The Singapore People's Party (
abbreviation
An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening (linguistics), shortening, contraction (grammar), contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened for ...
: SPP) is a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
in
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
.
SPP was founded in 1994 by
Sin Kek Tong who left the
Singapore Democratic Party
The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) is a social liberal political party in Singapore. Founded in 1980 by Chiam See Tong, the party gained its first seat in 6th Parliament of Singapore, Parliament in 1984 Singaporean general election, 1984 when ...
(SDP) with various SDP members after internal conflicts in SDP. The leadership was held by Sin until
Chiam See Tong left SDP in December 1996 and Chiam assumed leadership.
History
1994 - 2000 : Formation
SPP was founded on 21 November 1994 by
Sin Kek Tong, who led a pro-
Chiam See Tong faction out of the
Singapore Democratic Party
The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) is a social liberal political party in Singapore. Founded in 1980 by Chiam See Tong, the party gained its first seat in 6th Parliament of Singapore, Parliament in 1984 Singaporean general election, 1984 when ...
(SDP). Over two years, Sin stood as the pro-tem leader until Chiam joined the party and assumed leadership in December 1996, at the time the Parliament was dissolved ahead of the
1997 general election. Chiam then became the party's first
Member of Parliament (MP) when he won the constituency of
Potong Pasir
Potong Pasir ( ) is a housing estate located between Toa Payoh and Sennett Estate in the Central Region of Singapore. For urban planning purposes, it is classified under the Toa Payoh area.
Potong Pasir is accessible by the MRT station on th ...
at the election, where he also did under the SDP banner.
2001 - 2008 : As part of Singapore Democratic Alliance
In 2001, the SPP became a founding member of the
Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), along with the
National Solidarity Party (NSP), the
Singapore Justice Party (SJP) and the
Singapore Malay National Organisation (PKMS). Chiam became the founding Chairman of SDA, which aimed to provide a common grouping under which different opposition parties could stand as a political coalition in elections against the ruling
People's Action Party
The People's Action Party (PAP) is a major Conservatism, conservative political party in Singapore and is the governing contemporary political party represented in the Parliament of Singapore, followed by the opposition Workers' Party of Singap ...
(PAP).
At the
2001 general election, Chiam was returned to Parliament as MP for Potong Pasir. Though Chiam was the only SDA member to win an elected seat in Parliament, he was joined in Parliament by SDA member
Steve Chia (leader of the National Solidarity Party) who became a
non-constituency MP after securing 34.6% of the votes in the constituency of
Chua Chu Kang, which was the highest percentage of the vote secured by a losing opposition candidate at the election. The result made Chiam the ''de facto'' leader of the opposition in Parliament, as the SDA had two representatives (Chiam and Chia), whereas the only other opposition party represented in Parliament (the
Workers' Party
Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...
) had only one (
Hougang
Hougang () is a planning area and mature residential town located in the North-East Region of Singapore. It is the largest housing estate in Singapore based on land area, and is home to 247,528 residents as of 2018. Hougang planning area is bo ...
MP
Low Thia Khiang).
At the
2006 general election, Chiam was again re-elected as MP for Potong Pasir.
However, the SDA did not win any other seats. Though Chia increased his share of the vote in Chua Chu Kang to 39.63%, this was lower than the 43.9% gained by the Workers' Party in
Aljunied GRC. The role of ''de facto'' leader of the opposition in Parliament therefore passed from Chiam to Low, the Workers' Party leader.
2009 - 2018 : Leaving the SDA and electoral defeats
In 2009 and 2010, Chiam spoke of the possibility of having
Reform Party (RP) to join the SDA and attempted to bring RP into SDA.
However, the rest of the leadership of SDA voted not to make a decision on the list of conditions.
In October 2010, Chiam replaced SDA's secretary general,
Desmond Lim, with
Mohamad Hamim Aliyas during a central executive committee meeting of SPP.
SPP founder and chairman
Sin Kek Tong said Chiam's move is due to Lim opposing RP joining the SDA.
However, in a SDA council meeting held shortly after, the council rejected the decision of Chiam and Lim remained as the secretary general of the SDA.
On 2 March 2011, SPP withdrew from the coalition due to a few reasons. Prior to exiting the coalition, the SDA Council voted to relieve Chiam as chairman three days earlier due to his health reasons and voted not decide on a list of conditions for RP, which Chiam had invited, to join the SDA.
At the
2011 general election, Chiam announced his intention to lead his team to contest the
Bishan-Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency (GRC), leaving his Potong Pasir ward to his wife,
Lina Loh Woon Lee (Lina Chiam). This was Loh's debut in politics, despite supporting Chiam and campaigning with Chiam over his many years in politics. Chairman Sin was also fielded to contest the newly-formed
Hong Kah North SMC, a ward which was formerly part of the
Hong Kah GRC.
After polling day, the party was defeated in all of the contested constituencies, including Potong Pasir which was reclaimed by the PAP for the first time since 1984; consequently, Chiam's defeat ended his 27-year tenure in Parliament. However, Loh was offered a post for the
Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) as a result of being the best performing opposition candidate (amongst unelected candidates) after narrowly losing the election by 49.64% to the PAP's
Sitoh Yih Pin's 50.36% (a margin of 114 votes). Overall, the SPP managed to clinch 41.42% (62,504 votes) of the total number of votes in the constituencies that it had contested.
Ahead of the
2015 elections
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(due to be held on 11 September), Chiam announced that he would not stand as a candidate for the elections, for the first time since his debut in 1976. Another opposition party, the
Democratic Progressive Party
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a centre to centre-left Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ...
, that was led by
Benjamin Pwee and Hamin Aliyas, joined the SPP to strengthen its team contesting Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC. New candidate
Ravi Philemon replaced Sin as candidate for Hong Kah North, while Lina Chiam contested again in Potong Pasir. Former NSP member
Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss joined the party prior, and contested
Mountbatten SMC just as Chong did in the 2011 elections.
However, the absence of Chiam in the election saw their party suffer another major setback, not only did the party fail to win a parliamentary seat, their scores were overseen by large swings towards the PAP, one of which was Potong Pasir, where Lina Chiam managed to secure only 33.59% (down from the previous election's 49.64%) of the valid votes. Compared to the Workers' Party's performances (of
East Coast GRC
The East Coast Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the eastern area of Singapore. It consists of locations such as East Coast Park, Bedok, Changi (in part), Simei, Siglap, Joo Chia ...
,
Fengshan SMC and
Punggol East SMC), it was not enough for Lina Chiam to secure her NCMP seat for a second term, thus ending their party's presence in Parliament since the party foundation. In terms of the party's overall vote, they garnered only 27.08% of the votes cast, a swing of -14.34% from the previous election.
On 1 March 2017, the party reported that former party's chairman Sin had died from
prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...
two days earlier.
In January 2018, it was reported that Jose Raymond, a former Press Secretary to
Vivian Balakrishnan (who also served as Chief Executive of the Singapore Environment Council and current
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...
), had joined the SPP.
2019 - Present: Leadership of Steve Chia
On 4 September 2019, Chiam announced that he would be stepping down from the secretary-general position due to declining health, while Lina Chiam would be stepping down from the chairman position. The party's Facebook announced that they would be electing new leadership. On 16 October 2019, during the party's biennial Ordinary Party Conference, Chiam and Chong-Aruldoss stepped down from the party's Central Executive Committee (CEC). Four new faces were elected into the CEC. On 5 November 2019, Chia was elected as the new Secretary-General of the Singapore People's Party, along with Raymond as Chairman.
2020 General Election
Following the general election on 10 July 2020, the party lost to the PAP for the third consecutive election, on both of the contested constituencies (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC and Potong Pasir SMC), despite seeing a small vote swing against the PAP. Their party improved their vote share in the contested wards to 33.83%.
On 22 December 2020, Chairman Raymond announced that he would be retiring from politics, while revealing that the Assistant Secretary-General, Ariffin Sha, had resigned from the party in August. Vice-Chairman Williiamson Lee became Acting Chairman, while Ariffin's position was not filled. The SPP CEC accepted the resignations on 17 January 2021 and co-opted Khan Osman Sulaiman and Melvyn Chiu.
2025 General Election
The SPP contested five seats in GE2025. Steve Chia led a four-man team in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, consisting of himself, Melvyn Chiu, Lim Rui Xian and Muhammad Norhakim; ultimately securing 24.82% of the vote (21,944 votes) against the incumbent PAP team led by then-Minister for Transport
Chee Hong Tat. Williiamson Lee also contested Potong Pasir SMC, securing 22.46% of the vote (6,261 votes) against the incumbent PAP's
Alex Yeo and PAR's
Lim Tean.
Following the release of the election results, Secretary-General Steve Chia was notably disappointed with the outcome. In an interview with the Straits Times, he was said to have "mulled over deregistering the party", having described the results as being "very bleak".
Organisation
Central Executive Committee
Former elected members
Former Members of Parliament of Singapore (1965–present)
Electoral performance
Parliament
Due to a merger with the
Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) in the 2001 and 2006 elections, collective figures represent the SDA total inclusive of the SPP, while figures in parenthesis/brackets refer to the SPP only.
Seats contested
References
External links
*
Singapore People's Party (SPP) party symbol, explained by SADeafSG
{{Singaporean political parties
Political parties in Singapore
1994 establishments in Singapore
Political parties established in 1994