Singapore Alliance Party

Singapore Alliance
Malay name	Perikatan Singapura
Chinese name	新加坡联盟 Xīnjiāpō Liánméng
Tamil name	சிங்கப்பூர் கூட்டணி Ciṅkappūr kūṭṭaṇi
Founded	2 June 1961 (1961-06-02)
Legalised	24 June 1963 (1963-06-24)
Headquarters	Singapore
Ideology	Conservatism (Malaysian) Social conservatism National conservatism Economic liberalism
Political position	Right-wing
National affiliation	Alliance Party (until 1965)
Colours	Royal blue   Sky white
Politics of Singapore Political parties Elections

The Singapore Alliance Party (abbreviation: SAP), or simply the Singapore Alliance, was a political alliance in Singapore. It was formed on 2 June 1961 with the support of the ruling Alliance Party in Malaya along with the leader of the opposition Lim Yew Hock, who saw the merger with Malaya for Singapore's to be a Malaysian state synonymous to Penang or Malacca.

SAP consisted of the local branch of Malaya's United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), Malay Union (MU), local chapters of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA), Malayan Indian Congress (MIC), and Lim's Singapore People's Alliance (SPA). It was notable for contesting the 1963 general election with a large number of candidates but was ultimately unpopular with voters, having failed to win any seats.

History

The alliance was formalised on 24 June 1963 as the Singaporean component of the ruling Alliance Party in Malaya. Its campaign policy during the 1963 general election was similar to what the UMNO had used during the federal elections. They had alleged that the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) had "manifestly mistreated the Malays", who are a minority race in Singapore in contrast to Malaya. While the SAP also supported merger with the Federation of Malaya and was anti-Communist, it sought to extend the same model of communal politics in Peninsular Malaysia onto Singapore. Unlike the then-left-leaning and democratic socialist PAP, it was identified with the political right with a more racial focus.

1963 election

Prior to the 1963 election, SAP's constituent parties had held seven seats with SPA holding four seats and the Singapore branch of UMNO holding three seats in the Malay-dominated areas of Geylang Serai, Kampong Kembangan, and the Southern Islands. During the 1963 general election, SAP performed poorly despite contesting a majority of the seats with 42 candidates, it lost all the seats held by the constituent parties even in Malay-dominated areas. Lim Yew Hock himself, who created the alliance, did not stand for election. Nevertheless, SAP's participation in the 1963 election further heightened tensions between UMNO and the PAP as they had earlier agreed that neither side would participate in each other's elections until Malaya (now Malaysia), which Singapore was then an autonomous state of, became more politically mature.

Legacy

After the 1963 elections, SAP was left in the political wilderness, which was exacerbated when Singapore ceased to be a part of Malaysia on 9 August 1965. Lim Yew Hock became less involved in Singaporean politics and briefly moved to Malaya, where he converted to Islam and moved again to Saudi Arabia in his later years. The alliance was briefly reformed and re-registered as the "Alliance Party Singapura" in 1966, but did not contest further elections in a now independent Singapore and gradually faded from the political scene. In Malaysia, the Alliance Party was succeeded by Barisan Nasional (BN) in 1974, ruling the country further until 2018. Most of its component parties eventually ceased to operate with the exception of Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura (PKMS), which subsequently joined the fringe Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) and claims to be a party that supports Malay interests in Singapore.

Election results

Legislative Assembly

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Swing1	Seats						Position	Result
					Up for Contest	Contested			Total	+/–
						Seats	Won	Lost
1963	Lim Yew Hock	48,967	8.42%	66.4%	51	42	0	42	0 / 51	7	3rd	No seats

1. ^ Computed votes based on pre-election baseline (145,707) from 1959 general election performance of constituent parties SPA (107,755), UMNO (27,448), MCA (5,593), MU (2,819) and MIC (2,092) prior to SAP's formation.

Further reading

• Lau, Albert (1998). A Moment of Anguish: Singapore in Malaysia and the Politics of Disengagement. Singapore: Times Academic Press. ISBN 981-210-1349.
• Background of Singapore Alliance