Editing People's Action Party (section)

== Ideology ==
{{Conservatism in Singapore|Parties and organisations}}

===Asian democracy===
Professor Hussin Mutalib from the [[National University of Singapore]] (NUS) opines that the PAP has often set forth the idea of Asian democracy and values, drawing from a notion of [[Asian culture]] and [[Confucianism]] to construct ideological bulwarks against [[Western democracy]]. He added that for founding prime minister [[Lee Kuan Yew]], "Singapore would be better off without Western-style liberal democracy".<ref>{{cite book|author=Hussin Mutalib|year=2004|title=Parties and Politics. A Study of Opposition Parties and the PAP in Singapore|publisher=Marshall Cavendish Adademic|isbn=981-210-408-9|page=20}}</ref>

Consequently, the governance of the PAP has occasionally been characterised by some observers, especially in the [[Western world|West]], as semi-authoritarian by liberal democratic standards or having turned Singapore into a [[nanny state]].<ref name="Tan2007">{{cite journal |last1=Tan |first1=Kenneth Paul |date=2007 |title=Singapore's National Day Rally speech: A site of ideological negotiation |journal=Journal of Contemporary Asia |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=292–308 |doi=10.1080/00472330701408635 |s2cid=145405958}}</ref> According to Professor Kenneth Paul Tan from the NUS, the PAP proclaim that many [[Singaporeans]] continue to vote for the party as economic considerations, pragmatism and stability triumph over accountability and checks and balances by opposition parties.<ref name="Tan2007"/>

===Economic policies===
{{see also|Government of Singapore Investment Corporation|Temasek Holdings}}
The party [[Macroeconomics|economic ideology]] has always accepted the need for some [[Social welfare|welfare spending]] and for pragmatic [[economic interventionism]]. However, [[free-market]] policies have been popular since the 1980s as part of the wider implementation of a [[meritocracy]] in [[civil society]], and Singapore frequently ranks extremely highly on indices of [[economic freedom]] published by [[Liberal theory of economics|economically liberal]] organisations such as the [[World Bank]] and the [[International Monetary Fund]]. Singapore is also the only Asian country with the top AAA sovereign rating from the "Big Three" [[credit rating agencies]] of [[S&P]], [[Moody's]] and [[Fitch Ratings|Fitch]].{{cn|date=April 2025}}

Lee Kuan Yew said in 1992: "Through [[Hong Kong]] watching, I concluded that state welfare and subsidies blunted the individual's drive to succeed. I watched with amazement the ease with which Hong Kong workers adjusted their salaries upwards in boom times and downwards in recessions. I resolved to reverse course on the welfare policies which my party had inherited or copied from [[Labour Party (UK)|British Labour Party]] policies".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nzbr.org.nz/documents/speeches/speeches-99/optimism_for_the_new-millennium.doc.htm |title=Optimism for the New Millennium. |date=9 December 1999 |access-date=10 May 2006 |publisher=Rotary Club of Wellington North |author=Roger Kerr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060307184005/http://www.nzbr.org.nz/documents/speeches/speeches-99/optimism_for_the_new-millennium.doc.htm |archive-date=7 March 2006}}</ref>

Notably, since Singapore's independence in 1965, the party has also supported the creation of [[state-owned enterprise]]s, known within Singapore as [[List of government-owned companies|Government-linked Corporations (GLCs)]], in order to jumpstart [[industrialisation]], spearhead [[economic development]] and lead to [[economic growth]] (primarily [[job creation]]) in various sectors of the [[Economy of Singapore|Singaporean economy]] as there was a lack of private sector funds and expertise, particularly in the early years of nationhood. Various GLCs were formed to pursue strategic sectors such as in ship building and repair ([[Sembcorp Marine]], [[Keppel Corporation]]), aviation and defence ([[Singapore Airlines]], [[ST Engineering]]), telecommunications ([[Singtel]]), real estate ([[CapitaLand]]) and development finance ([[DBS Bank]]) amongst others. In addition, various GLCs were set up as [[Public–private partnership|private-public partnerships]], notable as joint ventures or strategic alliances with foreign companies or investors with relevant expertise, particularly in the [[petrochemical]]s and [[Oil refinery|oil refining]] industries.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ling |first1=Hui Tan |last2=D. Ramirez |first2=Carlos |title=Singapore, Inc. Versus the Private Sector: Are Government-Linked Companies Different? |url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2003/wp03156.pdf |website=imf.org |publisher=[[International Monetary Fund]] |access-date=8 January 2024 |date=July 2003}}</ref>

===Social policies===
Since the early years of the PAP's rule, the idea of [[Survivalism|survival]] as a small and vulnerable country with hostile neighbours has been a central theme of [[Politics of Singapore|Singaporean politics]]. According to Diane Mauzy and R. S. Milne, most analysts of Singapore have discerned four major [[ideologies]] of the PAP, namely [[Realpolitik|pragmatism]], [[meritocracy]], [[multiracialism]] and [[Asian values]]/[[communitarianism]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=Christopher Tremewan|year=1996|title=The Political Economy of Social Control in Singapore (St. Anthony's Series)|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=978-0-312-15865-1|page=105}}</ref> The PAP also [[Civic nationalism|advocates nationalism not based on ethnocentrism]], encouraging a united Singaporean identity while also recognising the [[Demographics of Singapore|main ethnic groups that make up the country]].<ref name="civnat"/>

In January 1989, then President [[Wee Kim Wee]] in his opening address to the [[7th Parliament of Singapore]] stated that Singapore must adopt a set of shared national values. He was of the view that a national ideology was useful to bond Singaporeans together by preserving the cultural heritage of the core communities of Singapore, and upholding certain common values that would capture the essence of being a Singaporean.<ref name="SV">{{cite web |last=Tin Seng |first=Lim |title=Shared Values |url=https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/article-detail?cmsuuid=194d7f99-c8b6-408e-86cf-8ebfb8547d28 |website=www.nlb.gov.sg |publisher=[[National Library Board]] |access-date=8 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240108063620/https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/article-detail?cmsuuid=194d7f99-c8b6-408e-86cf-8ebfb8547d28 |archive-date=8 January 2024}}</ref> In response, the government set up a committee as a follow-up to Wee's proposal, and in January 1991, the PAP formally introduced a [[white paper]] on "Shared Values" for the country, which consists of five national values to forge a national identity.<ref name="SV"/> These values were: nation before community and society above self; family as the basic unit of society; regard and community support for the individual; consensus instead of contention, and racial and religious harmony. They were also set as a contrast against the "more Westernised, individualistic, and self-centred outlook on life" and to uphold the "traditional Asian ideas of morality, duty and society".<ref name="SV"/>

At an Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) dialogue held on 2 July 2015 and chaired by [[Fareed Zakaria]], Prime Minister [[Lee Hsien Loong]] spoke about the need to maintain a [[Jeffersonian democracy|Jeffersonian]] [[Meritocracy|natural aristocracy]] in the system to instill a culture of respect and to avoid [[anarchy]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Transcript of Dialogue with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the SG50+ Conference on 2 July 2015 |url=https://www.pmo.gov.sg/Newsroom/transcript-dialogue-prime-minister-lee-hsien-loong-sg50-conference-2-july-2015 |work=Prime Minister's Office |access-date=8 January 2024 |date=27 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/china/2015/09/03/unnatural-aristocrats|title=Unnatural aristocrats|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=28 July 2018 |archive-date=28 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180728201035/https://www.economist.com/china/2015/09/03/unnatural-aristocrats|url-status=live}}</ref> In November 2019, Lee stated at a party convention that the PAP must not allow the "disconnect between the masses and the elite seen in other countries to take root in Singapore".<ref>{{cite web |last=Tee |first=Zhuo |title=PAP must not allow split between masses and elite to take root, says PM Lee Hsien Loong |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/pap-convention-pap-must-not-allow-split-between-masses-and-elite-to-take-root-says-pm-lee |website=The Straits Times |access-date=8 January 2024 |date=10 November 2019}}</ref> During the election campaign in July 2020, Lee's estranged brother over [[38 Oxley Road]], [[Lee Hsien Yang]], accused the PAP of [[elitism]] as one of his explanations of joining the [[Progress Singapore Party]] (PSP).<ref>{{cite web |author=Faris Mokhtar |title=Singapore election: Lee Hsien Yang says PAP blind to 'real anger' |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3092211/singapore-election-pms-brother-lee-hsien-yang-says-pap |website=South China Morning Post |publisher=Bloomberg |access-date=8 January 2024 |date=7 July 2020}}</ref> In a 2024 interview, Lee Hsien Loong criticised "[[woke]]ness", claiming that it "causes life to be burdensome" and saying that "he did not want Singapore to go in that direction".<ref>{{cite web |author=Anthony Chia |date=16 May 2024 |title=PM Lee Hsien Loong's Interview with Local Media – Section 3: Social Safety Nets and Social Cohesion (May 2024) |url=https://www.pmo.gov.sg/Newsroom/PM-Lee-Hsien-Loong-English-Interview-Social-Safety-Nets-and-Social-Cohesion-May-2024 |access-date=21 February 2025 |website=Prime Minister's Office Singapore}}</ref>

===Views on other ideologies===
Particularly during the climate of the [[Cold War]], the party was openly hostile to [[communist]] or [[left-wing]] political ideologies despite a brief joint alliance with the [[Labour movement|pro-labour]] co-founders of the PAP during the party's early years, who were eventually [[Operation Coldstore|accused of being communists and arrested]]. Nevertheless, Singapore formally joined the [[Non-Aligned Movement]] (NAM) in 1970 and did not openly align with the [[Capitalist Bloc]]. In 1987, as part of [[Operation Spectrum]], the PAP government arrested various individuals under accusations of plotting to overthrow the government and to establish a [[communist state]]. Since the 2010s, the party while remaining largely conservative was seen by some observers as to have adopted a more [[Centre-left politics|centre-left]] tack in certain areas in order to remain electorally dominant.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Azhar|first1=Saeed|last2=Chalmers|first2=John|title=Singapore's rulers hope a nudge to the left will keep voters loyal|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-election/singapores-rulers-hope-a-nudge-to-the-left-will-keep-voters-loyal-idUSKCN0R60XS20150906|access-date=21 November 2017|work=[[Reuters]]|date=6 September 2015|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201034259/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-singapore-election/singapores-rulers-hope-a-nudge-to-the-left-will-keep-voters-loyal-idUSKCN0R60XS20150906|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[socialism]] practised by the PAP during its first few decades in power was of a pragmatic kind as characterised by the party's rejection of [[nationalisation]]. According to [[Chan Heng Chee]], by the late 1970s the intellectual credo of the government rested explicitly upon a philosophy of self-reliance, similar to the [[rugged individualism]] of the [[Anglo-Saxon model|American brand of capitalism]]. Despite this, the PAP still claimed to be a [[socialist party]], pointing out its regulation of the private sector, activist intervention in the economy and social policies as evidence of this.<ref>Driven by Growth: Political Change in the Asia-Pacific Region edited by James W. Morley</ref> In 1976, the PAP formally resigned from the [[Socialist International]] (SI) after the [[Labour Party (Netherlands)|Dutch Labour Party]] had initially proposed to expel the PAP on allegations of [[indefinite detention]] of [[political prisoner]]s, alluding to [[Chia Thye Poh]].<ref>{{cite web|title=PAP bows out of Socialist International |url=http://www.wp.org.sg/news/news_articles/pap_socialistint.htm |publisher=[[Workers' Party of Singapore]] |date=June 1976 |access-date=4 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070917160621/http://www.wp.org.sg/news/news_articles/pap_socialistint.htm |archive-date=17 September 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=1 June 1976 |title=Main Singapore Party Quits The Socialist International |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/01/archives/main-singapore-party-quits-the-socialist-international.html |access-date=12 March 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===Symbolism===
The PAP symbol, which is a [[Flash and circle|red flash and blue circle]] on white, stands for action inside multicultural unity. It also appears on party flags on parades. PAP members at party rallies have customarily worn a uniform of white shirts and white trousers which symbolises incorruptibility and purity of the party's ideologies of the government.<ref>{{cite web |title=Our Party |url=https://www.pap.org.sg/our-party/ |website=People's Action Party |access-date=8 November 2021}}</ref> [[Lee Kuan Yew]] acknowledged that the Flash and Circle was adopted from the [[British Union of Fascists]], but that the colors where changed to better represent the PAP.<ref>{{cite news |last=Burton |first=John |date=7 May 2006 |title=Observer from Singapore |url=https://www.ft.com/content/297c2b22-ddee-11da-af29-0000779e2340 |work=[[Financial Times]] |location=London |access-date=3 November 2023}}</ref>