The Central Executive Committee (CEC) is the highest

executive committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

within the

People's Action Party The People's Action Party (abbreviation: PAP) is a major conservative centre-right political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and ...

(PAP) and its "inner circle". The internal concentration of power in the PAP is vested in the CEC, headed by the secretary-general, the highest-ranking position in the party. From the 1950s, up until 1984, most of Singapore's influential leaders were members of the CEC, as well as the

Cabinet of Singapore The Cabinet of Singapore forms the executive branch of the Government of Singapore together with the President. It is led by the Prime Minister who is the head of government. The prime minister is a Member of Parliament (MP) appointed by the ...

and the

Armed Forces Council The Armed Forces Council is the senior military body of the Canadian Armed Forces. It meets to advise and assist the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) on all matters concerning the command, control, and administration of the forces, and generally ...

. The election of the CEC through "the PAP cadre system" has been described as a

closed system A closed system is a natural physical system that does not allow transfer of matter in or out of the system, although — in contexts such as physics, chemistry or engineering — the transfer of energy (''e.g.'' as work or heat) is allowed. In ...

in which "the cardinals appoint the pope and the pope appoints the cardinals".

Formation

The PAP's organisational structure has Leninist roots whereby a group of elite PAP members known as cadres, elect 18 CEC members from a list of candidates. Originally when this structure was organised in 1957, the outgoing committee will recommended a list of candidates for the next CEC. This has been changed recently so that the CEC nominates eight members and the party caucus selects the remaining ten. The cadre system was started in 1957 by

Toh Chin Chye Toh Chin Chye ( zh, s=杜进才, p=Dù Jìncái; 10 December 1921 – 3 February 2012) was a Singaporean politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1968. Toh is widely recognised as one of the founding fa ...

, in an effort to prevent the popular leftist faction of the PAP, which dominated the party during its infant years, at the grassroots level and many of its committees and composed much of its early membership, from ever taking control of the CEC again. Prior to 1957, every party member could vote in the CEC elections. This had resulted in the leftists taking control of the CEC on 9 August 1957, with the original founders (the "Peranakan Circle") losing control. After Chief Minister

Lim Yew Hock Lim Yew Hock ( zh, c=林有福, p=Lín Yǒufú; 15 October 1914 – 30 November 1984) was a Malaysian

First generation dynamics

The core of the PAP, the members of the first generation CEC began much of their chemistry as a basement group in Lee Kuan Yew's house. S. Rajaratnam described the CEC's tight-knit dynamics as a small jazz band, where "each musician plays the same melody, but is with considerable latitude in the precise manner in which he backs up the others". Although party elections caused various members to enter and leave—overlooking the brief 1957 loss of power to the leftists—the core of the first generation of the CEC remained roughly the same for several election cycles up until 1984.

Lee Kuan Yew Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean lawyer and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990, and Secretary-General o ...

was the core and firm centre of the CEC, providing "forceful leadership", in the words of political scientist Tilman. However, Tilman argues that he was not the strongman of the political system as is wont to be found in many developing nations, as Lee could be opposed "cautiously" by other CEC members if dissent or resistance to Lee's policies became necessary. Most internal disputes within the CEC were confined to the CEC. Generally, the team would work out a consensus in the Prime Minister's Office; contentious issues were often resolved by Lee's one-on-one discussions with individual CEC members. Having been previously resolved informally, the debates that the CEC would carry out before any of the "institutional policy-making forums" (e.g. Parliament) were thus mostly ceremonial. At these forums, the CEC would exhibit total unity. Differences in the CEC rarely emerged as part of a larger group; dissenting CEC members would voice their dissent in private to Lee Kuan Yew.

Old Guard

The following are members of the first-generation (1G) team, most commonly known as the "Old Guard": *

(1923–2015) * S. Rajaratnam (1915–2006) *

(1921–2012) *

Goh Keng Swee Goh Keng Swee (; 6 October 1918 – 14 May 2010), born Robert Goh Keng Swee, was a Singaporean politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore between 1973 and 1985. Goh is widely recognised as one of the founding fathers of Singa ...

(1918–2010) *

Devan Nair Chengara Veetil Devan Nair (5 August 1923 – 6 December 2005), also known as C. V. Devan Nair and better known simply as Devan Nair, was a Malaysian-Singaporean politician who served as the third president of Singapore from 1981 until his resi ...

(1923–2005) *

Othman Wok Othman bin Wok ( Jawi: عثمان بن ووك; b. 8 October 1924 – d. 17 April 2017), often known as Othman Wok, was a Singaporean politician who served as Minister of Social Affairs between 1963 and 1977. After retiring from politics, he wa ...

(1924–2017) * Ahmad Ibrahim (1927–1962) *

Jek Yeun Thong Jek Yeun Thong ( zh, s=易润堂, p=Yì Rùntáng; 29 July 1930 – 3 June 2018) was a Singaporean politician who served as Minister for Science and Technology between 1976 and 1977, Minister for Culture between 1968 and 1977 and Minister fo ...

(1930–2018) * Chor Yeok Eng (1930–2016) *

Ong Pang Boon Ong Pang Boon ( zh, c=王邦文, p=Wáng Bāngwén; born 28 March 1929) is a Singaporean retired politician who served as Minister for Home Affairs between 1959 and 1963 and again for a short period of time in 1970, Minister for Education b ...

(1929–)

Current members

As of 26 November 2022, the Central Executive Committee comprises the following members:

References

{{Authority control PAP *

Formation

First generation dynamics

Old Guard

Current members

See also

References