The People's Action Party (abbrev: PAP; simplified Chinese: 人民行动党; traditional Chinese: 人民行動黨; pinyin: Rénmín Xíngdòng Dǎng; Malay: Parti Tindakan Rakyat; Tamil: மக்கள் செயல் கட்சி) has been Singapore's ruling political party since 1959. It is one of the two major parties in Singapore, the other being the Workers' Party.
Since the 1963 general elections, the PAP has dominated Singapore's parliamentary democracy and has been central to the city-state's rapid political, social, and economic development. However, it has been criticized for the passing of laws that suppress free speech and other civil liberties.
In the 2011 Singapore general election, the PAP won 81 of the 87 constituency elected (99 total) seats in the Parliament of Singapore while receiving 60.14% of total votes cast, the lowest share garnered since independence.
Read more about People's Action Party: Political Development, Organization, Ideology, Leadership
Famous quotes containing the words people, action and/or party:
“When people put their ballots in the boxes, they are, by that act, inoculated against the feeling that the government is not theirs. They then accept, in some measure, that its errors are their errors, its aberrations their aberrations, that any revolt will be against them. It’s a remarkably shrewed and rather conservative arrangement when one thinks of it.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)
“Power is action; the electoral principle is discussion. No political action is possible when discussion is permanently established.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)
“The party out of office becomes the articulate one.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)