1984 Singaporean general election

General elections were held in Singapore on 22 December 1984. The result was a victory for the People's Action Party, which won 77 of the 79 seats, marking the first time since 1963 that at least one opposition candidate was elected to parliament, although the first presence of opposition was in 1981.

1984 Singaporean general election
22 December 1984
79 (Only 49 contested) seats to the Parliament of Singapore
40 seats needed for a majority
Turnout95.6%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Lee Kuan Yew J.B. Jeyaretnam Chiam See Tong
Party PAP WP SDP
Leader's seat Tanjong Pagar Anson Potong Pasir
Last election 75 seats, 77.7% 0 seat, 6.2% 0 seat, 1.8%
Seats won 77 1 1
Seat change 2 1 1
Popular vote 568,310 110,868 32,102
Percentage 64.8% 12.6% 3.7%
Swing 12.9% 6.4% 1.9%
Prime Minister before election

Lee Kuan Yew
PAP

 Elected Prime Minister

Lee Kuan Yew
PAP

Singapore
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Background

In his 1983 National Day Rally speech, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew lamented that declining birth rates and large number of graduate women remaining single or not marrying their intellectual equal could see Singapore's talent pool shrink. The PAP government then proceeded to launch the "Graduate Mother Scheme" to entice graduate women with incentives to get married and grant graduate mothers priority in the best schools for their third child.[1] The proposal was met with anger by the Singapore public (including many female graduates) and the PAP government drew accusations of elitism. Notably, prominent PAP stalwarts like Deputy Prime Minister S. Rajaratnam and also ex-minister Toh Chin Chye expressed opposition to the proposal.[2][3]

In March 1984, Health Minister Howe Yoon Chong released a controversial proposal to raise the age for the withdrawal of Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings from 55 to 60 years. At a news conference on 26 March 1984, Howe reasoned that Singaporeans could not depend only on their children in their old age. That suggestion, part of the 54-page report of the Committee on the Problems of the Aged[4] which he chaired, was eventually dropped. Taking up the suggestions in the report, the Singapore Government subsequently introduced the Minimum Sum scheme. This allows workers to withdraw some of their CPF funds at age 55, setting aside a certain minimum sum which can only be withdrawn at retirement age, currently at 62 years.[5][6]

These controversial proposals sparked debate and uproar in the Singapore electorate and were said to have contributed to a big dip in PAP's support and its share of votes plunged by more than 10% to below 65%, the biggest fall and the lowest for PAP since the 1963 General Election. In his memoirs, Lee Kuan Yew recalled that the swing against the PAP was larger than what he expected.

New candidates/outgoing incumbents

Minister of Finance Hon Sui Sen died during his term on 14 October 1983 and his seat of Havelock was vacated, but no by-election was held on the constituency, and announced to be merged into Delta constituency. Tony Tan succeeded Hon as the new Finance Minister.

PM Lee's son Lee Hsien Loong (who went on to become the nation's third (and current) Prime Minister) made his debut in the seat of Teck Ghee, while PAP stalwarts Dr Goh Keng Swee and Ong Pang Boon stepped down. In the only election among several preceding and succeeding ones, the election deposit ($1,500) remained unchanged. The Workers' Party of Singapore (WP) secretary-general J. B. Jeyaretnam successfully retained the Anson constituency with an increased majority, while the Singapore Democratic Party made its first in-road into Parliament with the victory of Chiam See Tong, who would serve the Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency for the next 26 years until 2011.

Non-Constituency Member of Parliament scheme

A new Non-Constituency Member of Parliament scheme was introduced whereby between three and six seats, the exact number which was decided by the President of Singapore, would be offered to unsuccessful opposition candidates with the best scores and who garner at least 15% of the votes if any one party wins all the seats, subtracting one NCMP seat for every one opposition MP elected. Opposition parties dismissed the scheme for misleading voters into thinking that they could have opposition MPs without voting for them. M.P.D. Nair of WP who contested Jalan Kayu was the first to be offered but declined. The offer was then made to Singapore United Front's Tan Chee Kien who contested Kaki Bukit, who also declined, and no further offers were made.

Timeline
Date Event
4 DecemberDissolution of the 5th Parliament
12 DecemberNomination Day
22 DecemberPolling day
25 February 1985Opening of 6th Parliament

Electoral boundaries
See also: List of Singaporean electoral divisions (1984–88)

The newer constituencies are those with rapid developments of Ang Mo Kio, Tampines, Jurong East, Bedok & Jurong West (smaller developments), while other constituencies were dissolved, which was reflected in the table:

ConstituencyChanges
New Constituencies
Bo WenFormed from Ang Mo Kio, Kebun Baru & Yio Chu Kang
ChangkatFormed from Tampines & Kaki Bukit
EunosFormed from Kaki Bukit & Tampines
FengshanFormed from Bedok, Kampong Chai Chee & Tanah Merah
Hong KahFormed from Boon Lay
Teck GheeFormed from Ang Mo Kio & Chong Boon
YuhuaFormed from Boon Lay & Bukit Timah
Defunct Constituencies
Bukit Ho SweeAbsorbed to Tiong Bahru and Kim Seng
HavelockAbsorbed to Delta
KatongAbsorbed to Joo Chiat and Mountbatten

New/Outgoing MP
Outgoing MPsNew MPs
Retiring
  • Abdul Rahim Ishak (Siglap)
  • Chan Chee Seng (Jalan Besar)
  • Chau Sik Ting (Thomson)
  • Chiang Hai Deng (Ulu Pandan)
  • Chor Yeok Eng (Bukit Timah)
  • Goh Keng Swee (Kreta Ayer)
  • Ho See Beng (Khe Bong)
  • Howe Yoon Chong (Potong Pasir)
  • Hwang Soo Jin (Jalan Kayu)
  • Joseph Francis (Katong)^
  • Lee Khoon Choy (Braddell Heights)
  • Michael Liew (Boon Teck)
  • Mohammad Kasim Abdul Jabbar (Radin Mas)
  • Mohammad Mansor bin Sukaimi (Kampong Kembangan)
  • P Selvadurai (Kuo Chuan)
  • Rohan Kamis (Telok Blangah)
  • Saidi bin Shariff (Kaki Bukit)
  • Seah Mui Kok (Bukit Ho Swee)^
  • Sia Kah Hui (Paya Lebar)

Deceased

^Note : A caret indicates that the constituency was removed and absorbed to other wards.

Results

Excluding the 30 uncontested constituencies, the voter turnout was 95.6%, with 63.2% of the total electorate casting their votes.[7]

Party Candidates Votes % Swing Seats +/–
People's Action Party79568,31064.8-12.977+2
Workers' Party15110,86812.6+6.41+1
Singapore United Front1387,23710.0+5.700
Singapore Democratic Party432,1023.7+1.91+1
United People's Front827,2173.1-1.400
Barisan Sosialis424,2122.8+0.200
Singapore Justice Party210,9061.2+0.400
Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura14,7680.5-1.600
Angkatan Islam13590.0New0New
Independents310,5861.2New0New
Invalid/blank votes-26,394––––
Total130909,980100-79+4
Registered voters/turnout-944,62495.6–––
Source: Singapore Elections

References
  1. "Policies for the bedroom and beyond". Today. 23 March 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  2. "Policies for the bedroom and beyond". Today. 23 March 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  3. "Reproductive Rights". AWARE. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  4. Committee on the Problems of the Aged (1984). Problems of the Aged : Report of the Committee on the Problems of the Aged. Singapore: Ministry of Health. ISBN 9971-88-022-9.
  5. "Former Cabinet Minister Howe Yoon Chong dies at age 84". Channel NewsAsia. 21 August 2007. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
  6. "Late Howe Yoon Chong cared deeply for country's development: PM Lee". Channel NewsAsia. 22 August 2007. Retrieved 23 August 2007.
  7. Dieter Nohlen; Florian Grotz; Christof Hartmann (15 November 2001). Elections in Asia and the Pacific : A Data Handbook: Volume II: South East Asia, East Asia, and the South Pacific. OUP Oxford. p. 255. ISBN 978-0-19-924959-6.
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