
How did PAP in the past played a part in today's urbanized Singapore? (what did they do that brought Singapore closer to a mordern city?)
ReplyDelete-LISA
In response to Lisa:
ReplyDeleteThey did several things,
(1): built a world-class airport as soon as possible
- this would encourage Western businesses to flock to Singapore as early as possible
- other Asian countries' airports were rather unsafe and underdeveloped
(2): built a nation based on meritocracy
- the education system was built of high standards and that of to rival Western countries
- Mani
why didn't the PAP win the elctions recently? What do people think lacks in their way of governing?
ReplyDelete-Inez
@ Inez: They did... I think you mean they did not win as well, right? This was because they have been ruling for very long and people need change. Some are disappointed as the PAP are not able to solve problems that are bothering the people much. For eg, they are unhappy that there are too many foreigners and feel threatened due to that. Also, until recently (the Singapore conversation) most of the policies were solely based on the government's decisions and this made people feel like their concerns were not heard. One of the elections that they lost very badly were the Punggol East by-elections. Refer to this URL for more information on why they lost so badly: http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=8103.
ReplyDelete- Mani