The Peoples Action Party (PAP) was formed in 1954 by three English-educated middle-class men who had returned from their university education in the United Kingdom. Mr. Lim Chin Siong, Mr. Fong Swee Suan and Mr. Lee Kuan Yew which despite of their ideological differences had shared one common goal: to bring about full independence for Singapore. Lim Chin Siong was a hugely dedicated, popular and charismatic leader whom Lee once introduced as the “future Prime Minister of Singapore” to the then British Prime Minister. His oratory as a speaker in the Hokkien dialect, among the Chinese masses was legendary. Later, Lee Kuan Yew had a fallout with Lim Chin Siong and branding Lim as the leader of left-wing trade unionists.
1955 – Lim Chin Siong, then aged 22, was elected as Assemblyman for the Bukit Timah constituency. He was and remained the youngest Assemblyman ever to be elected to office in Singapore.
1956 – Lim Chin Siong and Lee Kuan Yew represented the PAP at the London Constitutional Talks, which ended in failure. The British declined to grant Singapore an internal self-government.
1959 – Lee Kuan Yew was elected as prime minister of Singapore.
1961 – Lim Chin Siong and his factions which included Dr. Lee Siew Choh were expelled from the PAP. The expelled party members gathered their supporters and went on to form the Barisan Sosialis.