Political party in Singapore
The Workers' Party (abbreviation: WP) is a major social democratic political party in Singapore and one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the governing People's Action Party (PAP) and the other opposition Progress Singapore Party (PSP). The WP sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum and is currently the largest and oldest opposition party in Parliament, having contested every parliamentary election since 1959 against the dominant PAP. Since the 1991 general election, the WP has been the only political party, other than the PAP, with elected Members of Parliament (MPs).
The WP was founded in 1965 by David Marshall, having previously led the more left-wing Labour Front (LF) to victory in 1955, forming a minority government and becoming the first Chief Minister of Singapore. After the British initially rejected his proposal for home rule, he resigned as leader of the LF and from his seat in 1957. After creating the WP, Marshall returned as its first representative in the Legislative Assembly as a Member for Anson in 1961, before resigning in 1963 after disagreements with some members of the party. The party would thereafter decline in prominence during the 1960s and 1970s before its re-emergence in 1981, when party leader J. B. Jeyaretnam became the first opposition MP to be elected since Singapore's independence, having defeated the PAP's candidate at a by-election in Anson. Jeyaretnam was re-elected in 1984, but subsequently lost his seat in 1986 following a conviction for falsely accounting the party's funds, a conviction which he claimed was politically motivated. Former members of the WP also include former Law Society President Francis Seow as well as socialist activist Lee Siew Choh.
Since 1991, the party's safe seat has been the constituency of Hougang, which was represented by Low Thia Khiang for two decades. The popularity of the party in Hougang has been attributed to the area's Teochew heritage and Low's personal affability. Low moved to the constituency of Aljunied in 2011, where he led the first team from an opposition party to win a group representation constituency (GRC). In 2020, the WP become the first opposition party to win multiple GRCs in a single general election. Positioning itself as a "check and balance" in Parliament, it supports a progressive approach to civic nationalism, reducing the voting age from 21 to 18, establishing a universal minimum wage, and providing more flexibility in regard to the Central Provident Fund. In recent years, members of the WP have worn light blue uniforms during political campaigns to represent the party's support for blue-collar workers.
History.
1956-1965: Pre-independence and beginnings.
In 1956, Singapore's first Chief Minister, David Saul Marshall, resigned his leadership post for Labour Front (the largest party in the assembly at the time) following the failure of the Merdeka Talks that had sought self-governance for Singapore. Marshall remained as the party's backbencher in the Legislative Assembly until his resignation in 1957. On 3 November that year, Marshall went on to found the Workers' Party.
Following the adoption of the Rendel and McNeice Commission recommendations, the six wards in the city area consisting of 18 elected seats was carved into 32. In 1957, the pro-communists backed two new entrants, the Workers' Party and the People's Action Party, which later went on to become the long-running governing party in Singapore. Their electoral debut was mostly a success as the party elected four members (out of the five contested) to the City Council; however, in 1958, Kallang ward incumbent Chang Yuen Tong resigned, and subsequently lost their seat to PAP as a result of their by-election defeat.
The party's first Legislative election in 1959 did not see success unlike the 1957 City Election, as Marshall failed to retake his seat from 1955 to 1957, Cairnhill constituency; it was won by former Chief Minister and Singapore People's Alliance leader Lim Yew Hock, and the WP did not win any of the three contested seats. That same election also saw PAP became the majority party for the very first time.
In May 1961, a by-election was precipitated due to the passing of Anson constituency's incumbent MP Baharuddin Mohammed Ariff. Marshall then went to declare his candidacy with the statement:
"... effective, vigorous and constructive opposition and to protect them against the arrogant dictatorship of unchallenged power. Marshall was also eager to assist the workers to prevent the political enslavement of trade unions and to revive the struggle against colonialism in seeking complete independence preferably within and, if necessary, without the Federation."
On 15 July, Marshall won the by-election and subsequently returned to the Legislative Assembly.
David Marshall, as Chairman of the party, made his views known on merger at public rallies and radio talks. Marshall's stand on merger was that:
"... Singapore should seek equal privileges and rights for its citizens in the new federation but surrender autonomy in education and labour, since different policies in these crucial areas would undermine the stability of Malaysia in the long run. He further maintained that if Singapore could not negotiate for a complete merger, she should seek independence on her own, a proposition which drew gales of laughter from the Legislative Chamber at that time. Marshall's strongest objection to the White Paper merger terms was on the point of citizenship and the implications of citizenship in the new federation. He saw the provisions as denying the Singapore citizen who was a federal national, the right of political participation in terms of being allowed to organise or contest in an election in the other states of the Federation. Singaporeans would in his view, be no more than favoured foreigners in the Federation, permitted to live and work there without visas, but also without the important constitutional guarantees that immigration barriers would not be raised against them."
The party concerned Marshall's issue of common citizenship and the rights of Singapore citizens when they joined the Federation. Marshall later stated on 20 August 1962:
"... issued a statement to advise his Executive Council and party members to accept the White Paper proposals for merger, but continued to oppose the Government on the referendum urging the people to cast blank votes on the grounds that it was undemocratically conducted."
1965–1986: Post-independence, debut of J.B. Jeyaretnam.
On 9 August 1965, Singapore was declared as an independent sovereign state, and the Legislative was reformed as Parliament of Singapore. 1968 was the first post-independence election, which saw PAP winning every one of 58 contested seats (51 by a walkover, and the other seven on polling day), due to the election boycotting of the main opposition party at the time, the Barisan Sosialis, leading to the mass arrests of most of its leadership since 1963.
Having become a small and fairly insignificant party by the late-1960s, the party saw a rejuvenation by recruiting a group of lawyers, including J.B. Jeyaretnam, who became the party's Secretary-General. Despite fielding a large slate of candidates in succeeding elections, the ruling PAP still managed to retain the monopoly by winning every contested seats for the next three general elections (including by-elections) until 1981.
On 13 October 1981, Devan Nair vacated his Anson seat to assume his role as the nation's third President, and precipitated the by-election; on 31 October, the party's victory was noted as historic as candidate Jeyaretnam became the first opposition MP-elect to be elected in Parliament with 51.9% (7,012) of the valid votes cast, beating PAP's Pang Kim Hin's 47.1% (6,359) and UPF's Harbans Singh's 1.0% (131), marking the first time since 1961 the Anson electorate voted the WP into the assembly. Jeyaretnam then went on to hold the constituency in the 1984 elections with an increased margin of 56.8%.
However, two months later, Jeyaretnam was charged with falsely accounting the party's funds. In 1986, Senior District Judge Michael Khoo found Jeyaretnam innocent of all charges but one. The prosecution later appealed a retrial to be held in a different district court, which saw Jeyaretnam found guilty on all charges and resulted in his disqualification, though he subsequently remained as the party's Secretary-General, he was also barred from standing in elections until 1991.
1987–1997: Barisan Sosialis merger, debut of Low Thia Khiang.
In 1987, some members were among a group of 22 people arrested by Singapore's Internal Security Department as part of Operation Spectrum, accused of being Marxists. They were released on condition that they kept out of politics.
Prior to the 1988 general elections, the party merged Barisan Sosialis and the Singapore United Front. The party did not win any constituency but came very close to winning the Eunos Group Representation Constituency (which was then a three-member constituency), in which the party's team, consisting of Francis Seow (a former head of the Bar Society who had become a thorn in the government's side and had briefly been detained under the Internal Security Act prior to the general election), Lee Siew Choh (a former chairman of the Barisan Sosialis and former PAP Assemblyman from 1959 to 1961) and Mohd Khalit bin Mohd Baboo, scored 49.1%; only one opposition MP was returned to Parliament (Chiam See Tong of the Singapore Democratic Party), and since the team garnered the highest percentage of the vote secured by losing opposition candidates at the election, the party was eligible to nominate two members of its team become Non-constituency MPs. The party had refused to nominate NCMPs in the past, but this time they nominated Lee and Seow to become NCMPs. While Lee took his post and became the first NCMP, Seow did not accept the offer after he was accused of espionage and fled to the United States shortly after the election. In Parliament, Lee took up several issues, including the Internal Security Act, living costs and welfare. The election also marked its debut of the party's Organising Secretary Low Thia Khiang, who first contested the three-seat Tiong Bahru GRC, and would capture its eventual safe seat of Hougang SMC in the 1991 general election.
Jeyaretnam was sued for slander by the Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew for comments he made at an election rally in 1988, and lost; Jeyaretnam was ordered to pay Lee damages of S$260,000 including costs.
During the 1991 election campaign, one of the WP's candidates in Eunos GRC, Jufrie Mahmood, drew particular fire from the PAP and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, accusing him of being a Malay chauvinist, an accusation Jufrie strongly denied. Unlike the last election, despite their team polled strongly in Eunos GRC, but lost to the PAP's team with 47.6% of the votes to 52.4%, no NCMPs were offered as the opposition (including Low) elected a combined four seats in parliament. Following the election, Low became the Assistant Secretary-General.
A by-election in the Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency in 1992 was expected to mark the return of Jeyaretnam to electoral politics after his Parliamentary ban had expired; however, the team ultimately did not participate due to one of the candidates turned up late on the nomination day. In 1993, Jeyaretnam and another candidate, Tan Soo Phuan (now a member of Democratic Progressive Party), attempted to seek candidacy in the first-ever presidential election, but both candidates were denied from granting the Certificate of Eligibility, an item presidential candidates was required to complete their nominations.
In 1996, Jeyaretnam was sued and paid damages of S$465,000 and S$250,000 in court costs for an article he wrote in an issue of the party's newspaper, "The Hammer", calling the PAP's Indian leaders a bunch of stooges. That same year, Lee Siew Choh resigned from the party, citing differences with Jeyaretnam.
1997–2006: Renewal in the new millennium.
In the 1997 elections, Low was re-elected as Hougang MP at the 1997 general election. Besides Low, only one other opposition MP was elected (Chiam See Tong, who left SDP to join the Singapore People's Party); one NCMP was offered to the WP team for Cheng San Group Representation Constituency, who polled better than any other opposition losing candidates, with 45.2%; the party selected secretary-general (and candidate) Jeyaretnam as the NCMP, marking his return to the Parliament after 11 years.
During the election campaign, another candidate part of the WP's team in Cheng San, lawyer Tang Liang Hong, drew particular attention from the PAP, who accused him of being an anti-Christian and anti-Muslim Chinese chauvinist. Tang, who insisted all he was trying to do was to "better represent the Chinese community and ask questions on their behalf", vigorously denied this