David Marshall's tenure as the 1st chief minister of Singapore began on 7 April 1955 and ended on 7 June 1956, following his resignation. Marshall, a lawyer of Jewish descent, had his start in politics with the Progressive Party. Marshall later founded the Labour Front (LF) to contest in the upcoming 1955 general election, where they ended up winning the most seats with ten, leading to Marshall being named the first chief minister as the LF's leader. Marshall created his minority government after forming a coalition with the Singapore United Malay National Organisation (SUMNO)–Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) alliance. He was known for his anti-colonial views and progress in attaining self-governance for Singapore.
Early in his chief ministership, Marshall dealt with strikes and riots, and he worked to remove the Emergency Regulations, which they had promised to address in their 1955 election campaign. He became involved in a constitutional crisis in July 1955, following disagreements with governor Robert Black on the Rendel Constitution, that escalated with him threatening resignation. His demands were eventually met following meetings with Secretary of State for the Colonies Alan Lennox-Boyd, where Marshall was granted more power as the chief minister over the governor. He further addressed issues pertaining to education, citizenship, and the civil service, and improved trade relations between Singapore and Indonesia.
Apart from his successes, Marshall's chief ministership was also marked with internal conflicts. The LF was plagued with issues when they held office, and a publicised feud between him and LF assemblymen A. R. Lazarous and Lee Choon Eng led to them leaving the LF and joining the opposition, severely affecting the LF's majority over the opposition. Marshall had also been criticised for his actions in dealing with the Hock Lee bus riots and the Chinese school sit-ins, as he was considered to have been lax in giving punishment and instead agreed to the strikers' terms. External opinions of his government include the British, who tolerated Marshall while he was in office and accommodated him when he threatened resignation in fear of a more volatile government succeeding his. The Australian government largely held the same position as the British, as they believed that his government was too unstable for self-governance to be granted.
In 1956, the Marshall government sent a delegation to London to discuss the self-governance for Singapore, with a planned date of self-governance by April 1957. The British rejected Marshall's plan and gave counteroffers themselves which would have granted Singapore slight self-governance, but Marshall refused them. The constitutional talks subsequently broke down on 15 May. Marshall resigned as chief minister on 7 June 1956, having promised that if he did not obtain self-governance, he would do so. He remained as a backbencher, and was succeeded by Lim Yew Hock as chief minister. Scholarly analysis gives both praise and criticism to his government, while studies using contemporary newspapers show that he generally received support from the Chinese community.
1955 general election
Background Marshall was born in Singapore under British rule to Jewish parents on 12 March 1908. He studied law in the United Kingdom at the University of London and was called to the bar in 1937. After World War II, he entered politics and joined the Progressive Party (PP). Marshall later founded the Labour Front (LF) to contest in the 1955 general elections. The 1955 general elections came following the 1954 Rendel Constitution, which would elect 25 out of 32 members via popular vote to the Legislative Assembly.;
Campaign and results
The 1955 general election's nomination day was on 28 February, and the LF fielded 17 out of the 79 candidates participating in the election; the other parties included the PP, the People's Action Party (PAP), the Democratic Party (DP), the Singapore Malay National Organisation (SUMNO)–Malay Union (MU)–Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) alliance, the Labour Party, and 10 independents. Marshall chose to specifically contest in PP leader Tan Chye Cheng's constituency (Cairnhill) as he wanted to confront his and the PP's views, which was shown in his speeches where he frequently spoke of self-governance and anti-colonialism. Throughout his campaign, his opponents brought up his previous affiliations and views on income tax and land, to which he stated did not reflect his current, more socialist views.
Despite not having agreed earlier with the PAP, the PAP and LF had a mutual understanding of not fielding candidates in each other's constituencies. The PAP themselves stated that, in constituencies with none of their candidates, the vote should go to the LF. Marshall later stated on the PAP's self-governance views that it was "impractical though desirable", with their need for self-governance "going a little too fast". During the campaign period, The Singapore Free Press described Cairnhill Constituency as where "high political issues [were] on trial", with Marshall, PP's Tan, and DP's Tan Khiang Khoo all contesting there. Marshall held several rallies at Empress Place, along with visiting local constituents. He also frequently challenged PP's Tan to debates.
At the time, the PP was largely expected to win the election – even by Marshall himself – with Tan assumed to become the first chief minister. Therefore, Marshall contesting against Tan came as a surprise to many, including senior government officials. Marshall described it as "David versus the Goliath of Big Business", and blamed the PP for the slow progress towards Singapore's independence. Marshall's speeches were described by historian John Drysdale as including "thunderous language, a flamboyant style, and a silver tongue", while The Straits Times had considered a speech of his "sensational" where he spoke on the "social injustices of colonialism" and the "near-erupting volcano of impatient youth thirsting for independence".
The results of the election were announced on 3 April, with the LF winning the most seats with 10. The PP performed poorly, with 18 of their 22 candidates being unsuccessful, including Tan. Although the LF won the majority of seats, the PAP's Lee Kuan Yew won the largest majority in a constituency. Marshall himself was surprised by the results and he received congratulations from Lee and Tan; the former pledged cooperation with Marshall and his government. He was also, as the LF's leader, named as the first chief minister. In Cairnhill, Marshall was elected with 3,305 votes as compared to Tan of PP's 2,530 and Tan of DP's 1,111. The results of the election were also unexpected by governor John Nicoll, who had speculated that the pro-British PP would have won ten seats, with five seats each for the remaining parties.;
Administration
Following the LF's minor majority of 10 of the 25 seats in the Legislative Assembly, Marshall set up his minority government as the chief minister. The evening after their win, the LF met up in Marshall's home to discuss forming a coalition with the other parties; Marshall wanted Abdul Hamid Jumat of the SUMNO to be included, as it would display Malay representation in his cabinet. The LF wanted to form a coalition with either the PAP or the SUMNO–MU–MCA alliance as their minority government of 10 seats could be easily deterred in the larger 32 total seats of the Assembly. As Marshall continued talks with Abdul, his cabinet began to take shape, but during a meeting with Nicoll on 4 April, he stated that even if he got the SUMNO–MU–MCA alliance to join a coalition with them, they would still not obtain a majority in the Assembly. To increase the LF's representation, Marshall requested Nicoll allow him four LF nominees under the Rendel Constitution, but Nicoll refused as it would show that any minority government could rule. Instead, Nicoll appointed two LF executive committee members – Francis Thomas and R. C. H. Lim – and two non-partisans – G. A. P. Sutherland and Ong Piah Teng – to the Assembly. Sutherland and Ong represented European and Chinese commercial interests, respectively.;
On 5 April, the LF successfully reached an agreement to form a coalition with the SUMNO's Abdul and MCA's Wong Foo Nam, although the MU withdrew; he had only managed to get their support after being appointed the two LF members from Nicoll. For his cabinet, Marshall was required to include three colonial officials for the roles of chief secretary, financial secretary, and attorney-general, which were given to William Goode, T. M. Hart, and E. J. Davies, respectively. The rest of his cabinet included Marshall as the chief minister and commerce and industry minister, Chew Swee Kee as the education minister, Lim Yew Hock as the labour and welfare minister, A. J. Braga as the health minister, Thomas as the communications and works minister, Abdul as the local government, lands and housing minister, and J. M. Jumabhoy as the assistant commerce and industry minister. Chew's appointment as education minister was seen as unexpected, as he was a first-time politician and Thomas appeared the more likely choice due to his background in education, but Marshall believed that the education minister should be Chinese given the recent issues with Chinese schools and students. Marshall also maintained diversity in his cabinet as he wanted multi-racialism and equality to be shown. He officially unveiled his cabinet on 7 April at Empress Place, and they were sworn in by Nicoll.
Thomas's appointment as communications and works minister was unpopular, as he was one of three executive committee members who had previously pledged to not take office. Furthermore, Marshall did not have confidence in the Malay assemblymen of their alliance government, as he believed they had larger allegiance to the Federation of Malaya's UMNO instead of with the Singapore government.
Domestic affairs
Relations with the British In the early days of his chief ministership, Marshall did not maintain a good relationship with Nicoll; he considered him to be "discourteous" and "arrogant". Additionally, he frequently went against both Nicoll and the British members of the Legislative Assembly. At the opening of the first Legislative Assembly on 22 April, he protested against them by arriving in a bush jacket, while Thomas wore a safari jacket and sandals. Due to Marshall's behaviour, Nicoll made his aide-de-camp take Marshall's speech written for the governor for him, instead of taking it himself per tradition.; In another incident, Nicoll stated that he would use red ink to represent his final decision in documents, and that no one else was to use red. Following Nicoll's admission, attorney-general Davies added that he himself would use green ink. Marshall, upset with this designation of specific colours, ignored Davies and thus stated that he would use green, with no one else allowed to use it; from then on, Marshall signed all his official documents in green ink.;