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	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 half of the contested seats (3 out of 6) in the Legislative Assembly. At that time, the self-government power of the Legislative Assembly was still rather limited.

History

The 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.

Party ideology

The Progressive Party 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 Saul Marshall, leader of the Labour Front who instead wanted rapid reform.

Legislative Council

In the Legislative Council, the SPP worked closely with the British Government. The SPP 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 SPP'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, this CPF scheme provides financial security for workers in their retirement or for workers who were unable to work, this scheme 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	Seats					Position	Result
					Contested			Total	+/–
					Seats	Won	Lost
1948	Tan Chye Cheng	11,754	49.49%	-	5	3	2	3 / 6	3	1st	—
1951		11,202	45.37%	4.12%	8	6	2	6 / 9	3	1st	—

Legislative Council By-elections

Election	Leader	Constituency contested	Votes	%	Seats				Result
					Contested		Total	+/–
					Won	Lost
1948	Tan Chye Cheng	Rural West Constituency	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%	20.62%	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%	23.84%	6	6	3	3	12 / 18	1
1950	3,902	32.41%	17.64%	6	4	3	1	9 / 18	3
1951	6,729	43.20%	10.79%	6	6	2	4	9 / 18
1952	9,637	42.88%	0.32%	6	6	4	2	9 / 18
1953	8,532	40.52%	2.36%	61	4	3	1	9 / 18

1. ^ Including one unopposed seat

References

• Background of Progressive Party