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Singapore Democratic Alliance

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Singapore Democratic Alliance
Malay namePerikatan Demokratik Singapura
Chinese name新加坡民主联盟
Xīnjiāpō Mínzhǔ Liánméng
Tamil nameசிங்கப்பூர் ஜனநாயக கூட்டணி
Ciṅkappūr Jaṉanāyaka Kūṭṭaṇi
ChairmanDesmond Lim
FounderChiam See Tong
Founded28 June 2001; 23 years ago (2001-06-28)[1]
Headquarters218F Changi Road, PKMS Building, Singapore
IdeologyLiberal democracy
Current membersSingapore Justice Party
Singapore Malay National Organization
Colours  Bright Green
SloganService Before Self
Parliament
0 / 104
Website
http://mysda.news/

The Singapore Democratic Alliance (abbreviation: SDA) is a political coalition between Singapore Malay National Organization (PKMS) and Singapore Justice Party (SJP). The SDA was formed in 2001 and initially consisted of four political parties, PKMS, SJP, National Solidarity Party (NSP) and Singapore People's Party (SPP).

As of 2023, only SJP and PKMS are in the alliance.

History

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SDA was first established in 2001 by Chiam See Tong as he wanted to provide a common grouping under which different opposition parties could stand as a political coalition in elections against the ruling People's Action Party (PAP). The alliance initially consisted of his party SPP, NSP, SJP and PKMS. It was the first coalition to be formed in post-independence since 1963, after the now-defunct Singapore Alliance Party. Chiam became the first chairman of SDA. The logo of SDA was a star and four interlocking circles.[2]

In the 2001 general election, SDA contested a total of thirteen seats consisting of three SMCs (Bukit Timah, Chua Chu Kang, Potong Pasir), and two 5-member GRCs (Jalan Besar, Tampines). In the 2006 general election, SDA contested a total of twenty seats consisting of four SMCs (Chua Chu Kang, MacPherson, Potong Pasir, Yio Chu Kang), two 5-member GRCs (Jalan Besar, Tampines), and one 6-member GRC (Pasir Ris-Ponggol). SDA managed to retain the Potong Pasir SMC seat under Chiam through both elections and obtained one NCMP seat under Steve Chia in the 2001 election.[3][4]

In 2007, the NSP pulled out from the SDA in the hope of rejuvenating their party.[5] In 2009, Chiam spoke of the possibility of having Reform Party (RP) to join the SDA.[6] Later in 2010, Kenneth Jeyaretnam, the secretary general of Reform Party (RP), met with Chiam and discussed for RP to join SDA. RP had set out a list of 11 conditions which Chiam and his wife, Lina Loh, mostly agreed to.[7] However, the rest of the leadership of SDA voted not to make a decision on the list of conditions.[7][8] The discussion by the SDA council was leaked to the press and as a result, Jeyaretnam decided not to join the SDA.[8]

In October 2010, Chiam replaced SDA's secretary general, Desmond Lim, with Mohamad Hamim Aliyas during a central executive committee meeting of the SPP.[9] SPP founder and chairman Sin Kek Tong said that Chiam's move was due to Lim opposing RP joining the SDA.[9] However, in a SDA council meeting held shortly after, the council rejected the decision of Chiam and Lim remained as the secretary general.[10]

On 2 March 2011, SPP withdrew from the coalition[11][12], following the decision by the SDA council to relieve Chiam as chairman, citing frequent "no-shows" at the alliance meetings.[13] Following the pullout, SDA became a two-party alliance consisting of PKMS and SJP. The chairperson was later succeeded by the SJP's leader Desmond Lim.

Events that followed the separation of Chiam's SPP from SDA saw the waning of the alliance, where they fell short on winning any of the subsequent elections. In the 2011 general election, the SDA, NSP (which fielded a large slate of candidates), and SPP were unsuccessful: Lim became the only candidate forfeiting his electoral deposit (S$16,000) in the only three-cornered contest in the newly formed Punggol East SMC (a ward carved out from the neighbouring Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, which the alliance also contest); and SDA members who joined as independents contesting in Tanjong Pagar GRC (the election's only uncontested constituency) were disqualified on nomination day.

In the 2013 by-election at Punggol East SMC, Lim contested again, but later conceded defeat during vote counting;[14] ultimately, he garnered only 0.53% of the valid votes cast for the election, resulting him as the second candidate in history (after United People's Front candidate Harbans Singh) to have his deposit forfeited on both times,[15] and consequently set its record-worst score for a candidate in post-independence Singapore.[16] In the 2015 general election, SDA fielded their only team of six in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC, but with no success.

Leading up to the 2020 election, four political parties: Singaporeans First, People's Power Party, Reform Party and Democratic Progressive Party, proposed to form an alliance of their own.[17] Subsequently, the four parties decided to apply to join the SDA,[18] but the go-ahead did not materialize.[19][20][21] SDA had contested the 2020 election, marked as Lim's last election leading the SDA.[22] While the party only contested Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, a three-cornered contest arose with the participation of a third political party, Peoples Voice. This was the second time in Singapore's election history that a multi-cornered fight had taken place in a GRC (the first being 1992's by-election under Marine Parade GRC).[23] SDA scored 23.67% of the votes while PV ended up losing their deposits after garnering 12.18%.[24]

On 11 March 2025, Lim announced that he had reversed his earlier decision to step down as chairman of the SDA.[25]

Member parties

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Current members

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Logo Name Ideology Position Leader(s) Seats
contested
Votes (%)
SJP Singapore Justice Party – – Desmond Lim – –
PKMS Singapore Malay National Organization
Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura 		Ketuanan Melayu Right-wing Abu Mohamed – –

Former members

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Leadership

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No Name Years
1 Chiam See Tong 2001–2011
2 Desmond Lim 2001–present

Former elected Members of Parliament

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No Name Constituency Length of service (cumulative) Notes
1 Chiam See Tong Potong Pasir SMC 1997–2011 Party chairman from 2001 to 2011. He served as the MP for Potong Pasir SMC (2001–2011). Did not seek re-election under SDA banner.
2 Steve Chia Non-Constituency Member of Parliament 2001–2006 Served as NCMP from 2001 to 2006.

Electoral history

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Due to an alliance, the number of respective seats and the results combined from the four parties (NSP, SJP, SPP and PKMS) were reflected in the table. NSP and SPP left after the 2006 general election.

Parliament

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Election Seats up for election Seats contested by party Seats won by walkover Contested seats won Contested seats lost Total seats won Change Total votes Share of votes Popular vote Resulting Government Party leader
2001 84 13 0 1 12
1 / 84
 Increase1 75,248 27.6% 12.0% Largest Opposition
(+1 NCMP) 		Chiam See Tong
2006[26] 84 20 0 1 19
1 / 84
 Steady 145,628 32.5% 13.0% Opposition
2011 87 7 0 0 7
0 / 87
 Decrease1 55,988 30.06% 2.78% No seats Desmond Lim
2015 89 6 0 0 6
0 / 89
 Steady 46,508 27.11% 2.06% No seats
2020 93 5 0 0 5
0 / 93
 Steady 37,179 23.67% 1.49% No seats

Parliament By-elections

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Election Seats up for election Seats contested by party Contested seats won Contested seats lost Total votes Share of votes Outcome of election Constituency contested
2013 1 1 0 1 168 0.53% No seat Punggol East SMC

References

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  1. ^ "Singapore Democratic Alliance is formed". NLB. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
  2. ^ Tan, Kim-Kyna (31 July 2001). "The signs". Today. p. 2 – via NewspaperSG.
  3. ^ "SDA 'soft' launches manifesto, gunning for 15 seats in GE". Channel NewsAsia. 16 April 2006. Archived from the original on 26 August 2009. Retrieved 16 April 2006.
  4. ^ "SDA Candidates". Channel NewsAsia. 27 April 2006. Archived from the original on 16 May 2006.
  5. ^ [1][dead link‍]
  6. ^ Kor, Kian Beng (28 August 2009). "Chiam and Jeyaretnam in talks over tie-up". The Straits Times. pp. C5.
  7. ^ a b Kor, Kian Beng; Au Yong, Jeremy (8 May 2010). "Reform Party still in talks with SDA". The Straits Times. pp. A14.
  8. ^ a b Kor, Kian Beng; Au Yong, Jeremy (10 May 2010). "SDA-Reform Party alliance: On or off?". The Straits Times. pp. B5.
  9. ^ a b Kor, Kian Beng; Wong, Tessa (12 October 2010). "Chiam wants to oust ex-protege from top post". The Straits Times. pp. B6.
  10. ^ Kor, Kian Beng; Zakir, Hussain; Wong, Tessa (3 November 2010). "Rift widens between SDA leaders and Chiam". The Straits Times. pp. B6.
  11. ^ GE: SDA says Chiam pulling SPP out of alliance Archived 5 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine, channelnewsasia.com, 2 March 2011
  12. ^ Chiam pulls party out of alliance Archived 6 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Today, 3 March 2011
  13. ^ Kor, Kian Beng (2 March 2011). "SDA Relieves Chiam of Chairman Duties". The Straits Times.
  14. ^ "SDA's Lim concedes defeat". Channel NewsAsia. 26 January 2013.
  15. ^ "Candidates name list (H-I): Harbans Singh". Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  16. ^ "SDA scores worst result in post-independence history". www.asiaone.com.
  17. ^ Lay, Belmont (4 January 2020). "4 opposition parties to form alliance to take on PAP in upcoming general election". Mothership.sg. Archived from the original on 4 January 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  18. ^ Koh, Fabian (1 April 2020). "Singapore GE: Four parties apply to join Singapore Democratic Alliance instead of registering new alliance". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  19. ^ hermesauto (1 June 2020). "Singapore GE: SDA puts on hold membership applications from four parties, scuppering plans for opposition bloc under its banner". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 19 June 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  20. ^ "You can't sit with us: SDA thwarts opposition parties' hope of contesting GE together". AsiaOne. 1 June 2020. Archived from the original on 18 June 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  21. ^ "Alliance deal off: PPP, RP, SingFirst and DPP to link up informally instead, says Goh Meng Seng". Today. Singapore. 22 June 2020. Archived from the original on 26 June 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  22. ^ Cheng Wei, Aw (27 June 2020). "Singapore GE2020: SDA chairman Desmond Lim to step down from position, says he is leading GE team for the last time". The Straits Times. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  23. ^ Aw Cheng Wei; Cara Wong (2 July 2020). "Singapore GE2020: SDA and PV trade barbs over three-cornered fight in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  24. ^ Chang, Ai-Lien; Wei, Aw Cheng (11 July 2020). "GE2020 official results: PAP wins Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC with 64.15% of votes, PV party to lose election deposit". The Straits Times. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  25. ^ "SDA's Desmond Lim will not step down as chairman, monitoring developments in Pasir Ris-Punggol". Mothership. Singapore. 11 March 2025.
  26. ^ "Gathering of Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) supporters …". www.nas.gov.sg.
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