Progressive Party (Singapore)

Progressive Party
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 (1947-08-25)
Dissolved	10 May 1956 (1956-05-10)
Merged into	Liberal Socialist Party
Succeeded by	Liberal Socialist Party
Ideology	Conservatism Reformism
Colours	Purple
Politics of Singapore Political parties Elections

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 three out of six electable seats. At that time, the self-government power of the legislative system was still rather limited.

History

The Progressive 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.

In the 1955 Legislative Assembly general election, PP failed to retain power, versus the Labour Front, capturing only four of the 22 seats that it contested, out of the 25 available seats.

In 1956, PP merged with the Democratic Party to form the Liberal Socialist Party (LSP). However, LSP failed to capture sufficient seats and became a minority representation in the Municipal Council following the December 1957 council election.

It also failed to win any seats in the 1959 Legislative Assembly general election, even though it fielded 32 candidates out of the 51 contested seats. Thereafter, it did not contest in further elections.

Party ideology

PP 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 Marshall, leader of the Labour Front who instead wanted rapid reform.

PP was involved in the passing the Central Provident Fund Bill in 1954, and setting up the Singapore Improvement Trust, which predated the Housing Development Board. It supported the formation of the Public Service Commission in 1951, advancement of English as the sole first language of the legislature, and the continued preservation of Singapore's free port status. It also supported granting citizenship to about 250,000 Chinese immigrants at that time. Some of the reforms that it advocated were represented in the Rendel Constitution.

Legislative Council

In the Legislative Council, PP worked closely with the British Government. PP 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 party's Pro-British stance.

Central Provident Fund

In 1951, PP drafted a law for the setting up of a Central Provident Fund, and it was approved by the British government in 1954. The CPF scheme provides financial security for workers in their retirement or for workers who were unable to work, it 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 Results

Legislative Council

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Swing	Seats1						Position	Result
					Up for Contest	Contested			Total	+/–
						Seats	Won	Lost
1948	Tan Chye Cheng	11,754	49.49%	-	6	5	3	2	3 / 22	3	1st	Majority elected seats
1951		11,202	45.37%	4.1%	9	8	6	2	6 / 25	3	1st	Majority elected seats

Legislative Council By-elections

Election	Leader	Constituency contested	Votes	%	Seats				Result
					Contested		Total	+/–
					Won	Lost
1948	Tan Chye Cheng	Rural West	705	23.91%	0	1	0 / 1		Lost

Legislative Assembly

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Swing	Seats					Position	Result
					Contested			Total	+/–
					Seats	Won	Lost
1955	Tan Chye Cheng	38,695	24.75%	20.6%	22	4	18	4 / 25	2	2nd	Opposition

Municipal Council (1949-1950), City Council (1951-1953)

Election	Votes	%	Swing	Seats
				Up for Contest	Contested			Total	+/–
					Seats	Won	Lost
Apr 1949	10,874	73.89%	-	18	16	13	3	13 / 18	13
Dec 1949	3,907	50.05%	23.8%	6	6	3	3	12 / 18	1
1950	3,902	32.41%	17.6%	6	4	3	1	9 / 18	3
1951	6,729	43.20%	10.8%	6	6	2	4	9 / 18
1952	9,637	42.88%	0.3%	6	6	4	2	9 / 18
1953	8,532	40.52%	2.4%	62	4	3	1	9 / 18

1. ^ Only a fraction of all seats on the Legislative Council are directly-elected, the rest are nominated by commercial organisations and British authorities.
2. ^ Including the return of one unopposed seat

References

• Background of Progressive Party