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The Workers' Party of Singapore, or commonly abbreviated as '''WP''', is one of the largest opposition parties in Singapore , with 1 of the 84 elected seats in the current session of Parliament Of Singapore . The incumbent chairman of the WP is Sylvia Lim . The most seats in parliament WP has had in recent times were 2, from 1997 to 2001 , when J. B. Jeyaretnam was a Non-Constituency Member Of Parliament (NCMP). EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
HISTORY In 1957 , after the first Chief Minister Of Singapore and Labour Front leader David Saul Marshall resigned from all administrational duties due to the failed Merdeka Talks to seek self-governance for Singapore, Marshall continued in the pre-independence arena of Singapore politics by founding the Worker’s Party of Singapore. Since then, WP has opposed the People's Action Party (PAP) ever since. Based on Social Democracy , WP is considered left of centre. Its only MP at the moment is Low Thia Khiang , MP for Hougang SMC and also the current secretary-general (leader) of the party. WP had 4 MPs from 1957 to 1958 during the pre-independence period in the parliament. Obscurity succeeded the party after which, until it was being revived by a group of lawyers led by J.B. Jeyaretnam in 1972 . In 1981 the party was the first opposition party since Singapore's independence to win a seat through a by-election victory at Anson , by the then party leader J.B. Jeyaretnam , who kept his and the party's only seat in the general elections of 1984 and at last lost his seat after a financial conviction in 1986 . In 1987 , several of its party members were accused by the government of being Communists and were briefly detained by the Internal Security Department . They were released on condition that they would not enter politics again. Prior to the 1988 General Elections, the Barisan Sosialis Party and the Singapore United Front were absorbed into WP. As a result, Lee Siew Choh , the former head of the Barisan Sosialis Party , became a candidate for the Worker's Party. In the 1988 General Elections, the Worker's Party failed to win a seat but came close to winning the 3 seats in the Eunos GRC (Group Representation Constituency). One of the WP candidates, was the distinguished former head of the bar society, Francis Seow , who later fled to the United States after being accused by the government for Espionage , coinciding with the inauguration of the new scheme to allow opposition candidates to fill in the parliament as Non-Constituency Member Of Parliament (NCMP). Francis Seow, being the best losing opposition candidate and provided that opposition parties failed to win 3 seats or more, Lee Siew Choh took up the NCMP seat for the Worker's Party instead. Although NCMPs could not vote in parliament, Lee still took up several issues, including the Internal Security Act , living costs and welfare. In the 1991 General Elections , the PAP accused one of the party's candidates for the Eunos GRC, Mohhamed Jufrie , as a Malay Chauvinist , an accusation Jufrie profusely denied. The issue soon died down after the end of the elections as it was believed that the Singapore government did not want to be perceived by their Malaysian counterparts as bullying the Malays, who are a minority race in Singapore . Nonetheless, this did not affect the party's performance as it finally won a seat in Hougang by Low Thia Khiang , then the party's vice-secretary general. Together with 3 seats from the Singapore Democratic Party , the opposition won 4 out of 81 seats. Low Thia Khiang captured national attention for his performances in the Legislature in which he received praise and admiration for his assertiveness, good analytical abilities and his willingness to be constructive rather than oppose for the sake of opposing. In 1996, Lee Siew Choh left the party, citing irreconcilable differences with the party leader J.B. Jeyaretnam . In the 1997 General Elections, the party was plagued with unsolicited attention when one of its candidates Tang Liang Hong , a lawyer, was accused of being an anti-Christian and anti-Muslim Chinese Chauvinist by the ruling PAP . Tang, who insisted all “he was trying to do is to better represent the Chinese community and ask questions on their behalf”, has vigorously denied this charge and accused the PAP of trying to win votes by sowing fear on the electorate. Tang, who contested in the 5 seat Cheng San GRC alongside party leader J.B. Jeyaretnam , also attacked the PAP on the issue of the HPL Case . The HPL Case were allegations that the then Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and his wife took discounts while purchasing an apartment in the mid-1990s. Tang had made these allegations in a Chinese magazine ' Yazhou Zhoukan ', which later lost in a libel suit filed by Lee Kuan Yew and was ordered to pay damages. The PAP insisted as this issue had been discussed in parliament (in the presence of 4 opposition members) and it had been confirmed that it was common practice to take discounts while purchasing an apartment, thus clearing Lee Kuan Yew of any wrongdoing, Tang was obviously trying to milk this issue for political capital and promptly sued him for defamation. Tang was also sued for branding the PAP leadership as a bunch of liars. He was eventually sued by the whole PAP leadership for a total of S$13.6 million and fled to Australia soon after the elections. WP managed to hold the one seat it had won in the previous elections. As the opposition managed to win only 2 seats in the election, one NCMP seat was available and it went to J.B. Jeyaretnam , the best opposition designate, returning to parliament for the first time since 1986 . In 2001, Jeyaretnam lost his NCMP seat when he failed to pay damages owing to a libel suit in which he was sued for calling Indian PAP leaders as a bunch of stooges to the ruling PAP in a 1996 issue of the party newspaper 'The Hammer'. In the same year, Jeyaratnam resigned the party leadership and Low Thia Khiang succeeded him. The transfer of this post took place in bitter acrimony as Jeyaretnam later accused Low of not doing enough to help him pay the damages. In response, Low has always claimed he had always looked upon him as an elder and had done everything possible to help him. The members of the Worker's Party now wear blue shirts and black trousers or skirts to show its links with the blue collar workers. 2001 ELECTIONS Observers claimed with Low at the helm, the party would tone down its more hard-line stance and go for a more centrist outlook for the 2001 Elections . Indeed as soon as Low took over, while a faction supporting Jeyaretnam left the party, a group of younger and more educated persons were recruited into the organisation. Among them were James Gomez and Yaw Shin Leong . During the elections, due to technical mistakes, the party failed to contest the 5 seat Aljunied GRC. Nonetheless, the party managed to do well to defend its only seat at Hougang , won by Low. In 2002, the party managed to recruit Sylvia Lim , a law lecturer and celebrated its 45th anniversary, though without the presence of former party leader J.B. Jeyaretnam . 2006 ELECTIONS The Workers' Party (WP) launched its updated . The manifesto has since been attacked by the ruling PAP for containing ‘time-bombs.’ CNA In response, the Worker's Party has quipped that its manifesto contains time bombs that threaten the PAP's power. Low also revealed that the Workers' Party is planning to contest three Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) and 4 Single Member Constituencies (SMCs). The 3 GRCs are Ang Mo Kio, Aljunied, and East Coast, and the 3 SMCs are Nee Soon East, Nee Soon Central, Joo Chiat, and Hougang which is currently held by Low. On 27 April 2006, nomination day for the 2006 general election, the WP sent a team of 6 to challenge the stronghold of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at Ang Mo Kio . It is interesting to note that most of them in the team are in their 20s. The place is being contested for the first time in 15 years. Its decision to contest Ang Mo Kio comes as a bit of a surprise, as the opposition tends to stay away from GRCs helmed by heavyweight ministers. But WP has said it wanted to give Ang Mo Kio residents a chance to vote, a prime reason for contesting the GRC. {Link without Title} The rest of the WP team contesting in the general election 2006 can be found at their website. PARTY MANIFESTO 2006 In preparation for the upcoming election, the Workers' Party released its manifesto on 14 January 2006. {Link without Title} The manifesto presents a detailed description of the party's ideas, beliefs, and specific proposals under various topics including government, education and healthcare. The following lists but a few of the proposals in the manifesto. ;Government & civil liberties
;Justice, law and order
; Economic policy
; Society
; Health Care
; Education
; Public Housing
; Public Transport
; ARTS, MEDIA, INFORMATION AND NEW TECHNOLOGY
; Population
; LABOUR POLICY AND CPF
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