118-561: George Yeo Yong-Boon ( Chinese : 杨荣文 ; pinyin : Yáng Róngwén ; born 13 September 1954) is a Singaporean former politician and brigadier-general who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs between 2004 and 2011. Yeo served in the Singapore Army and later Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) between 1976 and 1988 and attained the rank Brigadier-General . He also served as Chief of Staff – Air Staff between 1985 and 1986, and Director of Joint Operations and Planning at
236-601: A Baker Scholar . Upon returning from the United Kingdom, Yeo served as a commissioned officer in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). He served as a signals officer in the Singapore Army , before transferring to the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF). When Yeo returned to Singapore, he served as Chief of Staff – Air Staff between 1985 and 1986, and Director of Joint Operations and Planning at
354-586: A Malay chauvinist , an accusation Jufrie strongly denied. The party also polled strongly in Eunos GRC, but lost to the PAP's team with 47.6% of the votes to 52.4%; unlike the last election, no NCMPs were offered as the opposition (including Low) elected a combined four seats in parliament. Low became the Assistant Secretary-General following the election; during his tenure, Low was praised by
472-505: A by-election in Anson . Jeyaretnam was re-elected in 1984 , but subsequently lost his seat in 1986 following a conviction for falsely accounting the party's funds, a conviction which he claimed was politically motivated. Former members of the WP also include former Law Society President Francis Seow as well as socialist activist Lee Siew Choh . Since 1991 , the party's safe seat has been
590-674: A complete merger, she should seek independence on her own, a proposition which drew gales of laughter from the Legislative Chamber at that time. Marshall's strongest objection to the White Paper merger terms was on the point of citizenship and the implications of citizenship in the new federation. He saw the provisions as denying the Singapore citizen who was a federal national, the right of political participation in terms of being allowed to organise or contest in an election in
708-443: A component—either a character or a sub-component called a radical —usually involves either a reduction in its total number of strokes , or an apparent streamlining of which strokes are chosen in what places—for example, the ⼓ ' WRAP ' radical used in the traditional character 沒 is simplified to ⼏ ' TABLE ' to form the simplified character 没 . By systematically simplifying radicals, large swaths of
826-434: A conversion table. While exercising such derivation, the following rules should be observed: Sample Derivations : The Series One List of Variant Characters reduces the number of total standard characters. First, amongst each set of variant characters sharing identical pronunciation and meaning, one character (usually the simplest in form) is elevated to the standard character set, and the rest are made obsolete. Then amongst
944-556: A daughter. Yeo also has a niece named Gwendoline Yeo , who was an actress and musician. In 2004, their youngest son, who has struggled with childhood leukemia since age three, received a bone marrow transplant at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis , Tennessee . Recognising the difficulties faced by families in such situations, Leong founded the Viva Foundation to help children with cancer to improve
1062-515: A dialogue that his late father had a problem with gambling and the decision to push for the gaming resorts was personally a very difficult one. He said that policy making often involved a choice between 'evils'. On 10 May 2011, Yeo announced that he would be retiring from politics. Prior to the 2011 presidential election , Yeo announced that he will make a decision on running for president within 2 weeks, and has asked his friends to pick up eligibility forms on his behalf. Yeo later declined running for
1180-407: A few revised forms, and was implemented for official use by China's State Council on 5 June 2013. In Chinese, simplified characters are referred to by their official name 简化字 ; jiǎnhuàzì , or colloquially as 简体字 ; jiǎntǐzì . The latter term refers broadly to all character variants featuring simplifications of character form or structure, a practice which has always been present as
1298-543: A member of the PAP. During his announcement, Yeo stated that he declined running for presidency later that year , cited that he was a "free spirit" and he was not "temperamentally suited for such a job", despite being popular in online and have "a flood of support" on post-election. He although stated on his Facebook page that he was "thinking hard" about the possibility of becoming a candidate on 1 June, but however, on 15 June, Yeo confirmed that he declined standing for presidency. As Minister for Information, Communications and
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#17327838795451416-610: A newly coined phono-semantic compound : Removing radicals Only retaining single radicals Replacing with ancient forms or variants : Adopting ancient vulgar variants : Readopting abandoned phonetic-loan characters : Copying and modifying another traditional character : Based on 132 characters and 14 components listed in Chart 2 of the Complete List , the 1,753 derived characters found in Chart 3 can be created by systematically simplifying components using Chart 2 as
1534-573: A part of the Chinese writing system. The official name tends to refer to the specific, systematic set published by the Chinese government, which includes not only simplifications of individual characters, but also a substantial reduction in the total number of characters through the merger of formerly distinct forms. According to Chinese palaeographer Qiu Xigui , the broadest trend in the evolution of Chinese characters over their history has been simplification, both in graphical shape ( 字形 ; zìxíng ),
1652-551: A regional hub. Its geographical advantage would matter less, and its infrastructural advantage in the exchange of information and ideas would matter more. In 1995, he defended government censorship of the Internet even as it proved technologically challenging to do so: "Censorship can no longer be 100% effective, but even if it is only 20% effective, we should not stop censoring." In what he described as an "anti-pollution measure in cyberspace", Yeo transferred censorship authority from
1770-440: Is actually more complex than eliminated ones. An example is the character 搾 which is eliminated in favor of the variant form 榨 . The 扌 'HAND' with three strokes on the left of the eliminated 搾 is now seen as more complex, appearing as the ⽊ 'TREE' radical 木 , with four strokes, in the chosen variant 榨 . Not all characters standardised in the simplified set consist of fewer strokes. For instance,
1888-454: Is derived. Merging homophonous characters: Adapting cursive shapes ( 草書楷化 ): Replacing a component with a simple arbitrary symbol (such as 又 and 乂 ): Omitting entire components : Omitting components, then applying further alterations : Structural changes that preserve the basic shape Replacing the phonetic component of phono-semantic compounds : Replacing an uncommon phonetic component : Replacing entirely with
2006-487: Is focused on organisation building to better serve Singaporeans". On 3 October, a $ 33.7 million trial between Aljunied–Hougang Town Council and former leader Low, Chair Lim, secretary-general Singh as well as two other town councillors was initiated. The trial went on until 25 October, where the three politicians launched an appeal to fund their legal fees, citing that they had depleted their personal resources after paying their lawyers close to S$ 600,000 for work done before
2124-813: Is now discouraged. A State Language Commission official cited "oversimplification" as the reason for restoring some characters. The language authority declared an open comment period until 31 August 2009, for feedback from the public. In 2013, the List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters was published as a revision of the 1988 lists; it included a total of 8105 characters. It included 45 newly recognized standard characters that were previously considered variant forms, as well as official approval of 226 characters that had been simplified by analogy and had seen wide use but were not explicitly given in previous lists or documents. Singapore underwent three successive rounds of character simplification , eventually arriving at
2242-623: Is referred to as the " big seal script ". The traditional narrative, as also attested in the Shuowen Jiezi dictionary ( c. 100 AD ), is that the Qin small seal script that would later be imposed across China was originally derived from the Zhou big seal script with few modifications. However, the body of epigraphic evidence comparing the character forms used by scribes gives no indication of any real consolidation in character forms prior to
2360-547: Is used instead of 叠 in regions using traditional characters. The Chinese government stated that it wished to keep Chinese orthography stable. The Chart of Generally Utilized Characters of Modern Chinese was published in 1988 and included 7000 simplified and unsimplified characters. Of these, half were also included in the revised List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese , which specified 2500 common characters and 1000 less common characters. In 2009,
2478-522: The 1963 election , to be defeated in the election and consequently losing their parliamentary seats to the opposition. According to Yeo, he was offered to rejoin Cabinet by then-Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew through a by-election in Lee's Tanjong Pagar GRC . Yeo declined. On 5 October 2011, Yeo stepped down from the PAP's Central Executive Committee (the party's governing body). However, he continues to be
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#17327838795452596-670: The Chinese language , with the other being traditional characters . Their mass standardization during the 20th century was part of an initiative by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to promote literacy, and their use in ordinary circumstances on the mainland has been encouraged by the Chinese government since the 1950s. They are the official forms used in mainland China and Singapore , while traditional characters are officially used in Hong Kong , Macau , and Taiwan . Simplification of
2714-609: The Free Trade Agreement with the United States, Japan, Australia and other countries. Yeo proposed the idea of having Integrated Resorts (IRs) in Singapore, which would include casinos, which was intensely debated for a year. This paved the way for the 2 IRs in Singapore, Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands at the Marina Promenade. He later shared with a group of university students during
2832-470: The Legislative Assembly as a Member for Anson in 1961, before resigning in 1963 after disagreements with some members of the party. The party would thereafter decline in prominence during the 1960s and 1970s before its re-emergence in 1981, when party leader J. B. Jeyaretnam became the first opposition MP to be elected since Singapore's independence, having defeated the PAP's candidate at
2950-721: The Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) between 1986 and 1988. A former member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), Yeo was the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Bedok Reservoir–Punggol ward of Aljunied GRC between 1988 and 2011. He also served as Minister for Information and the Arts between 1990 and 1999, Minister for Health between 1994 and 1997, Minister for Trade and Industry between 1999 and 2004 and Minister for Foreign Affairs between 2004 and 2011. Yeo
3068-591: The Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) between 1986 and 1988. He also led the team which conceptualised the SAFTI Military Institute . Yeo left the SAF in 1988 and attained the rank Brigadier-General , before entering politics. Yeo made his political debut in the 1988 general election as part of a three-member PAP team contesting in the newly created Aljunied GRC and won. Following his election into Parliament, Yeo served in various ministries, including
3186-535: The Ministry of Finance , Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts , Ministry of Health , Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs . Yeo represented the Eurasian community in the Cabinet at their request. Yeo was the chairman of the PAP's youth wing from 1991 to 2000, which saw a renaming to Young PAP (YPAP) in 1993. As an enticement for joining the YPAP, he said people joining
3304-956: The Singapore Marathon 10 km run. He is a student of tai chi , an internal Chinese martial art , and describes himself as "a bit of a Taoist ". George Yeo, George Yeo on Bonsai, Banyan and the Tao , edited by Asad-ul Iqbal Latif and Lee Huay Leng, Singapore: World Scientific Publishing, 2015, 686 pages. Justin Corfield, Historical Dictionary of Singapore , Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2011, pp. 297–298. Justin Corfield and Robin Corfield, Encyclopedia of Singapore , Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2006, pp. 247–248. Low Kar Tiang (editor), Who's Who in Singapore , Singapore, 2003, p. 467. Simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets widely used to write
3422-531: The Stock Exchange of Singapore criticised Hotel Properties Ltd for its "tardiness" in disclosing details of sales of its condominium units to directors and their family members). Lee who had purchased one of the units, claimed that Tang was trying to milk this issue for political capital; the PAP sued Tang for both defamation and branding the PAP leadership as a bunch of liars, for a total of S$ 13.6 million of damages, and Tang shortly fled to Australia after
3540-524: The Tiong Bahru GRC in his debut in 1988, was elected as the MP for Hougang SMC ; defeating PAP's incumbent Tang Guan Seng by 10,621 votes (52.8%) to 9,487 (47.2%). The party had since held on Hougang SMC after the election. During the election campaign, one of the WP's candidates in Eunos GRC, Jufrie Mahmood , drew particular fire from the PAP and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong , accusing him of being
3658-476: The by-election which was due to be held on 26 May. The seat was retained by former East Coast GRC candidate Png Eng Huat with a majority of 62.08%. Shortly after the elections, Poh Lee Guan was also expelled from the party after Poh attempt to contest the by-election as a "backup candidate" without consulting the party's CEC, and the CEC condemned Poh's reason as unacceptable. On 12 December, another by-election
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3776-526: The "Dot" stroke : The traditional components ⺥ and 爫 become ⺈ : The traditional component 奐 becomes 奂 : Worker%27s Party (Singapore) The Workers' Party ( abbreviation : WP ) is a major social democratic political party in Singapore and one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament , alongside the governing People's Action Party (PAP) and
3894-459: The "external appearances of individual graphs", and in graphical form ( 字体 ; 字體 ; zìtǐ ), "overall changes in the distinguishing features of graphic[al] shape and calligraphic style, [...] in most cases refer[ring] to rather obvious and rather substantial changes". The initiatives following the founding of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) to universalize the use of their small seal script across
4012-482: The 1986 General List of Simplified Chinese Characters , hereafter the General List . All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Chart 1 and Chart 2 in the 1986 Complete List . Characters in both charts are structurally simplified based on similar set of principles. They are separated into two charts to clearly mark those in Chart 2 as 'usable as simplified character components', based on which Chart 3
4130-520: The 1986 mainland China revisions. Unlike in mainland China, Singapore parents have the option of registering their children's names in traditional characters. Malaysia also promulgated a set of simplified characters in 1981, though completely identical to the mainland Chinese set. They are used in Chinese-language schools. All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Charts 1 and 2 of
4248-773: The Aljunied Constituency Committee. It also combined the Hougang and Aljunied town councils to form the Aljunied–Hougang Town Council. On 15 February 2012, the party expelled Hougang SMC MP Yaw Shin Leong , for failing to account for allegations made against him. Prior to his expulsion, Yaw was accused of several indiscretions in his private life, as well as party misconduct surfaced earlier that year; Yaw had up to 24 February to appeal against his expulsion, but declined, eventually precipitated
4366-593: The Aljunied–Hougang Town Council, which had appointed an independent panel of three lawyers at the behest of MND and HDB , was suing town council chairman Singh, vice-chairman Lim, party's leader Low, and three others including the town council's former managing agent, for improper payments made to the MA. On 29 September, the party's headquarters were relocated from Syed Alwi Road to the Teambuild Centre, located at Geylang Road. On 3 November, an anniversary dinner
4484-538: The Arts, he liberalised the use of dialects in the local film industry, which paved the way for a generation of local film directors and producers. He also oversaw the design and construction of the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay and the new National Library . In the 1990s, Yeo pushed for widespread adoption of internet infrastructure in Singapore, stating that it was important for Singapore to retain its role as
4602-470: The Chinese government published a major revision to the list which included a total of 8300 characters. No new simplifications were introduced. In addition, slight modifications to the orthography of 44 characters to fit traditional calligraphic rules were initially proposed, but were not implemented due to negative public response. Also, the practice of unrestricted simplification of rare and archaic characters by analogy using simplified radicals or components
4720-551: The Election Department on 4 February. On 29 May 2016, leader Low successfully fended off an unprecedented challenge for his Secretary-General post by Chen for the first time in the party's history. Chen was re-appointed by Low in his previous position as Treasurer for another three months from 7 June 2016 until 9 September 2016, as he had already served two terms in the post. On 7 June, the party appointed Pritam Singh as Assistant Secretary-General. On 26 July 2017,
4838-530: The Federation. Marshall later stated on 20 August 1962: "... issued a statement to advise his Executive Council and party members to accept the White Paper proposals for merger, but continued to oppose the Government on the referendum urging the people to cast blank votes on the grounds that it was undemocratically conducted." On 9 August 1965, Singapore was declared as an independent sovereign state, and
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4956-559: The Internal Security Act, living costs and welfare. Jeyaretnam was sued for slander by the Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew for comments he made at an election rally in 1988, and lost; Jeyaretnam was ordered to pay Lee damages of S$ 260,000 including costs. At the 1991 general election , Low Thia Khiang , who was then the party's Organising Secretary, and a previously-contested candidate under
5074-706: The International Advisory Board of IESE Business School (IAB). Yeo was involved in reviving the ancient Buddhist university, Nalanda University , in Bihar , India . He was chancellor of Nalanda University and member of the University Governing Board, and the governing board's International Advisory Panel. In November 2016, he resigned as the chancellor of Nalanda University accusing the Indian government of failing to maintain
5192-562: The Legislative was reformed as Parliament of Singapore . 1968 was the first post-independence election, which saw PAP winning every one of 58 contested seats (51 by a walkover, and the other seven on polling day), due to the election boycotting of the main opposition party at the time, the Barisan Sosialis , leading to the mass arrests of most of its leadership since 1963. Having become a small and fairly insignificant party by
5310-491: The PAP, who accused him of being an anti-Christian and anti- Muslim Chinese chauvinist. Tang, who insisted all he was trying to do was to "better represent the Chinese community and ask questions on their behalf", vigorously denied this charge and accused the PAP of trying to win votes by sowing fear into the electorate. Tang also attacked the PAP on the issue of the Hotel Properties Ltd case (which started when
5428-451: The PAP. Ahead from the 2015 elections, coinciding the nation's golden jubilee, the party announced that it would contest 28 seats (from the ten constituencies), slightly under a third of the 89 parliamentary seats. They revealed their slogan for the election entitled "Empower Your Future". In August 2015, chairwoman Lim confirmed the first batch of candidates, consist of all seven elected MPs, would defend their respective constituencies. By
5546-559: The Presidency on 15 June 2011. Prior to the 2023 presidential election , Yeo announced on Facebook that he was seriously considering a run for the presidency; he later retracted these statements. Yeo has been a visiting scholar at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy since 2011. In 2013, Yeo was appointed as a non-official member of the newly established Hong Kong Economic Development Commission. In 2014, Yeo
5664-703: The Singapore United Front. The party did not win any constituency but came very close to winning the Eunos Group Representation Constituency (which was then a three-member constituency), in which the party's team, consisting of Francis Seow (a former head of the Bar Society who had become a thorn in the government's side and had briefly been detained under the Internal Security Act prior to
5782-672: The Telecommunication Authority of Singapore (TAS) to the Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA), which was to "concentrate on areas which may undermine public morals, political stability or religious harmony in Singapore". Yeo said the government would focus on monitoring internet communications that broadcast material to millions of users rather than the "narrowcasting" of private communications between individuals. As Minister for Trade and Industry, Yeo led his team to successfully negotiate
5900-479: The WP did not win any of the three contested seats. That same election also saw PAP became the majority party for the very first time. In May 1961, a by-election was precipitated due to the passing of Anson constituency 's incumbent MP Baharuddin Mohammed Ariff. Marshall then went to declare his candidacy with the statement: "... effective, vigorous and constructive opposition and to protect them against
6018-527: The WP into the assembly. Jeyaretnam then went on to hold the constituency in the 1984 elections with an increased margin of 56.8%. However, two months later, Jeyaretnam was charged with falsely accounting the party's funds. In 1986, Senior District Judge Michael Khoo found Jeyaretnam innocent of all charges but one. The prosecution later appealed a retrial to be held in a different district court, which saw Jeyaretnam found guilty on all charges and resulted in his disqualification, though he subsequently remained as
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#17327838795456136-468: The YPAP could take positions different from central party leadership . Yeo and his Aljunied GRC team first faced a team of Singapore Democratic Party in 1988 and Worker's Party for Eunos Group Representation Constituency in 1997. In 2006, Yeo along with his team Yeo Guat Kwang , Zainul Abidin bin Mohammed Rasheed , Cynthia Phua and Lim Hwee Hua faced Worker's Party and won with
6254-523: The adoption of the Rendel and McNeice Commission recommendations, the six wards in the city area consisting of 18 elected seats was carved into 32. In 1957, the pro-communists backed two new entrants, the Workers' Party and the People's Action Party , which later went on to become the long-running governing party in Singapore. Their electoral debut was mostly a success as the party elected four members (out of
6372-421: The arrogant dictatorship of unchallenged power. Marshall was also eager to assist the workers to prevent the political enslavement of trade unions and to revive the struggle against colonialism in seeking complete independence preferably within and, if necessary, without the Federation." On 15 July, Marshall won the by-election and subsequently returned to the Legislative Assembly . David Marshall, as Chairman of
6490-428: The character set are altered. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms that embody graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms. In addition, variant characters with identical pronunciation and meaning were reduced to a single standardized character, usually the simplest among all variants in form. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification and are thus identical between
6608-407: The chosen variants, those that appear in the "Complete List of Simplified Characters" are also simplified in character structure accordingly. Some examples follow: Sample reduction of equivalent variants : Ancient variants with simple structure are preferred : Simpler vulgar forms are also chosen : The chosen variant was already simplified in Chart 1 : In some instances, the chosen variant
6726-400: The constituency of Hougang , which was represented by Low Thia Khiang for two decades. The popularity of the party in Hougang has been attributed to the area's Teochew heritage and Low's personal affability. Low moved to the constituency of Aljunied in 2011 , where he led the first team from an opposition party to win a group representation constituency (GRC). In 2020 , the WP become
6844-473: The country's writing system as a serious impediment to its modernization. In 1916, a multi-part English-language article entitled "The Problem of the Chinese Language" co-authored by the Chinese linguist Yuen Ren Chao (1892–1982) and poet Hu Shih (1891–1962) has been identified as a turning point in the history of the Chinese script—as it was one of the first clear calls for China to move away from
6962-476: The early 20th century. In 1909, the educator and linguist Lufei Kui formally proposed the use of simplified characters in education for the first time. Over the following years—marked by the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that toppled the Qing dynasty , followed by growing social and political discontent that further erupted into the 1919 May Fourth Movement —many anti-imperialist intellectuals throughout China began to see
7080-459: The election's narrowest margin, with 56.1% to 43.9%. However, in the 2011 general election the WP team consists of Pritam Singh , Sylvia Lim , Muhamad Faisal Manap , Low Thia Kiang and Chen Show Mao won the election of 54.7%, resulting in his election defeat as well as the loss of his ministerial appointment. Yeo, along with a co-anchor minister Lim Hwee Hua , were the first two cabinet ministers in post-independence Singapore, and after
7198-519: The election. Prior to the 2001 election , Jeyaretnam was discharged from his NCMP seat due to an undischarged bankruptcy (failing to keep up with payments of S$ 120,000 worth of damages owed from a libel suit brought by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and other PAP leaders following comments he had made at an election rally in 1997, but since fulfilled and discharged from bankruptcy in May 2007); Jeyaretnam relinquished his Secretary-General post to Low, which saw
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#17327838795457316-513: The end of the month, the party's line-up were unveiled and finalised. On 11 September, the team for Aljunied GRC and Hougang SMC were re-elected for another term in Parliament, but by a reduced winning margin of 50.95% and 57.69%, respectively, while Punggol East SMC 's candidate Lee was defeated in her re-election bid to PAP's candidate and Deputy Speaker Charles Chong by a vote count of 51.76%–48.24%. Their party's overall vote (based on
7434-634: The first official list of simplified forms was published, consisting of 324 characters collated by Peking University professor Qian Xuantong . However, fierce opposition within the KMT resulted in the list being rescinded in 1936. Work throughout the 1950s resulted in the 1956 promulgation of the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme , a draft of 515 simplified characters and 54 simplified components, whose simplifications would be present in most compound characters. Over
7552-535: The first opposition party to win multiple GRCs in a single general election. Positioning itself as a " check and balance " in Parliament, it supports a progressive approach to civic nationalism , reducing the voting age from 21 to 18, establishing a universal minimum wage , and providing more flexibility in regard to the Central Provident Fund . In recent years, members of the WP have worn light blue uniforms during political campaigns to represent
7670-463: The first round—but was massively unpopular and never saw consistent use. The second round of simplifications was ultimately retracted officially in 1986, well after they had largely ceased to be used due to their unpopularity and the confusion they caused. In August 2009, China began collecting public comments for a revised list of simplified characters; the resulting List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters lists 8,105 characters, including
7788-531: The five contested) to the City Council; however, in 1958, Kallang ward incumbent Chang Yuen Tong resigned, and subsequently lost their seat to PAP as a result of their by-election defeat. The party's first Legislative election in 1959 did not see success unlike the 1957 City Election, as Marshall failed to retake his seat from 1955 to 1957, Cairnhill constituency ; it was won by former Chief Minister and Singapore People's Alliance leader Lim Yew Hock , and
7906-473: The following day. Singh was elected to the post of Secretary-General unopposed on 8 April 2018 after Low decided to step down for leadership renewal. On 26 July, the Party was among the nine opposition parties invited for a gathering led by former PAP member and Presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock , but the party did not attend. WP later revealed that the party was "going through a leadership transition and
8024-475: The following decade, the Script Reform Committee deliberated on characters in the 1956 scheme, collecting public input regarding the recognizability of variants, and often approving forms in small batches. Parallel to simplification, there were also initiatives aimed at eliminating the use of characters entirely and replacing them with pinyin as an official Chinese alphabet, but this possibility
8142-521: The forthcoming election along with Lim and three of his "A-List" candidates (Taiwanese-born corporate lawyer Chen Show Mao , law postgraduate and former SAF major Pritam Singh , and freelance councillor Faisal Manap ). The party fielded a total of 23 candidates contesting in eight constituencies, the largest slate since 1988 (WP had the second-largest opposition slate, second only to another opposition party, National Solidarity Party (NSP), which fielded 24 candidates in eight constituencies). On 7 May,
8260-511: The founding of the Qin. The Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) that inherited the Qin administration coincided with the perfection of clerical script through the process of libian . Eastward spread of Western learning Though most closely associated with the People's Republic, the idea of a mass simplification of character forms first gained traction in China during
8378-405: The founding. Many observers speculated that with Low at the helm, WP would tone down its more hard-line stance and take on a more centrist outlook at the 2001 election. After Low assumed leadership, Low recruited a series of young members to the party, which include James Gomez , Yaw Shin Leong and Sylvia Lim (who would become the party's long-serving (and current) chairperson). Although Low
8496-539: The general election), Lee Siew Choh (a former chairman of the Barisan Sosialis and former PAP Assemblyman from 1959 to 1961) and Mohd Khalit bin Mohd Baboo, scored 49.1%; only one opposition MP was returned to Parliament ( Chiam See Tong of the Singapore Democratic Party ), and since the team garnered the highest percentage of the vote secured by losing opposition candidates at the election,
8614-466: The increased usage of 朙 was followed by proliferation of a third variant: 眀 , with 目 'eye' on the left—likely derived as a contraction of 朙 . Ultimately, 明 became the character's standard form. The Book of Han (111 AD) describes an earlier attempt made by King Xuan of Zhou ( d. 782 BC ) to unify character forms across the states of ancient China , with his chief chronicler having "[written] fifteen chapters describing" what
8732-460: The late-1960s, the party saw a rejuvenation by recruiting a group of lawyers, including J.B. Jeyaretnam , who became the party's Secretary-General . Despite fielding a large slate of candidates in succeeding elections, the ruling PAP still managed to retain the monopoly by winning every contested seats for the next three general elections (including by-elections) until 1981. On 13 October 1981, Devan Nair vacated his Anson seat to assume his role as
8850-465: The left, with the 月 'Moon' component on the right. Li Si ( d. 208 BC ), the Chancellor of Qin, attempted to universalize the Qin small seal script across China following the wars that had politically unified the country for the first time. Li prescribed the 朙 form of the word for 'bright', but some scribes ignored this and continued to write the character as 明 . However,
8968-402: The most prominent Chinese authors of the 20th century, stated that "if Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die" ( 漢字不滅，中國必亡 ). During the 1930s and 1940s, discussions regarding simplification took place within the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party. Many members of the Chinese intelligentsia maintained that simplification would increase literacy rates throughout the country. In 1935,
9086-401: The nation's third President , and precipitated the by-election ; on 31 October, the party's victory was noted as historic as candidate Jeyaretnam became the first opposition MP-elect to be elected in Parliament with 51.9% (7,012) of the valid votes cast, beating PAP's Pang Kim Hin 's 47.1% (6,359) and UPF's Harbans Singh's 1.0% (131), marking the first time since 1961 the Anson electorate voted
9204-442: The new HQ was opened in 2017, coinciding the party's 60th anniversary. On 16 January 2013, the party fielded Lee Li Lian , a candidate previously contested the same ward on the 2011 election. On 26 January, Lee was elected to the parliament with 54.52% of the votes (her PAP rival Koh Poh Koon got 43.71%, and two other smaller parties 1.77%), marking their second by-election since 1981 the party won another parliamentary seat from
9322-438: The newly formed Sengkang GRC , as well as Aljunied GRC and Hougang SMC. Low Thia Khiang , along with two incumbents Chen Show Mao and Png Eng Huat, did not contest the election, marking Low's retirement after a 32-year career. Low was earlier hospitalised on 30 April due to a head injury he sustained and was on rehabilitation. They were respectively replaced by NCMPs Gerald Giam , Leon Perera and Dennis Tan to complete
9440-540: The nomination day. In 1993, Jeyaretnam and another candidate, Tan Soo Phuan (now a member of Democratic Progressive Party ), attempted to seek candidacy in the first-ever presidential election , but both candidates were denied from granting the Certificate of Eligibility, an item presidential candidates was required to complete their nominations. In 1996, Jeyaretnam was sued and paid damages of S$ 465,000 and S$ 250,000 in court costs for an article he wrote in an issue of
9558-419: The other opposition Progress Singapore Party (PSP). The WP sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum and is currently the largest and oldest opposition party in Parliament, having contested every parliamentary election since 1959 against the dominant PAP. Since the 1991 general election , the WP has been the only political party, other than the PAP, with elected Members of Parliament (MPs). The WP
9676-402: The other states of the Federation. Singaporeans would in his view, be no more than favoured foreigners in the Federation, permitted to live and work there without visas, but also without the important constitutional guarantees that immigration barriers would not be raised against them." The party concerned Marshall's issue of common citizenship and the rights of Singapore citizens when they joined
9794-537: The parliament on his assertiveness, good analytical ability and his willingness to be constructive rather than oppose for the sake of opposing. A by-election in the Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency in 1992 was expected to mark the return of Jeyaretnam to electoral politics after his Parliamentary ban had expired; however, the team ultimately did not participate due to one of the candidates turned up late on
9912-434: The party also won two of the three NCMP seats, which they elect Gerald Giam and Yee Jenn Jong (who contested East Coast Group Representation Constituency and Joo Chiat Single Member Constituency , respectively), bringing a total representation of eight seats, the most for any opposition party in Singapore since independence. Following the elections on 12 June, the party launched its grassroots arm for Aljunied GRC, called
10030-464: The party in bitter acrimony as Jeyaretnam later accused Low of not doing enough to help him pay the damages from the libel suit. In response, Low claimed that he had always looked upon Jeyaretnam as an elder and had done everything possible to help him. Following the renewal, a few members (including Jeyaretnam) left the party, and went to form Reform Party in 2008, which would be Jeyaretnam's final involvement in politics until his death three months after
10148-427: The party was eligible to nominate two members of its team become Non-constituency MPs . The party had refused to nominate NCMPs in the past, but this time they nominated Lee and Seow to become NCMPs. While Lee took his post and became the first NCMP, Seow did not accept the offer after he was accused of espionage and fled to the United States shortly after the election. In Parliament, Lee took up several issues, including
10266-495: The party's Chairman Lim was selected to become its first female NCMP. Another team of young first-time candidates, led by Yaw Shin Leong in Ang Mo Kio GRC helmed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong , garnered a respectable 33.4% or one-third of the votes, slightly higher than the opposition's national average. Combining from all the votes received from the seven constituencies contested by 20 candidates, their popular vote
10384-407: The party's Secretary-General, he was also barred from standing in elections until 1991. In 1987, some members were among a group of 22 people arrested by Singapore's Internal Security Department as part of Operation Spectrum , accused of being Marxists . They were released on condition that they kept out of politics. Prior to the 1988 general elections , the party merged Barisan Sosialis and
10502-548: The party's manifesto citing "time-bombs", in which the party quipped that its manifesto contained only time bombs which threatened the PAP's power. At the 2006 general election , Low was elected as Hougang MP for the fourth time by an increased margin of 62.7%. The party also polled strongly in the Aljunied GRC, losing to the PAP's team with 43.9% of the vote to 56.1%, allowing the party to elect an NCMP seat by-virtue for their team being best-performing opposition losers, and
10620-474: The party's newspaper, The Hammer , calling the PAP's Indian leaders a bunch of stooges. That same year, Lee Siew Choh resigned from the party, citing differences with Jeyaretnam. In the 1997 elections , Low was re-elected as Hougang MP at the 1997 general election. Besides Low, only one other opposition MP was elected (Chiam See Tong, who left SDP to join the Singapore People's Party ); one NCMP
10738-556: The party's support for blue-collar workers . In 1956, Singapore's first Chief Minister , David Saul Marshall , resigned his leadership post for Labour Front (the largest party in the assembly at the time) following the failure of the Merdeka Talks that had sought self-governance for Singapore. Marshall remained as the party's backbencher in the Legislative Assembly until his resignation in 1957. On 3 November that year, Marshall went on to found Workers' Party. Following
10856-428: The party, made his views known on merger at public rallies and radio talks. Marshall's stand on merger was that: "... Singapore should seek equal privileges and rights for its citizens in the new federation but surrender autonomy in education and labour, since different policies in these crucial areas would undermine the stability of Malaysia in the long run. He further maintained that if Singapore could not negotiate for
10974-430: The public and quickly fell out of official use. It was ultimately formally rescinded in 1986. The second-round simplifications were unpopular in large part because most of the forms were completely new, in contrast to the familiar variants comprising the majority of the first round. With the rescission of the second round, work toward further character simplification largely came to an end. In 1986, authorities retracted
11092-465: The recently conquered parts of the empire is generally seen as being the first real attempt at script reform in Chinese history. Before the 20th century, variation in character shape on the part of scribes, which would continue with the later invention of woodblock printing , was ubiquitous. For example, prior to the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) the character meaning 'bright' was written as either 明 or 朙 —with either 日 'Sun' or 囧 'window' on
11210-426: The same set of simplified characters as mainland China. The first round was promulgated by the Ministry of Education in 1969, consisting of 498 simplified characters derived from 502 traditional characters. A second round of 2287 simplified characters was promulgated in 1974. The second set contained 49 differences from the mainland China system; these were removed in the final round in 1976. In 1993, Singapore adopted
11328-467: The second round completely, though they had been largely fallen out of use within a year of their initial introduction. That year, the authorities also promulgated a final version of the General List of Simplified Chinese Characters . It was identical to the 1964 list save for 6 changes—including the restoration of 3 characters that had been simplified in the first round: 叠 , 覆 , 像 ; the form 疊
11446-492: The survival rate and cure of children with cancer, especially childhood leukemia, in Singapore and Southeast Asia . In May 2006, a memorandum of understanding was signed between St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, National University of Singapore (NUS), National University Hospital (NUH) in Singapore, and the VIVA Foundation for Children with Cancer (VIVA). Yeo is an avid jogger and has participated in
11564-581: The team in Aljunied GRC achieved another breakthrough for the party, with the first-ever GRC victory for any opposition party in history, with a score of 54.71% to unseat the PAP team led by Foreign Minister George Yeo and Minister of the Prime Minister's Office Lim Hwee Hua . The Hougang ward was also retained by Yaw with its best performance for the party at 64.80% of the votes (second only to Chiam's score of 69.6% back in 1991), resulting in six seats elected in Parliament. Their party's overall vote
11682-445: The ten constituencies contested, all of them were higher than the opposition's national average of 30.14%) fell from 46.58% down to 39.75% as well. Consequently, the party became the only opposition party to represent in the Parliament for the first time since 1981–84, as the party won all the three NCMPs and formed an opposition of nine. Lee was the first of the three NCMPs but declined the offer; Fengshan SMC 's candidate Dennis Tan
11800-497: The traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. The Chinese government has never officially announced the completion of the simplification process after the bulk of characters were introduced by the 1960s. In the wake of the Cultural Revolution , a second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977—largely composed of entirely new variants intended to artificially lower the stroke count, in contrast to
11918-833: The traditional character 強 , with 11 strokes is standardised as 强 , with 12 strokes, which is a variant character. Such characters do not constitute simplified characters. The new standardized character forms shown in the Characters for Publishing and revised through the Common Modern Characters list tend to adopt vulgar variant character forms. Since the new forms take vulgar variants, many characters now appear slightly simpler compared to old forms, and as such are often mistaken as structurally simplified characters. Some examples follow: The traditional component 釆 becomes 米 : The traditional component 囚 becomes 日 : The traditional "Break" stroke becomes
12036-448: The trial. Three days later, they closed their fundraising appeal after raising more than S$ 1 million for legal fees, while thanking the public for their support. Ahead of the elections on 10 July 2020, the party introduced their slogan, "Make Your Vote Count" along with 12 new party members, which included ex- NSP candidate Nicole Seah . During nominations, they fielded a total of 21 candidates to contest in six constituencies, including
12154-744: The university's autonomy. In Singapore, he is also advisor to the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall and Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan , as well as a patron of Lasalle College of the Arts . Yeo moved to the private sector in Hong Kong since leaving politics in 2011. Yeo joined the Kuok Group as senior advisor, and vice chairman of its subsidiary Kerry Group (HK) Pte Ltd in January 2012. In August 2012, he became chairman and executive director of Kerry Logistics Network. He
12272-522: The use of characters entirely. Instead, Chao proposed that the language be written with an alphabet, which he saw as more logical and efficient. The alphabetization and simplification campaigns would exist alongside one another among the Republican intelligentsia for the next several decades. Recent commentators have echoed some contemporary claims that Chinese characters were blamed for the economic problems in China during that time. Lu Xun , one of
12390-549: Was 38.4%; as compared to the second opposition party, the Singapore Democratic Alliance (the party also fielded the same number of candidates contesting the same number of constituencies), where the party got 32.5%, the party then became the largest opposition for the election, and leader Low succeeded Chiam as the new leader of the opposition . The manifesto for the General Election 2011
12508-464: Was abandoned, confirmed by a speech given by Zhou Enlai in 1958. In 1965, the PRC published the List of Commonly Used Characters for Printing [ zh ] (hereafter Characters for Printing ), which included standard printed forms for 6196 characters, including all of the forms from the 1956 scheme. A second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977, but was poorly received by
12626-435: Was also a director of Kerry Holdings and non-executive director of Wilmar International . Yeo is also the non-executive director of AIA Group since November 2012. On 23 August 2020, V3 Group, led by Osim founder Ron Sim , announced that George Yeo would join the group as senior advisor. Yeo is also an independent board director of Nasdaq-listed e-commerce platform Pinduoduo , the largest agriculture platform in China. Yeo
12744-852: Was appointed as an independent non-executive director of Creative Technology in 2021. As of April 2024, George Yeo owns 400,000 shares in Wilmar International, and was appointed as an independent non-executive director. In 2012, Yeo was awarded the Padma Bhushan , by India , the Order of Sikatuna , with the rank of Datu (Grand Cross), by the Philippines , and the Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia , by Australia . A Roman Catholic , Yeo married lawyer Jennifer Leong Lai Peng in 1984. The couple have three sons and
12862-423: Was called due to the vacation of Punggol East SMC 's MP and former speaker Michael Palmer for indiscretions with a People's Association staff; the party announced the candidacy shortly after the announcement. Prior to nomination day, the party announced plans to purchase its own premises as its current rented premises at Syed Alwi Road was too small for its operations. Sufficient funds were eventually raised and
12980-652: Was educated at St. Stephen's School , St. Patrick's School —where he topped in his class for his O-Levels and St. Joseph's Institution before graduating from Christ's College at the University of Cambridge in 1976, majoring in engineering, under the President's Scholarship and Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship . He subsequently went on to complete a Master in Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School in 1985 as
13098-510: Was founded in 1965 by David Marshall , having previously led the more left-wing Labour Front (LF) to victory in 1955 , forming a minority government and becoming the first Chief Minister of Singapore . After the British initially rejected his proposal for home rule , he resigned as leader of the LF and from his seat in 1957. After creating the WP, Marshall returned as its first representative in
13216-404: Was held on Harbourfront Centre , marking a milestone of 60 years since the founding of the party on 3 November 1957. On the same night, Low announced on his speech that he would step down from his role of Secretary-General and would not seek candidacy for the next CEC's election the following year. A commemorative biographical book for the party, Walking With Singapore , was launched at bookstores
13334-399: Was its best performance in history, with 46.58% of the votes combined from the eight constituencies contested (second only to SDP's popular vote of 48.6% in 1991). Additionally, the election of chairwoman Lim and Manap, became the first female and former NCMP and Malay opposition MP, respectively, to be elected into Parliament. Due to an increase of minimum opposition seats from three to nine,
13452-847: Was named as a member of the Vatican 's Council for the Economy. He was amongst the first lay Catholics appointed by the Vatican to oversee organisational and economic issues faced by the Holy See . At that time, Yeo was the only Asian appointed to the commission. Yeo is currently a member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum , the Nicolas Berggruen Institute 's 21st Century Council and
13570-420: Was next in line for the second NCMP seat, while the party's East Coast GRC team nominated Leon Perera for the third seat. Following Lee's decline of offer, the party announced that they would nominate Daniel Goh as the third NCMP should the Parliament allow another appointment for NCMP. The appointment was approved by the PAP legislature on 29 January 2016, allowing Goh to be elected NCMP on an announcement from
13688-533: Was offered to the WP team for Cheng San Group Representation Constituency , who polled better than any other opposition losing candidates, with 45.2%; the party selected secretary-general (and candidate) Jeyaretnam as the NCMP, marking his return to the Parliament after 11 years. During the election campaign, another candidate part of the WP's team in Cheng San, lawyer Tang Liang Hong , drew particular attention from
13806-584: Was re-elected as Hougang MP at the 2001 general election, the party's fortunes reached a low as it only contested in two seats, in Hougang and Nee Soon East SMCs and had its entire Aljunied GRC team disqualified on Nomination Day. WP launched an updated manifesto in January 2006 entitled "You Have a Choice". The 52-page booklet outlined the party's stand on issues and policies, covering areas from economic and judicial policies to media and sports and recreation. The manifesto, which had last been updated in 1994, took one year to work on according to Low. PAP then panned
13924-511: Was titled "Towards a First World Parliament", which also became their campaign slogan. One key proposal was for more affordable public housing such that Housing Development Board (HDB) lessees should be able to pay off their mortgage loans within 20 years rather than 30 years. Prior to nomination day (27 April 2011), Low announced that he would vacate his Hougang seat to former Ang Mo Kio GRC candidate Yaw Shin Long, and would contest in Aljunied GRC in
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