1. Swee, Goh Keng, Urban Incomes and Housing, A Report on the Social Survey of Singapore, 1953–54 (Singapore: Government Printing Office, 1958). p. 131Google Scholar. The minimum established was a very modest one. For example, the acceptable minimum food expenditure per month for males 12 years or older was M$18.00. (The exchange rate is approximately M$3.03 to US$1.00).

2. Figures quoted by DrSwee, Goh Keng in Some Problems of Industrialization, Towards Socialism, Vol. 7, A Ministry of Culture Series (Singapore: Government Printing Office, 1963), p. 1.Google Scholar

3. The 1963 and 1964 figures are taken from the Monthly Digest of Statistics, Vol. II, No. 11 (11, 1965), p. 14.Google Scholar

4. August 9, 1965.

5. Transcript of a speech made to the Printing Employees' Union, October, 17, 1965, p. 6. For more information on the economic problem, cf. Gamer, Robert E., “Urgent Singapore, Patient Malaysia”, International Journal (Toronto), Vol XXI, No. 1, Winter, 1966.Google Scholar

6. As of October, 1966, the Barisan Sosialis were the only opposition party holding seats in Parliament. They controlled nine seats. However, as two M.P.'s are detained by the Government for security reasons and two others are in hiding for fear of being detained, this left only five to resume their seats when and if the party decided to return to Parliament. On October 8, 1966, all nine of these Barisan members resigned their seats, though not all of these resignations have yet been officially recognized. The People's Action Party controls the remaining forty-two seats. The PAP, led by Lee Kuan Yew, has governed Singapore since June, 1959. In the most recent state-wide elections held in September, 1963, the Barisan and PAP together received 80.1% of the popular vote, the Barisan receiving 33.2%.

7. In 1959, thirteen parties contested the elections. Nine of these parties together received only 4.6% of the votes. In 1963, for four minor parties, the combined percentage of the total valid vote was 1.8%. In the same election, the Alliance Singapura received 8.4% of the vote. The PAP and Barisan percentages have been previously given in footnote 6.

The United People's Party, led by the former PAP mayor of Singapore, Ong Eng Guan, was the other party to contest the 1963 elections. This is the only election it has ever contested. The UPP received 8.4% of the vote. The UPP was, in many ways, a one-man party which is now, for all practical purposes, defunct. The only candidate this party elected to the Legislative Assembly was Ong Eng Guan and he resigned from the legislature in June, 1965, thereby occasioning the Hong Lim by-election.

8. In the 1948 elections, the Progressives won 3 of the 6 popularly contested seats. The three other non-appointive seats were filled by the Chambers of Commerce. In 1951, the Progressives won 6 of the 9 contested seats. Of the 25 elected members of the 1955–59 Legislative Assembly, only 4 were Progressives.

9. In 1958, four lib-Soc members of the legislative Assembly left the opposition benches to support what was now the SPA government. This increased the feeling that the SPA was a party of the “right”. The Chief Minister and leader of the SPA, Lim Yew Hock, hoped to create a grand alliance in opposition to the PAP, but this proved unsuccessful.

10. This party formed the government in April, 1955, changing its name to Singapore People's Alliance in late 1958 and continuing in power through May, 1959.

11. “The Democratic Party… is a Party conceived in the Millionaire Tanjong Rhu Mess, and born and bred in the Millionaire Ee Ho Hean Club”. Progressive Party pre-election broadcast, 03 28, 1955, p. 4 (unpublished manuscript).Google Scholar

12. The “Rendel” Constitution went into effect in February, 1955. It was replaced by a more liberal constitution in 1959 which gave Singapore self-government except in matters of defense, foreign relations and internal security, in the latter instance Singapore having a voice in decisions.

13. The Straits Times, 09 21, 1963.Google Scholar

14. The Straits Times, 01 6, 1966.Google Scholar

15. Mr. Bani had been detained for security reasons since 1963, but continued to hold his seat in the legislature. He was released from detention in January, 1966, and took a post as a director of the PAP's Political Studies Centre.

16. In 1948, 13,458 persons voted; 45.3% of these were Indians. In 1951, 25,065 ballots were cast. By 1955, over 300,000 were believed eligible to vote and 158,154 persons exercised this right. In 1959, with compulsory voting and a new citizenship law in effect, 527,921 persons voted.

17. The Straits Times, 06 14, 1955.Google Scholar

18. “Some of the Problems Arising from the Present Political Work”. (Mimeographed, 1957).Google Scholar

19. For alleged Communist penetration of the PAP, see Singapore Legislative Assembly, The Communist Threat in Singapore, Sessional Paper No. Command 33 of 1957 (Singapore: Government Printing Office, 1957).Google Scholar

20. For a discussion of political competition as an instrument both of consensus and cleavage see Berelson, Bernard R., Lazarsfeld, Paul F. and McPhee, William N., Voting (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1954), pp. 318–320Google Scholar. If political issues cut deeply into society and are almost completely reinforced by other social identifications, consensus is not created, or if it exists, is quickly eliminated.

21. The Hong Lim by-election occurred in July, 1965, after Ong Eng Guan, a former leader of the PAP, a rival of Lee Kuan Yew's, and founder of the United People's Party, resigned from the Legislative Assembly. Ong did not contest the by-election. Only two candidates were entered: K. C. Lee for the PAP, and Ong Chang Sam for the Barisan. K. C. Lee received 59.5% of the vote. The election attracted not only island-wide, but Malaysian-wide attention.