Progressive Party (Singapore)

The Singapore Progressive Party (abbreviation: PP), or simply the Progressive Party, was a conservative political party that was formed on 25 August 1947. It won the 1948 Legislative Assembly general elections with three out of six electable seats. At that time, the self-government power of the legislative system was still rather limited.

History

The Progressive 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. In its manifesto, PP had campaigned to localise the civil service, implement six years of free education for children, more free medical services, no increase in income tax, and establish a national agency for low cost housing.

In the 1955 Legislative Assembly general election, PP failed to retain power, versus the Labour Front (LF), capturing only four of the 22 seats that it contested, out of the 25 available seats.

In 1956, PP merged with the Democratic Party (DP) to form the Liberal Socialist Party (LSP). However, LSP failed to capture sufficient seats and became a minority representation in the Municipal Council following the December 1957 council election.

LSP also failed to win any seats in the 1959 Legislative Assembly general election, even though it fielded 32 candidates out of the 51 contested seats. Thereafter, it did not contest in further elections.

Party ideology

PP was made up of English-speaking upper class professionals, and heavily backed by the Straits Chinese British Association and the Singapore Association. 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 Marshall, leader of the LF who instead wanted rapid reform.

PP was involved in the passing of the Central Provident Fund Bill in 1954, and setting up the Singapore Improvement Trust, which predated the Housing Development Board. It supported the formation of the Public Service Commission in 1951, advancement of English as the sole first language of the legislature, and the continued preservation of Singapore's free port status. It also supported granting citizenship to about 250,000 Chinese immigrants at that time. Some of the reforms that it advocated were represented in the Rendel Constitution.

Legislative Council

In the Legislative Council, PP worked closely with the British Government. PP 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 party'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. The CPF scheme provides financial security for workers in their retirement or for workers who were unable to work, it came into effect in 1955, when 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

Legislative Council By-elections

Legislative Assembly

Municipal Council (1949-1950), City Council (1951-1953)

# Only a fraction of all seats are directly-elected, the rest are nominated by commercial organisations and British authorities.
# 25 of the 32 seats are directly-elected.
# Including the return of one unopposed seat.

References

Background of PP

{{Singaporean political parties
Conservative parties in Singapore
Defunct political parties in Singapore
Political parties established in 1947
Political parties disestablished in 1956
1947 establishments in Singapore
1956 disestablishments in Singapore