Editing People's Action Party (section)

===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.