Editing People's Action Party (section)

== History ==
[[File:Mr. Lee Kuan Yew Mayoral reception 1965 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Lee Kuan Yew]], the first [[Prime Minister of Singapore]] and one of the founders of the People's Action Party]]
[[Lee Kuan Yew]], [[Toh Chin Chye]] and [[Goh Keng Swee]] were involved in the [[Malayan Forum]], a London-based student activist group that was against [[Federation of Malaya|colonial rule in Malaya]] in the 1940s and early 1950s.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uwohR6juj-MC|title=Goh Keng Swee: A Public Career Remembered|last1=Desker|first1=Barry|last2=Guan|first2=Chong|last3=Kwa|first3=Chong Guan|date=2012|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=9789814291392}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gQ-JAAAAQBAJ|title=Lee Kuan Yew: The Crucial Years|last=Josey|first=Alex|date=15 February 2013|publisher=Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd|isbn=9789814435499}}</ref> Upon returning to Singapore, the group met regularly to discuss approaches to attain independence in Malayan territories and started looking for like-minded individuals to start a political party. Journalist [[S. Rajaratnam]] was introduced to Lee by Goh.<ref>{{cite book|title=PAP 50 : Five Decades of the People's Action Party|last=Leong|first=Ching|publisher=People's Action Party|year=2004|location=Singapore}}</ref> Lee was also introduced to several English-educated left-wing students and Chinese-educated union and student leaders while working on the Fajar sedition trial and the [[1954 National Service riots|National Service riot]] case.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lee|first1=Kuan Yew|title=The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew|publisher=Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9m5PBAAAQBAJ|isbn=9789814561761|date=15 September 2012}}</ref>

===Formation===
The PAP was officially registered as a political party on 21 November 1954. [[Convenors]] of the party include a group of trade unionists, lawyers and journalists such as Lee Kuan Yew, [[Abdul Samad Ismail]], [[Toh Chin Chye]], [[Devan Nair]], [[S. Rajaratnam]], Chan Chiaw Thor, [[Fong Swee Suan]], Tann Wee Keng and [[Rajah & Tann|Tann Wee Tiong]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19541024-1.2.55|title=Nine Form New Political Party in Singapore|date=24 October 1954|work=The Straits Times|access-date=17 August 2017|archive-date=17 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817151523/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19541024-1.2.55|url-status=live}}</ref> The political party was led by Lee Kuan Yew as its secretary-general, with Toh Chin Chye as its founding chairman. Other party officers include Tann Wee Tiong, Lee Gek Seng, [[Ong Eng Guan]] and Tann Wee Keng.<ref>{{cite news|title=The PAP bosses|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19550712-1.2.133|newspaper=The Straits Times|date=12 July 1955|access-date=18 September 2017|archive-date=18 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118011740/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19550712-1.2.133|url-status=live}}</ref>

The PAP first contested the [[1955 Singaporean general election|1955 general election]] in which 25 of 32 seats in the legislature were up for election. In this election, the PAP's four candidates gained much support from the trade union members and student groups such as the [[University Socialist Club]], who canvassed for them.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Men in White: The Untold Story of Singapore's Ruling Political Party.. ISBN|last1=Yap|first1=Sonny|last2=Richard|first2=Lim|last3=Weng|first3=K. Leong|publisher=Straits Times Press|year=2010|isbn=978-9814266512|location=Singapore|pages=54}}</ref> The party won three seats, one by its leader [[Lee Kuan Yew]] for the Tanjong Pagar division and one by PAP co-founder [[Lim Chin Siong]] for the [[Bukit Timah]] division.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/photographs/record-details/c8a3566b-5380-11e4-859c-0050568939ad|title=Elected into the Legislative Assembly were (from left) …|date=3 April 1955|website=National Archives of Singapore|access-date=17 August 2017|archive-date=18 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818011532/http://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/photographs/record-details/c8a3566b-5380-11e4-859c-0050568939ad|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19550403-1.2.10|title=The Results|date=3 April 1955|work=The Straits Times|access-date=17 August 2017|archive-date=18 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818012358/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19550403-1.2.10|url-status=live}}</ref> Then 22 years old unionist Lim Chin Siong was and remained the youngest Assemblyman ever to be elected to office. The election was won by the [[Labour Front]] headed by [[David Marshall (Singaporean politician)|David Marshall]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19550403-1.2.2|title=Labour Wins – Marshal Will Be Chief Minister|access-date=17 August 2017|archive-date=18 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818014002/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19550403-1.2.2|url-status=live}}</ref>

In April 1956, Lim and Lee represented the PAP at the [[Merdeka|London Constitutional Talks]] along with Chief Minister [[David Marshall (Singaporean politician)|David Marshall]] which ended in failure as the British declined to grant Singapore [[Self-governance of Singapore|internal self-government]]. On 7 June 1956, Marshall, disappointed with the constitutional talks, stepped down as Chief Minister as he had pledged to do so earlier if self-governance was not achieved. He was replaced by [[Lim Yew Hock]], another Labour Front member.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1462_2009-02-18.html|title=Lim Chin Siong|author=Wong Hongyi|year=2009|work=Singapore Infopedia|publisher=National Library Board Singapore|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090728022721/http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1462_2009-02-18.html|archive-date=28 July 2009}}</ref> Lim pursued a largely [[anti-communism|anti-communist]] campaign and managed to convince the British to make a definite plan for self-government. The [[Constitution of Singapore]] was revised accordingly in 1958, replacing the Rendel Constitution with one that granted Singapore self-government and the ability for its own population to fully elect its Legislative Assembly.

PAP and left-wing members who were [[communists]] were criticised for inciting riots in the mid-1950s.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19550922-1.2.2|title=Mr. Lim Sits on The Fence|access-date=17 August 2017|archive-date=18 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818013755/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19550922-1.2.2|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="centre-left">{{Cite news|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19550517-1.2.2|title=The Guilty Men – By Goode|date=17 May 1955|work=The Straits Times|access-date=17 August 2017|archive-date=18 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818012524/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19550517-1.2.2|url-status=live}}</ref> Lim Chin Siong, Fong Swee Suan and [[Devan Nair]] as well as several unionists were detained by the police after the [[Chinese middle schools riots]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19561028-1.2.5|title=Who's Who – The Top 15 Names|date=28 October 1956|work=The Straits Times|access-date=17 August 2017|archive-date=18 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818013327/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19561028-1.2.5|url-status=live}}</ref> Lim Chin Siong was placed under solitary confinement for close to a year, away from his other PAP colleagues, as they were placed in the Medium Security Prison (MSP) instead.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|author=Ministry of Finance|date=August 2015|title=INCOME GROWTH, INEQUALITY AND MOBILITY TRENDS IN SINGAPORE|url=https://app.mof.gov.sg/Portals/0/Feature%20Articles/Income%20Growth,%20Distribution%20and%20Mobility%20Trends%20in%20Singapore.pdf|journal=Ministry of Finance Occasional Paper|access-date=14 April 2016|archive-date=7 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407020634/https://app.mof.gov.sg/Portals/0/Feature%20Articles/Income%20Growth,%20Distribution%20and%20Mobility%20Trends%20in%20Singapore.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The number of PAP members imprisoned rose in August 1957, when PAP members from the trade unions (viewed as "communist or pro-communist") won half the seats in the Central Executive Committee (CEC). The "moderate" CEC members, including Lee Kuan Yew, Toh Chin Chye and others, refused to take their appointments in the CEC. Yew Hock's government again made a sweeping round of arrests, imprisoning all the "communist" members, before the "moderates" re-assumed their office.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ex-pap-man-recounts-1957-kelong-meeting|title=Ex-PAP man recounts 1957 'kelong meeting'|last=Leong|first=Weng Kam|date=10 June 2016|publisher=The Straits Times|access-date=19 August 2016|archive-date=21 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921184554/http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/ex-pap-man-recounts-1957-kelong-meeting|url-status=live}}</ref>

Following this, the PAP decided to re-assert ties with the labour faction of Singapore in the hope of securing the votes of working-class Chinese Singaporeans, many of whom were supporters of the jailed unionists. Lee Kuan Yew convinced the incarcerated union leaders to sign documents to state their support for the party and its policies, promising to release the jailed members of the PAP when the party came to power in the next elections.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=buuiCgAAQBAJ|title=Leaders of Singapore|last=Chew|first=Melanie|date=29 July 2015|publisher=World Scientific|isbn=9789814719452|pages=80}}</ref> Ex-[[Barisan Sosialis]] member Tan Jing Quee claims that Lee was secretly in collusion with the British to stop Lim Chin Siong and the labour supporters from attaining power because of their huge popularity. Quee also states that Lim Yew Hock deliberately provoked the students into rioting and then had the labour leaders arrested.<ref name="comet">{{cite book|title=Comet in our sky: Lim Chin Siong in history|author=Tan Jing Quee|publisher=[[Insan]]|year=2001|isbn=983-9602-14-4}}</ref> Greg Poulgrain of Griffiths University argued that "Lee Kuan Yew was secretly a party with Lim Yew Hock in urging the Colonial Secretary to impose the subversives ban in making it illegal for former political detainees to stand for election".<ref name="comet" /> Lee Kuan Yew eventually accused Lim Chin Siong and his supporters of being communists working for the Communist United Front, but evidence of Lim being a communist cadre was a matter of debate as many documents have yet to be declassified.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Seng |first=Kah |date=20 December 2014 |title=British archives, personal accounts, confirm extent of Communist United Front activities here: PM Lee |work=The Straits Times |url=http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/british-archives-personal-accounts-confirm-extent-of-communist-united-front-activities |url-status=live |access-date=31 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831132942/http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/british-archives-personal-accounts-confirm-extent-of-communist-united-front-activities |archive-date=31 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Kah Seng |first=Loh |date=15 January 2015 |title=An annotated bibliography of Operation Coldstore – New Mandala |language=en-US |work=New Mandala |url=http://www.newmandala.org/the-history-writes-itself-an-annotated-bibliography-of-operation-coldstore/ |url-status=dead |access-date=31 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831140342/http://www.newmandala.org/the-history-writes-itself-an-annotated-bibliography-of-operation-coldstore/ |archive-date=31 August 2017}}</ref>

===First years in government===
[[File:ST31May1959.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Sunday Times'' the day after the 1959 election, reporting on the results and the PAP's victory]]
The PAP eventually won the [[1959 Singaporean general election|1959 general election]] under Lee Kuan Yew's leadership.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19590531-1.2.2|title=2.45 am-PAP ROMPS HOME WITH LANDSLIDE VICTORY|date=31 May 1959|work=The Straits Times|access-date=17 August 2017|archive-date=18 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818013508/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19590531-1.2.2|url-status=live}}</ref> The election was also the first one to produce a fully elected parliament and a cabinet wielding powers of full internal [[self rule|self-government]]. The party has remained in power ever since, winning a majority of seats in every successive general election. Lee, who became the first [[Prime Minister of Singapore|Prime Minister]] and who would eventually helm this post for the next 31 years,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19590602-1.2.2|title=LEE IS PREMIER|access-date=17 August 2017|archive-date=18 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818013439/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19590602-1.2.2|url-status=live}}</ref> requested the British for the release of the left-wing members of the PAP, including the likes of [[Devan Nair]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19590603-1.2.99|title=Unlocking The Gates|date=3 June 1959|work=The Straits Times|access-date=21 August 2017|archive-date=21 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821091338/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19590603-1.2.99|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1961, the Singapore Trades Union Congress (STUC), which had backed the PAP back in 1959, split into the pro-PAP [[National Trades Union Congress]] (NTUC) and the non-affiliated and more [[leftist]] Singapore Association of Trade Unions (SATU). The SATU collapsed in 1963, following the now PAP-led government's crackdown and detention of its leaders during [[Operation Coldstore]] and its subsequent official deregistration on 13 November 1963. The NTUC remains as the sole [[trade union centre]] in the country today and continues to have a close relationship with the PAP.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1237_2008-11-30.html |title=Singapore Association of Trade Unions |access-date=12 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090401154609/http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1237_2008-11-30.html |archive-date=1 April 2009}}</ref>

====Great Split of 1961====
{{see also|1961 Singaporean by-elections}}
In 1961, disagreements on the proposed merger plan to form [[Malaysia]] and long-standing internal party power struggle led to the split of the left-wing group from the PAP.<ref>{{cite news|title=When Lee lost control of PAP for 10 days|newspaper=The Straits Times|date=12 September 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19610727-1.2.3|title=PAP 'rebels' to form an opposition party|access-date=17 August 2017|archive-date=18 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818013843/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19610727-1.2.3|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19610710-1.2.4|title=Merger issue: Dr. Toh hits out at six top unionists|access-date=17 August 2017|archive-date=18 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818012549/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19610710-1.2.4|url-status=live}}</ref>

Although the "communist" faction had been frozen out of ever taking over the PAP, other problems had begun to arise internally. [[Ong Eng Guan]], the former Mayor of the City Council after PAP's victory in the [[1957 Singapore City Council election]], presented a set of "16 Resolutions" to revisit some issues previously explored by Chin Siong's faction of the PAP: abolishing the PPSO, revising the Constitution, and changing the method of selecting cadre members.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy|url=https://archive.org/details/economicoriginsd00acem|url-access=limited|last1=Acemoglu|first1=Daron|last2=Robinson|first2=James A.|publisher=Cambridge Press|year=2005|pages=[https://archive.org/details/economicoriginsd00acem/page/n24 8]–10|isbn=9780521855266}}</ref>{{rp|82}}

Although Ong's 16 Resolutions originated from the left-wing faction led by Lim Chin Siong, that faction had only reluctantly asked the PAP leadership to clarify its position on them,<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Thum|first=Ping Tjin|date=Nov 2013|title='The Fundamental Issue is Anti-colonialism, Not Merger': Singapore's "Progressive Left", Operation Coldstore, and the Creation of Malaysia|journal=ARI Working Paper|issue=211}}</ref> as they still thought that the party with Lee Kuan Yew at the helm was a better alternative than Ong who was regarded as mercurial and a tyrant.<ref name=":1" /> However, Lee took the stance taken by the left-wing PAP members as a lack of confidence in his leadership. This issue caused a rift between the "moderate" PAP members (led by Lee) and the "left-wing" faction (led by Lim).

Ong was then expelled, and he resigned his Assembly seat to challenge the government to a by-election in Hong Lim in April 1961, where he won 73.3% of the vote.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sg-elections.com/by-election/1961-4/hong-lim.html|title=Singapore Legislative Assembly By-Election April 1961 > Hong Lim|website=singapore-elections.com|access-date=19 August 2016|archive-date=1 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601144636/http://singapore-elections.com/by-election/1961-4/hong-lim.html|url-status=live}}</ref> This was despite the fact that Lee Kuan Yew had made a secret alliance with [[Fong Chong Pik]], the leader of the [[Communist Party of Malaya]] (CPM), to get the CPM cadres to support the PAP in the by-election.<ref name=":6" />

====Barisan Sosialis====
The breakaway group of members formed the [[Barisan Sosialis]] with Lim Chin Siong as secretary-general.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Fajar Generation: The University Socialist Club and the Politics of Postwar Malaya and Singapore|last1=Poh|first1=Soo K|last2=Tan|first2=Jing Quee|last3=Koh|first3=Kay Yew|publisher=SIRD|year=2010|isbn=9789833782864|location=Petaling Jaya|pages=59–60}}</ref> Aside from the Chinese union leaders, lawyers Thampoe Thamby Rajah and Tann Wee Tiong,<ref>{{cite news|title=Lawyers Rajah, Tann join Barisan Socialis|url=http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19610815-1.2.49|newspaper=The Straits Times|date=15 August 1961|access-date=18 September 2017|archive-date=30 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180830151144/http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19610815-1.2.49|url-status=live}}</ref> several members from the University Socialist Club such as [[James Puthucheary]] (uncle of [[Janil Puthucheary]]) and [[Poh Soo Kai]] joined the party.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The University Socialist Club and the Contest for Malaya: Tangled Strands of Modernity|last=Loh|first=Kah S|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|year=2012|isbn=978-9089644091|location=Amsterdam|pages=24–25}}</ref> 35 of 51 branches of the PAP and 19 of 23 branch secretaries defected to Barisan.

===Merger years 1963–1965===
{{see also|PAP-UMNO relations}}
After gaining independence from Britain, Singapore joined the federation of Malaysia in 1963. Although the PAP was the ruling party in the state of Singapore, the PAP functioned as an opposition party at the federal level in the larger Malaysian political landscape. At that time and until the [[2018 Malaysian general election|2018 general election]], the federal government in Kuala Lumpur was controlled by a coalition led by the [[United Malays National Organisation]] (UMNO). However, the prospect that the PAP might rule Malaysia agitated UMNO. The PAP's decision to contest federal parliamentary seats outside Singapore and the UMNO decision to contest seats within Singapore breached an unspoken agreement to respect each other's spheres of influence and aggravated [[PAP–UMNO relations]]. The [[clash of personalities]] between PAP leader Lee Kuan Yew and Malaysian [[Prime Minister of Malaysia|Prime Minister]] [[Tunku Abdul Rahman]] resulted in a crisis and led to Rahman forcing Singapore to leave Malaysia on 9 August 1965. Upon independence, the nascent People's Action Party of Malaya, which had been registered in Malaysia on 10 March 1964, had its registration cancelled on 9 September 1965, just a month after Singapore's exit. Those with the now non-existent party applied to register People's Action Party, Malaya which was again rejected by the Malaysian government, before settling with the [[Democratic Action Party (Malaysia)|Democratic Action Party]] (DAP).

===Post-independence, 1965 to present===
[[File:People's Action Party general election rally, Tampines Stadium, Singapore - 20110505-04.jpg|thumb|240px|A PAP election rally at [[Tampines Stadium]]]]
The PAP has held an overwhelming majority of seats in the [[Parliament of Singapore]] since 1966, when the opposition Barisan Sosialis (Socialist Front) resigned from Parliament after winning 13 seats following the [[1963 Singaporean general election|1963 general election]], which took place months after a number of their leaders had been arrested in [[Operation Coldstore]] based on accusations of being communists affliated with the [[Communist Party of Malaya]] (CPM).<ref name="comet" />

It subsequently achieved a monopoly in an expanding parliament (winning every parliamentary seat) for the next four elections ([[1968 Singaporean general election|1968]], [[1972 Singaporean general election|1972]], [[1976 Singaporean general election|1976]] and [[1980 Singaporean general election|1980]]). Opposition parties returned to the legislature at a [[1981 Anson by-election|1981 by-election]]. The [[1984 Singaporean general election|1984 general election]] was the first election in 21 years in which opposition parties won seats. From then until [[2006 Singaporean general election|2006]], the PAP faced four opposition MPs at most. Opposition parties did not win more than four parliamentary seats from 1984 until [[2011 Singaporean general election|2011]] when the [[The Workers' Party (Singapore)|Workers' Party]] (WP) won six seats and took away a [[Group Representation Constituency]] (GRC) for the first time for any opposition party, as well as until [[2020 Singaporean general election|2020]] by which an opposition party had won more than one GRC, which was also achieved by the WP.

Even so, the PAP still holds a [[supermajority]] in the legislature, to the point that Singapore is effectively a [[dominant party system]] similar to Japan's [[Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)|Liberal Democratic Party]] (LDP) rule of the country.<ref>{{cite news |title=How the LDP dominates Japan's politics |url=https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2021/10/28/how-the-ldp-dominates-japans-politics |newspaper=The Economist |access-date=11 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211101154455/https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2021/10/28/how-the-ldp-dominates-japans-politics |archive-date=1 November 2021 |date=28 October 2021}}</ref> With its supermajority, the PAP has always had the ability to amend the [[Constitution of Singapore]] at will, including the introduction of multi-member constituencies under the GRC system (in 1988) or the [[Nominated Member of Parliament]] (NMPs) scheme (in 1990), which has helped strengthened the government's dominance and control of Parliament.<ref name="Tan2012">{{cite journal|last1=Tan|first1=Kenneth Paul|title=The Ideology of Pragmatism: Neo-liberal Globalisation and Political Authoritarianism in Singapore|journal=Journal of Contemporary Asia|date= 2012|volume=42|issue=1|pages=67–92|doi=10.1080/00472336.2012.634644|s2cid=56236985}}</ref>