
Last modified: 2023-06-03 by  zachary harden
 zachary harden
Keywords: singapore | politics | people's action party | ray | circle (blue) | hammer | circle (yellow) | text: english | text: chinese | text: malay | text: tamil | 
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![[People's Action Party (Singapore)]](../images/s/sg}pap.gif) image
by Ivan Sache, 15 November 2008
 
image
by Ivan Sache, 15 November 2008
The People's Action Party (PAP) was founded in 1954. Since 1959, the PAP has 
won all of the general elections; the party has been ruling Singapore since the 
independence obtained in 1963, with the Secretary General of the party serving 
as the Prime Minister: Lee Kuan Yew (1959-1990), Goh Chok Tong (1991-2004), and 
Lee Hsien Loong, the son of Lee Kuan Yew (2004-).
Smith (1975) shows the 
flag of the PAP as white with the party emblem in the middle, which he describes 
as "a thick blue circle vertically crossed by a red flash".
According to the 
party website:
- The blue circle stands for unity of all races;
- Red 
represents action;
- The white background signifies purity and integrity.
http://www.pap.org.sg/about.shtml
Ivan Sache, 
15 November 2008
"The People's Action Party (abbrev: PAP) has been Singapore's ruling political 
party since 1959. It is one of the two major parties in the Parliament of 
Singapore, the other being the Workers' Party. The PAP was formed on 21 November 
1954 by Lee Kuan Yew, an English-educated middle-class professional lawyer who 
had returned from university education in the United Kingdom. He had a vision of 
full independence for Singapore.
Sources: 
https://www.pap.org.sg/ABOUT/Content  and 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Action_Party 
The party uses 
a vertical banner (https://en.wikipedia.org/) 
featuring the 
logo (see also
this image) on a vertical white banner, and also on a
horizontal flag, 
from
http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/pap-could-lose-control-power-over-next-15-25-years.
For additional information go to PAP (official website):
https://www.pap.org.sg/ 
Esteban Rivera, 
23 August 2015
![[Singapore Democratic Alliance]](../images/s/sg}sda.gif) image by Ivan Sache, 15 November 2008
 
image by Ivan Sache, 15 November 2008
The Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) was formed in June 2001 by three 
opposition parties, the Singapore People's Party (SPP, the most important 
component of the alliance, founded on 21 November 1994), the Singapore Malay 
National Organization (Pertubohan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapore, PKMS) and the 
Singapore Justice Party (SJP). The chairman of the SDA, Chiam See Tong (SPP), 
elected representative of Potong Pasir in 1997, 2001 and 2006, is the single 
representative of the SDA in the Parliament of Singapore.
The flag of the 
SDA, as shown on photographs taken during street demonstrations (May 2006), is 
white with the SDA emblem, made of four interlaced blue rings placed 
horizontally and surmounted by a red star. The emblem seems to have originally 
belonged to the SPP, which transferred it to the SDA in 2001 and adopted a 
related emblem made of four interlaced red rings surmounted by a white red blue 
star, the whole being inscribed into a blue ring. On the SPP new emblem, the 
four rings represent inter-racial society, while the five points of the star 
represent democracy, peace, progress, equality and justice, respectively.
However, the Constitution of the SDA says:
"15. Emblem.
The emblem, 
badge and flag of the SDA is a red outline of a flag with the SDA abbreviation 
and backdrop of Singapore island (Map)."
http://www.spp.org.sg/ - Photo of the flag
http://www.spp.org.sg/GE%202006%20May%20144.jpg - Direct link to the image
http://www.spp.org.sg/LOGO.htm - 
SPP emblem
http://www.spp.org.sg/SDA%20Constitution.htm - SDA Constitution
Ivan 
Sache, 15 November 2008
![[Workers' Party (Singapore)]](../images/s/sg}wp.gif) image
by Guillermo Tell Aveledo, 14 September 2000
 
image
by Guillermo Tell Aveledo, 14 September 2000
The current flag shows a golden hammer inside golden circle over blue.
Guillermo Tell Aveledo, 14 September 2000
One can see the flag of the Singapore Workers’ Party (WP) here:
http://themiddleground.sg/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2015_009_03_TMG_BoonKeng_WP_Rally_DelonHo-0539-1024x683.jpg 
(source:
http://themiddleground.sg/2016/02/24/9-types-of-flags-you-can-see-around-singapore). 
It is a light blue horizontal flag with the party's emblem: a yellow hammer on a 
red circle.
For additional information go to WP (official website):
http://www.wp.sg/ 
Esteban Rivera, 6 
July 2016
![[Workers' Party (Singapore)]](../images/s/sg}wpold.gif) image
by Guillermo Tell Aveledo
 
image
by Guillermo Tell Aveledo
Version from the 1950s-1960s, before the People's Action Party won power in Singapore. It bears, over a red field, a black and white hammer on the centre, and the name of the party in all four languages of Singapore: English, Malay, Tamil and Chinese  I am unsure about the meaning of the Chinese characters on the hoist side. The details of the hammer on the actual flag were richer.
Guillermo Tell Aveledo, 14 September 2000
The vertical Chinese words read (from top down) Dao Da Qu  it should sound something like "dao-dar-chee". Dao Da roughly translates as 'to oppose' or more accurately 'to counter-attack'. Qu means 'zone' or 'area'. So put together, it says that this is a area where opposition takes place.
Edmund Leong, 5 May 2003
![[Workers' Party (Singapore)]](../images/s/sg}wp2.gif) image by Ivan Sache and Guillermo Tell Aveledo, 15 November 2008
 
image by Ivan Sache and Guillermo Tell Aveledo, 15 November 2008
The old flag, with the black and white hammer and writings, is shown on a black and white photograph taken in 1957 during a party rally for the City Council elections (http://www.wp.sg/photos/photos_57-70.htm). Another photograph from the same period shows party supporters celebrating the victory of J.C. Corera in the City Council seat of Delta. The flag shown there has the hammer but no writing. We can safely assume that the flag field is red (http://www.wp.sg/photos/photos_57-70.htm)
![[Workers' Party (Singapore)]](../images/s/sg}wp1.gif) image by Ivan Sache and Guillermo Tell Aveledo, 15 November 2008
 
image by Ivan Sache and Guillermo Tell Aveledo, 15 November 2008
The most recent flag shown here is red with the party emblem in the middle. 
This flag can be seen on a photograph taken in 1988 during a public rally of the 
party: 
http://www.wp.sg/photos/photos_71-00.htm. The front page of the party 
website shows a photograph of a meeting of the party, with the same flag but on 
a white background (http://www.wp.sg/wordpress/)
The emblem of the WP is described on the party website as follows:
"The Workers' Party logo consists of a yellow hammer. The hammer symbolises 
workers and yellow represents power of the people. The hammer rests on a red 
background. Red signifies passion. The hammer is surrounded by a yellow ring, 
which stands for unity of the workers of Singapore."
http://www.wp.org.sg/party/about.htm  
The party's journal is called "The 
Hammer".
<sg}wp2.gif> - Flag with the hammer, to be co-credited 
to Guillermo
Tell Aveledo
Regards
--
Ivan Sache