The Malay Union () (abbreviation: KMS), was a
political party in Singapore from 1926 to 1960.
History
KMS was established on 14 May 1926 as a religious and cultural organisation for the
Malay community.
KMS's leaders were for the most part, English-educated professionals, and persons of social standing in the Malay community.
Ishak bin Ahmad
Ishak bin Ahmad (1887 — 8 January 1969) was a prominent civil servant and the father of Yusof Ishak, the first president of Singapore.
Career
In 1906, Ishak became a clerk at the Taiping District Office. In 1914, he joined the Fisheries Depart ...
was one of its founding members.
KMS wanted to promote the rights and interests of the Malays, and was known for establishing the
Jalan Eunos Malay Settlement or ''Kampong Melayu'' in 1929.
In 1954, KMS, together with
Singapore Labour Party and Singapore Socialist Party allied and formed the
Labour Front (LF). When a decision was made to merge into a single party, KMS withdrew, and joined another alliance with two Malayan political parties,
United Malays National Organisation
The United Malays National Organisation (Abbreviation, abbrev: UMNO; , PEKEMBAR) is a Conservatism, conservative, Nationalism, Malay nationalist political party in Malaysia. As the oldest national political party in the country (since its ince ...
(UMNO) (whose Singaporean branch had been founded by the leaders of the KMS) and the
Malayan Chinese Association
The Malaysian Chinese Association ( abbrev: MCA; Malay: ''Persatuan Cina Malaysia''), formerly known as the Malayan Chinese Association, is an ethnic political party in Malaysia that seeks to represent the Malaysian Chinese ethnicity; it was ...
(MCA).
In the
1955 general election, KMS nominated a single candidate,
[ Inche Sidik, to contest the Southern Islands constituency. He was elected with 50.6% of the votes. KMS also fielded a candidate in the 1957 by-election for Cairnhill, receiving 17% of the vote. However, KMS had previously agreed with the other alliance members not to field a candidate, and was subsequently expelled from the alliance for doing so.][
After trying but failing to form an alliance with Pan-Malayan Islamic Party and Parti Rakyat, KMS contested the 1959 general elections alone.][ By this time the party was led by Muda Muhamed Mahmud, as Sidik had left to join UMNO.Singapore election candidates (M)]
Singapore Elections It nominated three candidates, but received only 0.5% vote share, failing to win a seat.
After the Societies Ordinance came into force in 1960, KMS failed to re-register.[
]
Election results
Legislative Assembly
Legislative Assembly by-election
References
{{Singaporean political parties
Defunct political parties in Singapore
Political parties established in 1926
1926 establishments in Singapore
Malays in Singapore
Political parties of minorities in Singapore