S’pore Govt asks inactive political parties including Barisan Sosialis for proof of existence

SINGAPORE – A total of 14 dormant political parties, including Barisan Sosialis – once Singapore’s largest opposition party – have been asked for proof of their existence by the authorities.

In a notice published in the Government Gazette on Aug 7, assistant registrar of societies Ravinder Kaur asked for the information, “having reason to believe that the societies… have ceased to exist”.

The political parties have three months to furnish proof of their continued existence, failing which the registrar can then publish another notice in the Gazette to declare them as defunct under the Societies Act.

Barisan Sosialis, registered in August 1961, was formed by 13 former PAP assemblymen following their expulsion for abstaining from a Legislative Assembly vote on confidence in the government.

Several of its members, including party leader Lim Chin Siong, were among the more than 100 people arrested in Operation Coldstore – a security swoop against leftists and pro-communists on Feb 2, 1963.

At the 1963 General Election, Barisan won 13 of the 46 seats it contested. Following Singapore’s separation from Malaysia in 1965, its MPs boycotted Parliament as they deemed the Republic’s independence to be “phoney”.

Barisan then contested the 1972 General Election, but failed to win any seats. It was last represented at an election in 1984, and merged with the Workers’ Party in 1988.

Singapore Management University law professor Eugene Tan told The Straits Times that the Registry of Societies’ (ROS) move is likely to be regulatory housekeeping triggered by the implementation of the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (Fica).

At a time of legitimate concern over foreign interference, these dormant political parties could easily be “resuscitated” or even hijacked by malevolent actors, domestic or foreign, to contest in parliamentary elections, he noted.

This is because inactive parties effectively provide ready political platforms that could be used for covert and deceptive purposes that could ultimately affect the integrity of Singapore’s elections, added Prof Tan.

“As these inactive parties probably did not comply with (Fica’s) reporting requirements, the ROS has to proceed to ask for proof of their existence,” he said. “This is a step in the right direction in ensuring that dormant political parties do not become ‘sleeper’ political parties that could be used by actors with ill intent.”

He added: “This is regulatory housekeeping in my view, and it’s better late than never.”

Among the other parties called upon to provide proof of their existence was the United People’s Party (UPP), founded by former PAP leader Ong Eng Guan in July 1961 following his expulsion from the PAP.

As with Barisan, the UPP fielded 46 candidates in the 1963 General Election. It won one seat – Hong Lim, where Mr Ong was the incumbent. He left politics in 1965.

The only party on the list registered post-2000s was the People’s Liberal Democratic Party.

The party was registered by former independent candidate Ooi Boon Ewe on May 2, 2006, but the application to set up the party was approved too late for him to run in the election held that year.

Dormant political parties here have been revived in the past. At the 2015 General Election, the Democratic Progressive Party – which had been inactive for over a decade – formed a joint team with the Singapore People’s Party to contest Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC. The PAP won with 73.59 per cent of the vote.

The other political parties mentioned in the Gazette notice were: Alliance Party Singapura; National Party of Singapore; Partai Rakyat, Singapore State Division; Parti Kesatuan Ra’ayat (United Democratic Party); People’s Front; People’s Republican Party; Persatuan Melayu Singapura; Singapore Chinese Party; Singapore Indian Congress; United National Front; and United People’s Front.

The Straits Times has contacted the Ministry of Home Affairs, which the ROS comes under, for more information about the Gazette notice, such as the criteria used to judge if a society is defunct.