1st Parliament of Singapore

1st Parliament of Singapore
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Composition at the start of the 1st Parliament of Singapore   People's Action Party (38)   Barisan Sosialis (13)
Overview
Legislative body	Parliament of Singapore
Meeting place	Old Parliament House
Term	8 December 1965 – 8 February 1968
Government	People's Action Party
Opposition	Barisan Sosialis
Parliament of Singapore
Members	51
Speaker	Arumugam Ponnu Rajah (until 1966) Punch Coomaraswamy (from 1966)
Leader of the House	Toh Chin Chye
Prime Minister	Lee Kuan Yew
Leader of the Opposition	Lim Huan Boon (until 1965) Chia Thye Poh (1966)
Party control	PAP supermajority
Sessions
1st 8 December 1965 – 8 February 1968

The 1st Parliament of Singapore was a meeting of the Parliament of Singapore. It commenced its first and only session on 8 December 1965 and was dissolved on 8 February 1968.

The members of the 1st Parliament had been elected in the 1963 general election to the 3rd Legislative Assembly of Singapore, which was renamed as the Parliament of Singapore following Singapore's independence in 1965. Parliament was controlled by a People's Action Party majority, led by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and his Cabinet. The Speakers were A P Rajah and Punch Coomaraswamy.

The Parliament had 12 changes throughout the term, the most for any Parliament to date as of 2024; 11 members from Barisan Sosialis, alongside Fong Kim Heng as the only PAP's MP, were vacated and precipitated a series of elections between 1966 and 1968.

Officeholders

• Speaker:
  • Arumugam Ponnu Rajah, until 5 August 1966
  • Punch Coomaraswamy, from 17 August 1966
    • Deputy Speaker: Punch Coomaraswamy, until 16 August 1966
• Prime Minister: Lee Kuan Yew (PAP)
  • Deputy Prime Minister: Toh Chin Chye (PAP)
• Leader of the Opposition:
  • Lim Huan Boon (BS), until 31 December 1965
  • Chia Thye Poh (BS), from 1 January 1966 until 7 October 1966
• Leader of the House: Toh Chin Chye (PAP)
• Party Whip of the People's Action Party: Chan Chee Seng

Composition

Party		Members
		At start	At dissolution
	People's Action Party	38	49
	Barisan Sosialis	13	2
Total		51	51
Government majority		12	23

Members

This is the list of the members of the 1st Parliament of Singapore on 8 December 1965.

Constituency	Member	Party
Aljunied	Suppiah Visva Lingam		People's Action Party
Anson	Perumal Govindaswamy		People's Action Party
Bras Basah	Ho See Beng		People's Action Party
Bukit Merah	Lim Huan Boon		Barisan Sosialis
Bukit Panjang	Ong Lian Teng		Barisan Sosialis
Bukit Timah	Lee Tee Tong		Barisan Sosialis
Cairnhill	Lim Kim San		People's Action Party
Changi	Sim Boon Woo		People's Action Party
Chua Chu Kang	Chio Cheng Thun		Barisan Sosialis
Crawford	S. Thendayatha Bani		Barisan Sosialis
Delta	Chan Choy Siong		People's Action Party
Farrer Park	S. R. Dharmarajoo		People's Action Party
Geylang East	Ho Cheng Choon		People's Action Party
Geylang Serai	Rahmat bin Kenap		People's Action Party
Geylang West	Yong Nyuk Lin		People's Action Party
Havelock	Loh Miaw Gong		Barisan Sosialis
Hong Lim	Lee Khoon Choy		People's Action Party
Jalan Besar	Chan Chee Seng		People's Action Party
Jalan Kayu	Tan Cheng Tong		Barisan Sosialis
Joo Chiat	Fong Kim Heng		People's Action Party
Jurong	Chia Thye Poh		Barisan Sosialis
Kallang	Buang bin Omar Junid		People's Action Party
Kampong Glam	S. Rajaratnam		People's Action Party
Kampong Kapor	Mahmud bin Awang		People's Action Party
Kampong Kembangan	Mohamed Ariff bin Suradi		People's Action Party
Kreta Ayer	Goh Keng Swee		People's Action Party
Moulmein	Avadai Dhanam Lakshimi-Devan Nair		People's Action Party
Mountbatten	Ng Yeow Chong		People's Action Party
Nee Soon	Chan Sun Wing		Barisan Sosialis
Pasir Panjang	Othman Wok		People's Action Party
Paya Lebar	Kow Kee Seng		Barisan Sosialis
Punggol	Ng Kah Ting		People's Action Party
Queenstown	Jek Yeun Thong		People's Action Party
River Valley	Lim Cheng Lock		People's Action Party
Rochore	Toh Chin Chye		People's Action Party
Sembawang	Teong Eng Siong		People's Action Party
Sepoy Lines	Wee Toon Boon		People's Action Party
Serangoon Gardens	Raphael Alfred Gonzales		People's Action Party
Siglap	Abdul Rahim Ishak		People's Action Party
Southern Islands	Ya'acob bin Mohamed		People's Action Party
Stamford	Andrew Fong Sip Chee		People's Action Party
Tampines	Poh Ber Liak		Barisan Sosialis
Tanglin	Edmund W. Barker		People's Action Party
Tanjong Pagar	Lee Kuan Yew		People's Action Party
Telok Ayer	Ong Pang Boon		People's Action Party
Telok Blangah	Bernard Rodrigues		People's Action Party
Thomson	Koo Young		Barisan Sosialis
Tiong Bahru	Lee Teck Him		People's Action Party
Toa Payoh	Wong Soon Fong		Barisan Sosialis
Ulu Pandan	Chow Chiok Hock		People's Action Party
Upper Serangoon	Sia Kah Hui		People's Action Party

By-elections

Constituency	Incumbent					Date of by-election	New member
	Name	Party		Date seat vacated	Cause of vacancy		Name	Party
Bukit Merah	Lim Huan Boon		BS	31 December 1965	Resignation	18 January 1966	Lim Guan Hoo		PAP
Chua Chu Kang	Chio Cheng Thun		BS	8 January 1966	Resignation	1 March 1966	Tang See Chim		PAP
Paya Lebar	Kow Kee Seng		BS	8 January 1966	Resignation	1 March 1966	Tay Boon Too		PAP
Crawford	S. Thendayatha Bani		BS	9 January 1966	Resignation	1 March 1966	Sellappa Ramaswamy		PAP
Bukit Timah	Lee Tee Tong		BS	7 October 1966	Resignation	2 November 1966	Chor Yeok Eng		PAP
Jurong	Chia Thye Poh		BS	7 October 1966	Resignation	2 November 1966	Ho Kah Leong		PAP
Joo Chiat	Fong Kim Heng		PAP	18 October 1966	Resignation	2 November 1966	Yeoh Ghim Seng		PAP
Bukit Panjang	Ong Lian Teng		BS	5 December 1966	Resignation	24 February 1967	Pathmanaban Selvadurai		PAP
Havelock	Loh Miaw Gong		BS	5 December 1966	Resignation	24 February 1967	Lim Soo Peng		PAP
Jalan Kayu	Tan Cheng Tong		BS	5 December 1966	Resignation	24 February 1967	Teo Hup Teck		PAP
Tampines	Poh Ber Liak		BS	5 December 1966	Resignation	24 February 1967	Chew Chin Han		PAP
Thomson	Koo Young		BS	5 December 1966	Resignation	7 March 1967	Ang Nam Piau		PAP