Constitutionally engineering non-partisanship
Publication Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
9-2022
Abstract
On 8 December 1965 when Parliament sat for the first time after Singapore’s independence, not a single Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) attended. Barisan Sosialis (BS) MPs, a breakaway faction of the People’s Action Party (PAP), had boycotted the sitting in protest of Singapore’s “phoney” independence and the “undemocratic laws” of the PAP Government. In the following year, all the BS MPs vacated their parliamentary seats. BS also boycotted the 1968 General Election, opting to take their political struggle outside of Parliament. This boycott was a massive strategic blunder as it left the PAP unchallenged in the political arena. No Opposition MP was elected into Parliament until J. B. Jeyaretnam of the Workers’ Party (WP) won the Anson seat in a by-election in 1981…
Discipline
Asian Studies | Election Law
Publication
The nominated member of parliament scheme: Are unelected voices still necessary in parliament?
Editor
ONG, Anthea Indira L.T.
First Page
271
Last Page
287
ISBN
9789811258428
Identifier
10.1142/9789811258466_0018
Publisher
Singapore: World Scientific Publishing
Citation
EUGENE, Tan K. B..
Constitutionally engineering non-partisanship. (2022). The nominated member of parliament scheme: Are unelected voices still necessary in parliament?. 271-287.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/4163
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789811258466_0018