1984 Singaporean general election explained

Country:	Singapore
Type:	parliamentary
Previous Election:	1980 Singaporean general election
Previous Year:	1980
Outgoing Members:	5th Parliament of Singapore
Next Election:	1988 Singaporean general election
Next Year:	1988
Elected Members:	6th Parliament of Singapore
Election Date:	22 December 1984
Registered:	944,624
Turnout:	95.65% (0.15pp)
Seats For Election:	All 79 directly elected seats in Parliament (and up to 3 NCMPs)
Image1:	Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore Making a Toast at a State Dinner Held in His Honor, 1975.jpg
Leader1:	Lee Kuan Yew
Party1:	People's Action Party
Last Election1:	77.66%, 75 seats
Seats1:	77
Seat Change1:	2
Popular Vote1:	568,310
Percentage1:	64.83%
Swing1:	12.83pp
Leader2:	J. B. Jeyaretnam
Party2:	Workers' Party of Singapore
Last Election2:	6.22%, 0 seats
Seats2:	1
Seat Change2:	1
Popular Vote2:	110,868
Percentage2:	12.65%
Swing2:	6.43pp
Image3:	ChiamSeeTong-SDARally-20060502.jpg
Leader3:	Chiam See Tong
Party3:	Singapore Democratic Party
Last Election3:	1.77%, 0 seats
Seats3:	1
Seat Change3:	1
Popular Vote3:	32,102
Percentage3:	3.66%
Swing3:	1.89pp
Prime Minister
Posttitle:	Prime Minister after election
Before Election:	Lee Kuan Yew
After Election:	Lee Kuan Yew
Before Party:	People's Action Party
After Party:	People's Action Party

General elections were held in Singapore on 22 December 1984. President Devan Nair dissolved parliament on 4 December 1984 on the advice of Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. 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 in a general election, although the first presence of an opposition MP was in the 1981 Anson by-election.

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 Mothers' 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, and even eugenics. 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 12.9% to below 64.8%, the biggest fall and the lowest for PAP since the 1963 general elections (this remains the largest anti-PAP swing ever in a seriously contested general election as of 2020). 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 Prime Minister) made his debut in the newly formed Teck Ghee constituency, 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 of $1,500 remained unchanged. The Workers' Party 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.

With the creation of the scheme, this also began a continuing trend in which three political parties were represented in Parliament with the exception of 1986–1988 (due to the disqualification of sole Workers' Party MP J. B. Jeyaretnam in 1986) and 2015–2020 (when the Workers' Party was the sole opposition party with MPs).

Timeline

Date	Event
4 December	Dissolution of the 5th Parliament
12 December	Nomination Day
22 December	Polling day
25 February 1985

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:

Constituency	Changes
New Constituencies
	Formed from Ang Mo Kio, Kebun Baru & Yio Chu Kang
	Formed from Tampines & Kaki Bukit
	Formed from Kaki Bukit & Tampines
	Formed from Bedok, Kampong Chai Chee & Tanah Merah
	Formed from Boon Lay
	Formed from Ang Mo Kio & Chong Boon
	Formed from Boon Lay & Bukit Timah
Defunct Constituencies
	Absorbed to Tiong Bahru and Kim Seng
	Absorbed to Delta
	Absorbed to Joo Chiat and Mountbatten

New/Outgoing MP

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

Results

Chua Chu Kang SMC United People's Front candidate Teo Kim Hoe who garnered only 196 votes, or 0.81% of the valid votes cast, set a worst-scoring result for any candidates in the history of the election until the 2013 by-election where Desmond Lim surpassed the record with 168 votes or 0.53% of the valid votes;^[7] not counting by-elections, the record has also be broken by independent candidate Samir Salim Neji in the 2015 general election, with 150 votes or 0.60% of the valid votes.

Excluding the 30 uncontested constituencies, the voter turnout was 95.6%, with 63.2% of the total electorate casting their votes.^[8]

By constituency

Constituency	Electorate	Party		Candidate	Votes	%
Alexandra	19,670		People's Action Party	Tan Soo Khoon	12,172	66.79
			Workers' Party	John Cruz Corera	6,053	33.21
Aljunied	19,045		People's Action Party	Chin Harn Tong	Uncontested
Ang Mo Kio	14,633		People's Action Party	Yeo Toon Chia	9,909	72.75
			United People's Front	Ang Bee Lian	3,711	27.25
Anson	18,493		Workers' Party	J. B. Jeyaratnam	9,909	56.81
			People's Action Party	Ng Pock Too	7,533	43.19
Ayer Rajah	20,017		People's Action Party	Tan Cheng Bock	14,050	75.44
			Singapore Justice Party	Suib bin Abdul Rahman	4,575	24.56
Bedok	17,074		People's Action Party	S. Jayakumar	10,972	68.95
			Singapore United Front	Lee Chin Teck	4,941	31.05
Bo Wen	14,777		People's Action Party	Sushilan Vasoo	10,299	74.70
			United People's Front	Shaikh Ahmad bin Shaikh Salim	3,488	25.30
Boon Lay	18,964		People's Action Party	Goh Chee Wee	12,490	69.65
			Singapore United Front	Reveendran Sasi	5,443	30.35
Boon Teck	19,490		People's Action Party	Ho Tat Kin	10,224	56.16
			Barisan Sosialis	Lee Siew Choh	7,982	43.84
Braddell Heights	14,152		People's Action Party	Goh Choon Kang	Uncontested
Brickworks	13,571		People's Action Party	Ahmad Mattar	8,389	66.27
			Workers' Party	Mohd Taib bin Saffar	4,270	33.73
Bukit Batok	20,812		People's Action Party	Chai Chong Yii	14,767	78.27
			United People's Front	Tan Jue Kit	4,099	21.73
Bukit Merah	19,210		People's Action Party	Lim Chee Onn	Uncontested
Bukit Panjang	23,173		People's Action Party	Lee Yiok Seng	Uncontested
Bukit Timah	17,238		People's Action Party	Wang Kai Yuen	Uncontested
Buona Vista	18,041		People's Action Party	Ang Kok Peng	Uncontested
Cairnhill	15,862		People's Action Party	Wong Kwei Cheong	Uncontested
Changi	20,129		People's Action Party	Teo Chong Tee	12,195	65.75
			Singapore United Front	Sim Peng Kim	6,353	34.25
Changkat	18,742		People's Action Party	Aline Wong	10,310	58.56
			Singapore Democratic Party	Soon Kia Seng	7,297	41.44
Cheng San	17,328		People's Action Party	Lee Yock Suan	Uncontested
Chong Boon	20,650		People's Action Party	Rajagopal Sitaram Chandra Das	11,058	56.02
			Singapore Democratic Party	Ling How Dung	8,681	43.98
Chua Chu Kang	25,532		People's Action Party	Tang See Chim	13,254	54.84
			Workers' Party	Chan Keng Sieng	10,720	44.35
			United People's Front	Teo Kim Hoe	196	0.81
Clementi	20,890		People's Action Party	Bernard Chen Tien Lap	Uncontested
Delta	14,800		People's Action Party	Yeo Choo Kok	7,987	58.72
			Workers' Party	Peter Chua Chwee Huat	5,614	41.28
Eunos	17,615		People's Action Party	Zulkifli bin Mohammed	10,494	64.81
			Singapore United Front	Chong Tung Shang	5,697	35.19
Fengshan	18,407		People's Action Party	Arthur Beng Kian Lam	11,216	65.13
			Singapore United Front	Chng Chin Siah	6,005	34.87
Geylang Serai	24,109		People's Action Party	Othman bin Haron Eusofe	14,564	65.57
			Singapore United Front	Mohamed Mansor bin Abdul Rahman	7,649	34.43
Geylang West	22,325		People's Action Party	Teh Cheang Wan	13,798	66.83
			Singapore United Front	Lim Tiong Hock	2,994	34.43
Henderson	17,630		People's Action Party	Lai Tha Chai	9,695	58.80
			Workers' Party	Chon Koon Cheong	6,793	41.20
Hong Kah	22,062		People's Action Party	Yeo Cheow Tong	Uncontested
Jalan Besar	16,115		People's Action Party	Lee Boon Yang	9,236	64.43
			Workers' Party	Anathan Balakrishnan	5,100	35.57
Jalan Kayu	25,011		People's Action Party	Heng Chiang Meng	11,985	51.22
			Workers' Party	Madai Puthan Damodaran Nair	11,414	48.78
Joo Chiat	18,957		People's Action Party	Yeoh Ghim Seng	Uncontested
Jurong	24,517		People's Action Party	Ho Kah Leong	Uncontested
Kaki Bukit	20,683		People's Action Party	Chew Heng Ching	10,229	52.28
			Singapore United Front	Tan Chee Kien	9,336	47.72
Kallang	18,809		People's Action Party	S. Dhanabalan	11,256	64.95
			Workers' Party	A. L. Sundram	6,075	35.05
Kampong Chai Chee	22,537		People's Action Party	Andrew Fong Sip Chee	12,125	57.16
			Singapore United Front	Seow Khee Leng	9,087	42.84
Kampong Glam	18,127		People's Action Party	S. Rajaratnam	Uncontested
Kampong Kembangan	20,295		People's Action Party	Yatiman bin Yusof	10,326	55.71
			Workers' Party	Jufrie Mahmood	3,023	44.29
Kampong Ubi	14,323		People's Action Party	Wan Hussin bin Zoohri	8,378	63.73
			Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura	Abdul Rahman bin Mohamed Zin	4,768	36.27
Kebun Baru	17,542		People's Action Party	Lim Boon Heng	12,311	75.84
			United People's Front	Harbans Singh	3,921	24.16
Khe Bong	15,773		People's Action Party	Tang Guan Seng	9,221	62.53
			Barisan Sosialis	Sim Say Chuan	5,525	37.47
Kim Keat	20,439		People's Action Party	Ong Teng Cheong	Uncontested
Kim Seng	22,136		People's Action Party	Yeo Ning Hong	Uncontested
Kolam Ayer	23,630		People's Action Party	Sidek bin Saniff	12,812	57.91
			Workers' Party	Royston George Scharenguivel	9,311	42.09
Kreta Ayer	15,982		People's Action Party	Hu Tsu Tau Richard	11,083	83.17
			Independent	Lee Mun Hung	2,242	16.83
Kuo Chuan	18,728		People's Action Party	Wong Kan Seng	11,162	64.55
			Barisan Sosialis	Sim Chit Giak	6,129	35.45
Leng Kee	14,805		People's Action Party	Ow Chin Hock	9,190	66.84
			Workers' Party	George Benjamin Armstrong	4,559	33.16
MacPherson	19,500		People's Action Party	Chua Sian Chin	Uncontested
Marine Parade	23,622		People's Action Party	Goh Chok Tong	15,228	70.93
			Singapore United Front	Gertrude Magdeline De Gracias	6,242	29.07
Moulmein	18,893		People's Action Party	Sia Khoon Seong	Uncontested
Mountbatten	21,480		People's Action Party	Eugene Yap Giau Cheng	16,077	81.32
			Independent	Tan Ah Teng	3,692	18.68
Nee Soon	26,897		People's Action Party	Koh Lip Lin	18,444	74.24
			Singapore United Front	Quek Teow Chuan	6,401	25.76
Pasir Panjang	17,149		People's Action Party	Abbas Abu Amin	9,316	59.35
			Workers' Party	John Gan Eng Guan	6,022	38.36
			Angkatan Islam Singapura	Mohamad Sani bin Jan	359	2.29
Paya Lebar	18,420		People's Action Party	Philip Tan Tee Yong	Uncontested
Potong Pasir	17,915		Singapore Democratic Party	Chiam See Tong	10,128	60.28
			People's Action Party	Mah Bow Tan	5,509	39.72
Punggol	24,727		People's Action Party	Ng Kah Ting	14,904	65.09
			Singapore United Front	Sim Ah Leng	7,995	34.91
Queenstown	18,084		People's Action Party	Jek Yeun Thong	Uncontested
Radin Mas	19,770		People's Action Party	Chng Hee Kok	9,997	53.78
			Workers' Party	Wong Hong Toy	8,590	46.22
River Valley	13,481		People's Action Party	Tay Eng Soon	Uncontested
Rochore	14,164		People's Action Party	Toh Chin Chye	Uncontested
Sembawang	22,326		People's Action Party	Tony Tan	15,948	77.42
			Independent	Stanley Mariadass	4,652	22.58
Serangoon Gardens	17,553		People's Action Party	Lau Teik Soon	Uncontested
Siglap	17,090		People's Action Party	Abdullah Tarmugi	Uncontested
Tampines	19,656		People's Action Party	Phua Bah Lee	13,163	72.34
			United People's Front	Kasim bin Ibrahim	5,032	27.66
Tanah Merah	17,808		People's Action Party	Ibrahim bin Othman	11,093	68.08
			Singapore United Front	Ng Lep Chong	5,201	31.92
Tanglin	15,990		People's Action Party	Edmund W. Barker	Uncontested
Tanjong Pagar	15,812		People's Action Party	Lee Kuan Yew	Uncontested
Teck Ghee	16,866		People's Action Party	Lee Hsien Loong	12,794	80.38
			United People's Front	Giam Lai Cheng	3,123	19.62
Telok Ayer	13,984		People's Action Party	Ong Pang Boon	Uncontested
Telok Blangah	19,550		People's Action Party	Koh Lam Son	10,150	55.02
			Workers' Party	Rajaratnam Murugason	8,299	44.98
Thomson	15,271		People's Action Party	Leong Horn Kee	Uncontested
Tiong Bahru	20,091		People's Action Party	Ch'ng Jit Koon	Uncontested
Toa Payoh	14,177		People's Action Party	Eric Cheong Yuen Chee	8,559	65.16
			Barisan Sosialis	Ng Ho	4,576	34.84
Ulu Pandan	22,761		People's Action Party	Dixie Tan	Uncontested
West Coast	28,008		People's Action Party	Wan Soon Bee	19,745	75.72
			Singapore Justice Party	Muthusamy Ramasamy	6,331	24.28
Whampoa	18,494		People's Action Party	Augustine Tan Hui Heng	Uncontested
Yio Chu Kang	16,734		People's Action Party	Lau Ping Sum	11,977	76.66
			United People's Front	Munjeet Singh	3,647	23.34
Yuhua	16,266		People's Action Party	Yu-Foo Yee Shoon	9,551	61.43
			Singapore Democratic Party	Lim Ah Yong	5,996	38.57
Source: ELD

Notes and References

1. News: Policies for the bedroom and beyond. Today. 23 March 2015. 7 April 2020.
2. News: Policies for the bedroom and beyond. Today. 23 March 2015. 7 April 2020.
3. Web site: Reproductive Rights. AWARE. 7 April 2020.
4. Book: Committee on the Problems of the Aged. Problems of the Aged : Report of the Committee on the Problems of the Aged. Singapore. Ministry of Health. 1984. 9971-88-022-9.
5. News: Former Cabinet Minister Howe Yoon Chong dies at age 84. Channel NewsAsia. 21 August 2007. 21 August 2007. 23 August 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070823052137/http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/295214/1/.html. dead.
6. News: Late Howe Yoon Chong cared deeply for country's development: PM Lee. Channel NewsAsia. 22 August 2007. 23 August 2007.
7. News: SDA scores worst result in post-independence history . Yong Chuan . Toh . Joyce . Lim . January 27, 2013 . March 23, 2013 . AsiaOne .
8. Book: Dieter Nohlen. Florian Grotz. Christof Hartmann. Elections in Asia and the Pacific : A Data Handbook: Volume II: South East Asia, East Asia, and the South Pacific. 15 November 2001. OUP Oxford. 978-0-19-924959-6. 255.