Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: Who is the current political leader of Singapore?
The President of the Republic of Singapore is the country's head of state. Singapore has a parliamentary system of government. Executive authority is exercised by the Cabinet led by the Prime Minister of Singapore. The current president is Halimah Yacob, who was elected unopposed at the 2017 presidential election. She is the first female President of Singapore and first Malay head of state in 47 years since the death of Yusof Bin Ishak, Singapore's first president.
The current Leader of the House is Grace Fu who has assumed this office on 1 October 2015. She is assisted by Deputy Leader Desmond Lee.In parliamentary systems of government on the Westminster model, the Leader of the Opposition is the MP who is the leader of the largest opposition party able and prepared to assume office if the Government resigns. This political party often forms a Shadow Cabinet, the members of which serve as opposition spokespersons on key areas of government. Singapore law does not provide for an official Leader of the Opposition, though the leader of the largest opposition party in Parliament is usually given the title of unofficial Leader of the Opposition. This is taken into consideration by the Speaker when seats in Parliament are allocated, and during a debate the MP so designated is often given the privilege of being one of the first non-Government MPs to speak.
One of the most well-known Jews in the history of Singapore is David Marshall (1908-1995). He was the first chief minister of Singapore in 1955, serving for 14 months while being leader of the Labour Front. He also led the first Merdeka Talks to London in hope for gaining independence from the British but resigned after failing to gain independence from the British. Following his resignation, in 1957, he founded the Workers Party of Singapore, which is currently Singapore's second largest political party.
Tan Wah Piow () is currently a lawyer and a former Singapore student leader, who since 1976 lives in political exile in London. In 1987, he was accused by the Singapore government of being the alleged mastermind behind the Marxist Conspiracy. The Government of Singapore arrested 16 people for their role in an alleged Marxist Conspiracy, which involved plans to overthrow the Government to form a Marxist state. According to the state media, Tan had been influenced by Marxist and ideas since the early 1970s. In response, the government revoked his citizenship in 1987.
The branch was led by Sun Yat-sen, who would become a leader of the Revolution of 1911 and the early Republic of China. But political activity in Singapore was not limited to republican revolution. During this period, Sun was associated with the Chinese anarchist Zhang Renjie, who provided a significant amount of Sun's funding (Zhang's daughter Helen would later marry a doctor from Singapore, Robert Lim). Zhang, a member of the so-called Paris group was active in the colony, where he purchased a printing press to be used in producing anarchist texts. Another member of the Paris anarchist group, Chu Minyi, joined the aforementioned Tongmenghui while stopping over in Singapore. Years later, in the wake of the May Fourth Movement of 1919, anarchist groups were formed throughout the overseas Chinese communities, in among other places Singapore. These radical societies published their own newsletters and periodicals, and spread anarchist literature. Some republican–influenced anarchists joined the General Labour Union of Guangzhou, which had formed in Singapore.
Still, new parties continued to be established. Seven new parties were formed in the 1970s (including the Justice Party, Singapore and the United Front, the preprocessor of today's Democratic Progressive Party), two in the 1980s (the Singapore Democratic Party and the National Solidarity Party (NSP)), two in the 1990s (the Singapore National Front and the Singapore People's Party (SPP)), three in the 2000s, and as of now, three in the 2010s. The People's Voice Party was established on 31 October 2018 and Progress Singapore Party on 19 January 2019 , the latter is currently the newly registered political party. There are therefore a total of 31 registered political parties today, of which nine have never contested in an election.
The association led by the Indian mercantile and professional elite, expanding its membership to include the emerging white collar middle classes as well. Initially, the leaders of the association were seized with the political spirit of the time in both India and Singapore. Many were supporters of the Indian independence movement, and many were also concerned about the social welfare and political rights of the wider Indian community in Singapore and British Malaya, which the city-state was then a part of. 
The Governors of Singapore were the political leaders of Singapore during its pre-independence phase in the history of Singapore.
APEC Singapore 2009 was a series of political meetings held around Singapore between the 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation during 2009. It culminated in the 17th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting (AELM) held in Singapore from 14 to 15 November 2009.
Following the Second World War, the Straits Settlements were disbanded and Singapore became a Crown colony in its own right. The reconstituted Executive Council consisted of six officials and four nominated "unofficials". In February 1954, the Rendel Constitutional Commission under the chairmanship of Sir George William Rendel, which had been appointed to comprehensively review the constitution of the Colony of Singapore, rendered its report. Among other things, it recommended that a Council of Ministers be created, composed of three "ex officio" Official Members and six Elected Members of the Legislative Assembly of Singapore appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of the Leader of the House, who would be the leader of the largest political party or coalition of parties having majority support in the legislature. The recommendation was implemented in 1955. In the general election held that year, the Labour Front took a majority of the seats in the Assembly, and David Saul Marshall became the first Chief Minister of Singapore. Major problems with the Rendel Constitution were that the Chief Minister and Ministers' powers were ill-defined, and that the Official Members retained control of the finance, administration, and internal security and law portfolios. This led to confrontation between Marshall, who saw himself as a Prime Minister governing the country, and the Governor, Sir John Fearns Nicoll, who felt that important decisions and policies should remain with himself and the Official Members.
Branches of PR was formed in the neighbouring British protectorate of Brunei and the colony of Singapore in what eventually became the Partai Rakyat Brunei ("Brunei People's Party"; PRB) and Partai Rakyat Singapore ("Singapore People's Party" (PRS) – not to be mistaken with the current Singapore People's Party). Both these branches eventually disappeared from active politics by the mid 1960s with the PRB banned in 1962 and the PRS never sufficiently gaining enough support in Singapore for electoral success. The PRB is believed to be still operating in exile and the PRS remains a registered political party in Singapore.
The Leader of the Opposition () in Nova Scotia is the MLA in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly who leads the political party recognized as the Official Opposition. This status generally goes to the leader of the second largest party in the Legislative Assembly. Tim Houston, the current leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia, is the current leader of the opposition.
However, the early political leaders in Singapore did not press for self-government. These early leaders were organised into two main parties, the Malayan Democratic Union (MDU) and the SPP. The MDU wanted Singapore to join the Federation of Malaya. The SPP wanted eventual self-government, but was too comfortable with the existing situation of cooperating with the British colonial government to set a target date.
According to Lee Kuan Yew, there were irreconcilable differences between the two from the outset, due to the UMNO's communal politics. The racial riots in July 1964, triggered and intensified the political rift between PAP and UMNO. Communal politics was often the central theme of Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman's speeches and he often pointed the finger at the PAP leaders and Lee Kuan Yew for interfering in his political party's decisions and for contesting in Malaya's federal elections advocating for a non-communal politics. Furthermore, Tunku Abdul Rahman's encouragement of racial tension and anti-PAP sentiments among Singaporean Malays made it difficult for the PAP to work with UMNO to forge good relations. Thus, these ideological differences on party politics and the outbreaks of the racial riots in 1964 were some of the important contributing factors which led to the eventual separation of Singapore from the Malayan, paving the way for Singapore's independence in June 1965. Singapore was finally declared an independent and sovereign state on August 9, 1965.
The Barisan had fought against the merger with Malaysia, however, upon the declaration of Singapore's independence from Malaysia in 1965, leaders of Barisan declined to recognise the independence of Singapore. Lee Siew Choh, chairman of Barisan attacked the independence obtained by Singapore, stating that it was not genuine and released public slogans of "Crush Malaysia", "Phony Independence", and "Boycott Parliament". Reaction towards Singapore's independence within the left-wing camp was again divided. Lim Huan Boon, who was a member of the Communist Party of Malaya and one of Barisan's representatives in the Legislative Assembly recognised the independence of Singapore stating that there was no such thing as phony or half independence. Lim Chin Siong, another leader of Barisan who was in detention, also considered Singapore's independence to be genuine.
The union, however, was unstable due to distrust and ideological differences between leaders of the State of Singapore and the federal government of Malaysia. Such issues resulted in frequent disagreements relating to economics, finance and politics. The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which was the political party in power in the federal government, saw the participation of the Singapore-based People's Action Party (PAP) in the Malaysian general election of 1964 as a threat to its Malay-based political system. There were also major racial riots that year involving the majority Chinese community and the Malay community in Singapore. During a 1965 Singaporean by-election, UMNO threw its support behind the opposition Barisan Sosialis candidate. In 1965, Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman decided upon the expulsion of Singapore from the Federation, leading to the independence of Singapore on 9 August 1965.
The controversial Section 33 of the Films Act originally banned the making, distribution and exhibition of "party political films", at pain of a fine not exceeding $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years. The Act further defined a "party political film" as any film or video
Exceptions are, however, made for films "made solely for the purpose of reporting of current events", or informing or educating persons on the procedures and polling times of elections or referendums.
In 2001, the short documentary called "A Vision of Persistence" on opposition politician J. B. Jeyaretnam was also banned for being a "party political film". The makers of the documentary, all lecturers at the Ngee Ann Polytechnic, later submitted written apologies and withdrew the documentary from being screened at the 2001 Singapore International Film Festival in April, having been told they could be charged in court. Another short documentary called "Singapore Rebel" by Martyn See, which documented Singapore Democratic Party leader Dr Chee Soon Juan's acts of civil disobedience, was banned from the 2005 Singapore International Film Festival on the same grounds and See is being investigated for possible violations of the Films Act.
Channel NewsAsia's five-part documentary series on Singapore's PAP ministers in 2005 were not considered a party political film. The government response was that the programme was part of current affairs and thus does not contravene the Films Act .
Since they do not concern the politics of Singapore, films that call out political beliefs of other countries, for example Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911, are allowed.
Since March 2009, the Films Act has been amended to allow party political films as long as they were deemed factual and objective by a consultative committee. Some months later, this committee lifted the ban on Singapore Rebel.
Following the Second World War, the Straits Settlements were disbanded and Singapore became a Crown colony in its own right. The reconstituted Executive Council consisted of six officials and four nominated "unofficials". In February 1954, the Rendel Constitutional Commission under the chairmanship of Sir George William Rendel, which had been appointed to comprehensively review the constitution of the Colony of Singapore, rendered its report. Among other things, it recommended that a Council of Ministers be created, composed of three "ex officio" Official Members and six Elected Members of the Legislative Assembly of Singapore appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of the Leader of the House, who would be the leader of the largest political party or coalition of parties having majority support in the legislature. The recommendation was implemented in 1955. In the general election held that year, the Labour Front took a majority of the seats in the Assembly, and David Saul Marshall became the first Chief Minister of Singapore. Major problems with the Rendel Constitution were that the Chief Minister and Ministers' powers were ill-defined, and that the Official Members retained control of the finance, administration, and internal security and law portfolios. This led to confrontation between Marshall, who saw himself as a Prime Minister governing the country, and the Governor, Sir John Fearns Nicoll, who felt that important decisions and policies should remain with himself and the Official Members.
The political situation in Singapore was stable. The PAP had a 15-year monopoly in parliament during 1966 to 1981, winning all seats in elections before J. B. Jeyaretnam of the Workers' Party of Singapore won the Anson constituency in a 1981 by-election. The PAP rule is termed authoritarian by activists who see some of the regulations of political and media activities as an infringement on political rights, perceiving them as authoritarian. This has been the greatest complaint about the PAP by the opposition parties so far, the Workers' Party of Singapore and the Singapore Democratic Party being two of the prominent opposition parties who accuse the PAP of authoritarianism.
An Indian Cantonese, Mak Pak Shee was the leader of the Singapore-based political party, the Labour Party. He left in August 1950. In cabinet he held the position of Junior Minister. In his book "One Man's View of the World" (2013), former Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew described Mak as a "fixer — somebody who facilitated the fulfilment of favours for a fee".
The Leader of the Reformed Political Party is the most senior politician within the Reformed Political Party (, SGP) in the Netherlands. The post is currently held by Kees van der Staaij, who succeeded Bas van der Vlies in 2010.
After being placed as the acting SDP leader in 1993, Chee began expressing his views on the lack of democracy in Singapore to the media. He published his second political book, "Dare To Change: An Alternative Vision for Singapore", in 1996. This view had since led to the attention of the PAP's Organizing Secretary Matthias Yao; ahead of the 1997 elections, Chee publicly issue a challenge to stand against Yao (who he accepted) in his constituency of MacPherson.
In February 1996 it was reported that a survey of 19 countries by the World Economic Forum magazine "World Link" had found that political leaders and senior civil servants of Singapore had the highest salaries. The pay of the Singapore Prime Minister (S$1.1 million, or US$812,858) was almost five times the average pay of the chief political executives of the nations surveyed (US$168,291). Senior civil servants were paid US$292,714, almost three times their counterparts' average pay.
The current de facto Leader of Opposition is Pritam Singh of the Workers' Party of Singapore.
The Leader of the Opposition of Singapore is usually the leader of the second largest political party represented in the Parliament of Singapore. During the 1955 Legislative Assembly election, the late Lee Kuan Yew was the "de facto" Leader of the Opposition, as the People's Action Party was then the second largest political party represented in the Legislative Assembly.