GRASSROOTS POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN SINGAPORE : THE ROLE OF THE PEOPLE'S ASSOCIATION

Abstract

The People's Association (PA) is a statutory board established in 1960 to manage the community centres and subsequently all grassroots organisations in Singapore. The PA's role appears to be a non-political one as it focuses primarily on the promotion of community-based activities to foster racial and social cohesion. This thesis seeks to explain the political utility of the PA as it is the only statutory board chaired by the Prime Minister. It argues that the PA is used by the PAP government to successfully eliminate the communists from the grassroots organisations and later to deprive the opposition from gaining access to them. Hence, the PA's role is indeed a political one. By having hegemonic access to the grassroots organisations, the PAP through its MP and Second Advisor is able, to a certain extent, to determine the nature and extent of political participation of the citizens. By studying the Residents' Committees in a PAP constituency - Ayer Rajah and an opposition constituency - Hougang, this thesis concludes that grassroots political participation in these constituencies is active but mobilised and attuned to government policies.