Сингапурдың «Барисан Сосиалис» партиясының тарихы

Barisan Sosialis was a political party in Singapore. It was formed on 29 July 1961 and officially registered on 13 August 1961 by left wing members of the People's Action Party (PAP) who had been expelled from the PAP. The prominent founding members of the Barisan were Lee Siew Choh and Lim Chin Siong. It became the biggest opposition party in Singapore in the 1960s and the 1980s. The main objectives of the Barisan included eradicating colonialism, establishing a united independent and democratic Malayan nation comprising the Federation of Malaya and Singapore and introducing an economic system to promote prosperity and stability in society. The party was merged into the Worker's Party in 1988.

Since its formation, the PAP was divided into the Lee Kuan Yew camp and the left wing camp led by Lim Chin Siong. The common ground of anti colonialism and independence of Singapore was the basis for the co operation between the two camps. Differences in their mass bases also encouraged such co operation. During the early years, the left wing camp mainly commanded support from the Chinese masses, rural people and trade unions, while support for Lee Kuan Yew's camp was mainly found in the English educated community. With the support of the working class, the PAP won the third most seats in the 1955 election and formed the main opposition. In 1959, with the support of the trade unions, the PAP won the election and formed the Government under Lee Kuan Yew. However, the two camps were ideologically and politically different in nature. During its formative years, the left wing members already showed their dissatisfaction with the policies carried out by Lee Kuan Yew and his failure to fulfill his promises to help secure the release of the left wing political detainees. Finally, the contentious issue of merger with Malaysia triggered the split within the PAP. On 27 May 1961, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of the Federation of Malaya, suggested the creation of a new Malaysia state consisting of the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei. The reactions towards merger within the PAP were divided. The merger with Malaysia was supported by the Lee Kuan Yew camp as a means of assuring Singapore's future security and prosperity, while opposed by the left wing camp as the merger was seen as an attempt to "wipe out the left wing forces in Singapore" (Interview with Dr Lee Siew Choh). The rupture within the PAP was widened by the Hong Lim and Anson by elections in 1961. Displeased with the PAP government's refusal to abolish the Internal Security Council (ISC), refusal to back down the merger plan and refusal to release the remaining political detainees, the PAP left wingers abandoned support for their own candidates in favour of Ong Eng Guan (in Hong Lim) and David Marshall (in Anson), which led to the PAP's defeat in the two by elections. After the Anson by election, the left wing camp planned to oust Lee Kuan Yew from the party but they worried that their actions would cause the British to hold up plans for Singapore's independence. As a result, the left wingers had a meeting with Lord Selkirk, the British Commissioner General at Eden Hall, which was later known as the "Eden Hall Tea Party". At the meeting, the left got assurance from Selkirk that Britain was committed to independence and would not intervene militarily to maintain control after the overthrow of Lee Kuan Yew's government.

While the Barisan didn't oppose the merger with Malaya, the party campaigned vigorously against the PAP government's merger terms with the Federation of Malaya. According to the merger terms agreed by the PAP government, Singapore would retain its autonomy in education and labour at the expense of the rights of Singapore citizens and seats in the new Federal Parliament. The Barisan Socialis wanted the Singapore citizens to automatically become Malayan citizens with proportional representation in the Federal Parliament. Barisan returned to contest the 1972 general election. However, it failed to win any seat in this and subsequent elections. It was clear that Barisan was no longer in a position to function effectively as a political party. In May 1988, the Barisan was dissolved into the Workers' Party of Singapore to strengthen the opposition and applied for dissolution. The application was denied approval as Barisan's constitution required all its branches to agree to the dissolution but none were left. Hence, it was left dormant since.

From the perspective of the PAP government, the Barisan was a communist controlled organisation which Lee Kuan Yew labelled as a "main open front communist organization" The ISC stated that the Barisan activists were indeed communist inspired and the Barisan was controlled by the Communists to sabotage the formation of Malaysia.

+ElectionSeats up for electionSeats contestedSeats wonChangeVotes contestedVotes polledVote shareSwingContested vote shareSwingResulting Government19635146new party551,908193,30133.24%new party35.02%new party

+ElectionSeats up for electionSeats contestedSeats wonChangeVotes contestedVotes polledVote shareSwingContested vote shareSwingResulting Government19687/580Barisan boycott of election197257/651013129,42834,4834.63%28.61% 26.64%8.38% 197653/69693,93825,4113.19%1.44%27.05%0.41%198038/75461,15216,4882.59%0.60%26.96%0.09%198449/79463,37824,2122.76%0.17%38.20%11.24%