Singapore People's Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Malay name | Parti Rakyat Singapura |
| Chinese name | 新加坡人民党 Xīnjiāpō Rénmín Dǎng |
| Tamil name | சிங்கப்பூர் மக்கள் கட்சி Ciṅkappūr Makkaḷ Kaṭci |
| Chairman | Melvyn Chiu |
| Secretary-General | Steve Chia[1][2] |
| Vice-Chairman | Lina Chiam |
| Founder | Sin Kek Tong |
| Founded | 21 November 1994; 31 years ago (21 November 1994) |
| Split from | Singapore Democratic Party |
| Headquarters | 28 Sin Ming Lane, #03-142, Midview City, Singapore 573972 |
| Colours | Purple |
| Parliament | 0 / 104 |
| Website | |
| https://singaporepeoplesparty.org/ | |
TheSingapore People's Party (abbreviation:SPP) is apolitical party inSingapore.
SPP was founded in 1994 bySin Kek Tong who left theSingapore Democratic Party (SDP) with various SDP members after internal conflicts in SDP. The leadership was held by Sin untilChiam See Tong left SDP in December 1996 and Chiam assumed leadership.
SPP was founded on 21 November 1994 bySin Kek Tong, who led a pro-Chiam See Tong faction out of theSingapore Democratic Party (SDP). Over two years, Sin stood as the pro-tem leader until Chiam joined the party and assumed leadership in December 1996, at the time the Parliament was dissolved ahead of the1997 general election. Chiam then became the party's firstMember of Parliament (MP) when he won the constituency ofPotong Pasir at the election, where he also did under the SDP banner.
In 2001, the SPP became a founding member of theSingapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), along with theNational Solidarity Party (NSP), theSingapore Justice Party (SJP) and theSingapore Malay National Organisation (PKMS). Chiam became the founding Chairman of SDA, which aimed to provide a common grouping under which different opposition parties could stand as a political coalition in elections against the rulingPeople's Action Party (PAP).
At the2001 general election, Chiam was returned to Parliament as MP for Potong Pasir. Though Chiam was the only SDA member to win an elected seat in Parliament, he was joined in Parliament by SDA memberSteve Chia (leader of the National Solidarity Party) who became anon-constituency MP after securing 34.6% of the votes in the constituency ofChua Chu Kang, which was the highest percentage of the vote secured by a losing opposition candidate at the election. The result made Chiam thede facto leader of the opposition in Parliament, as the SDA had two representatives (Chiam and Chia), whereas the only other opposition party represented in Parliament (theWorkers' Party) had only one (Hougang MPLow Thia Khiang).
At the2006 general election, Chiam was again re-elected as MP for Potong Pasir.[3] However, the SDA did not win any other seats. Though Chia increased his share of the vote in Chua Chu Kang to 39.63%, this was lower than the 43.9% gained by the Workers' Party inAljunied GRC. The role ofde facto leader of the opposition in Parliament therefore passed from Chiam to Low, the Workers' Party leader.
In 2009 and 2010, Chiam spoke of the possibility of havingReform Party (RP) to join the SDA and attempted to bring RP into SDA.[4][5] However, the rest of the leadership of SDA voted not to make a decision on the list of conditions.[5][6] In October 2010, Chiam replaced SDA's secretary general,Desmond Lim, withMohamad Hamim Aliyas during a central executive committee meeting of SPP.[7] SPP founder and chairmanSin Kek Tong said Chiam's move is due to Lim opposing RP joining the SDA.[7] However, in a SDA council meeting held shortly after, the council rejected the decision of Chiam and Lim remained as the secretary general of the SDA.[8]
On 2 March 2011, SPP withdrew from the coalition due to a few reasons. Prior to exiting the coalition, the SDA Council voted to relieve Chiam as chairman three days earlier due to his health reasons and voted not decide on a list of conditions for RP, which Chiam had invited, to join the SDA.[9][10]
At the2011 general election, Chiam announced his intention to lead his team to contest theBishan-Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency (GRC),[11] leaving his Potong Pasir ward to his wife,Lina Loh Woon Lee (Lina Chiam). This was Loh's debut in politics, despite supporting Chiam and campaigning with Chiam over his many years in politics. Chairman Sin was also fielded to contest the newly-formedHong Kah North SMC, a ward which was formerly part of theHong Kah GRC.
After polling day, the party was defeated in all of the contested constituencies, including Potong Pasir which was reclaimed by the PAP for the first time since 1984; consequently, Chiam's defeat ended his 27-year tenure in Parliament. However, Loh was offered a post for theNon-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) as a result of being the best performing opposition candidate (amongst unelected candidates) after narrowly losing the election by 49.64% to the PAP'sSitoh Yih Pin's 50.36% (a margin of 114 votes).[12] Overall, the SPP managed to clinch 41.42% (62,504 votes) of the total number of votes in the constituencies that it had contested.
Ahead of the2015 elections (due to be held on 11 September), Chiam announced that he would not stand as a candidate for the elections, for the first time since his debut in 1976.[13] Another opposition party, theDemocratic Progressive Party, that was led byBenjamin Pwee and Hamin Aliyas, joined the SPP to strengthen its team contesting Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC.[14] New candidateRavi Philemon replaced Sin as candidate for Hong Kah North, while Lina Chiam contested again in Potong Pasir.[15] Former NSP memberJeannette Chong-Aruldoss joined the party prior, and contestedMountbatten SMC just as Chong did in the 2011 elections.
However, the absence of Chiam in the election saw their party suffer another major setback, not only did the party fail to win a parliamentary seat, their scores were overseen by large swings towards the PAP, one of which was Potong Pasir, where Lina Chiam managed to secure only 33.59% (down from the previous election's 49.64%) of the valid votes. Compared to the Workers' Party's performances (ofEast Coast GRC,Fengshan SMC andPunggol East SMC), it was not enough for Lina Chiam to secure her NCMP seat for a second term, thus ending their party's presence in Parliament since the party foundation. In terms of the party's overall vote, they garnered only 27.08% of the votes cast, a swing of -14.34% from the previous election.
On 1 March 2017, the party reported that former party's chairman Sin had died fromprostate cancer two days earlier.[16] In January 2018, it was reported that Jose Raymond, a former Press Secretary toVivian Balakrishnan (who also served as Chief Executive of the Singapore Environment Council and currentMinister of Foreign Affairs), had joined the SPP.
On 4 September 2019, Chiam announced that he would be stepping down from the secretary-general position due to declining health, while Lina Chiam would be stepping down from the chairman position.[17] The party's Facebook announced that they would be electing new leadership.[18] On 16 October 2019, during the party's biennial Ordinary Party Conference, Chiam and Chong-Aruldoss stepped down from the party's Central Executive Committee (CEC).[19] Four new faces were elected into the CEC.[20] On 5 November 2019, Chia was elected as the new Secretary-General of the Singapore People's Party, along with Raymond as Chairman.[1][2]
Following the general election on 10 July 2020, the party lost to the PAP for the third consecutive election, on both of the contested constituencies (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC[21] and Potong Pasir SMC[22]), despite seeing a small vote swing against the PAP. Their party improved their vote share in the contested wards to 33.83%.
On 22 December 2020, Chairman Raymond announced that he would be retiring from politics, while revealing that the Assistant Secretary-General, Ariffin Sha, had resigned from the party in August.[23] Vice-Chairman Williiamson Lee became Acting Chairman, while Ariffin's position was not filled. The SPP CEC accepted the resignations on 17 January 2021 and co-opted Khan Osman Sulaiman and Melvyn Chiu.[24]
The SPP contested five seats in GE2025. Steve Chia led a four-man team in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, consisting of himself, Melvyn Chiu, Lim Rui Xian and Muhammad Norhakim; ultimately securing 24.82% of the vote (21,944 votes) against the incumbent PAP team led by then-Minister for TransportChee Hong Tat. Williiamson Lee also contested Potong Pasir SMC, securing 22.46% of the vote (6,261 votes) against the incumbent PAP'sAlex Yeo and PAR'sLim Tean.[25]
Following the release of the election results, Secretary-General Steve Chia was notably disappointed with the outcome. In an interview with the Straits Times, he was said to have "mulled over deregistering the party", having described the results as being "very bleak".[26]
| Title | Name |
|---|---|
| Chairperson | Melvyn Chiu |
| Vice-Chairperson | Lina Chiam |
| Secretary-General | Steve Chia |
| Assistant Secretary-General | Chiam See Tong |
| Treasurer | Williiamson Lee |
| Assistant Treasurer | Eddy Tan |
| Organising Secretary | Yen Kim Khooi |
| Assistant Organising Secretary | Ricky Toh |
| Social Media Secretary | Kathleen Cheong |
| Members | Yong Seng Fatt |
| Shah Shafie | |
| Jalil Wari |
| No | Name | Constituency | Length of service (cumulative) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chiam See Tong | Potong Pasir SMC | 1984 - 2011 |
| 2 | Lina Chiam | Non-Constituency Member of Parliament | 2011 - 2015 |
Due to a merger with theSingapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) in the 2001 and 2006 elections, collective figures represent the SDA total inclusive of the SPP, while figures in parenthesis/brackets refer to the SPP only.
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | NCMPs | Position | Result | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contested | Total | +/– | |||||||||
| Seats | Won | Lost | |||||||||
| 1997 | Chiam See Tong | 16,746 | 2.3% | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 / 83 |  1 | 0 / 1 | 5th | Opposition |
| 2001 | 75,248 | 12.03% | 13 (4) | 1 (1) | 12 (3) | 1 / 84 |  | 1 / 1 | 2nd | Opposition | |
| 2006 | 145,628 | 12.96% | 20 (8) | 1 (1) | 19 (7) | 1 / 84 | | 0 / 1 |  3rd | Opposition | |
| 2011 | 62,639 | 3.11% | 7 | 0 | 7 | 1 / 87 | | 1 / 3 | 5th | Opposition | |
| 2015 | Lina Chiam | 49,107 | 2.17% | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 / 89 | 1 | 0 / 3 | 7th | No seats |
| 2020 | Steve Chia | 37,998 | 1.52% | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 / 93 | | 0 / 2 | 8th | No seats |
| 2025 | 28,029 | 1.17% | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 / 97 | | 0 / 2 | 8th | No seats | |
| Election | Constituencies contested | Contested vote %[27] | +/– |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | SMC:Ayer Rajah,Bukit Gombak,Potong Pasir | 27.2% | — |
| 2001 | 5-member GRC:Jalan Besar,Tampines;SMC:Bukit Timah,Chua Chu Kang,Potong Pasir | 27.6% | — |
| 2006 | 6-member GRC:Pasir Ris-Punggol;5-member GRC: Jalan Besar, Tampines;SMC: Chua Chu Kang,MacPherson,Potong Pasir,Yio Chu Kang | 32.5% | 4.9% |
| 2011 | 5-member GRC:Bishan-Toa Payoh;SMC:Hong Kah North,Potong Pasir | 41.1% | — |
| 2015 | 5-member GRC: Bishan-Toa Payoh;SMC: Hong Kah North,Mountbatten, Potong Pasir | 27.1% | 14.0% |
| 2020 | 4-member GRC: Bishan-Toa Payoh;SMC: Potong Pasir | 33.9% | 6.8% |
| 2025 | 4-member GRC: Bishan-Toa Payoh;SMC: Potong Pasir |
Parenthesis indicate seats represented in theParliament of Singapore | |||||
| Active |
| ||||
| Defunct |
| ||||
| Dissolved | |||||
Notes:† The party has yet to contest in an election. | |||||
