Glossary
Glossary
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B
BS |
| Stands for Barisan Sosialis. Political party that is no longer active but not dissolved. Merged with Workers' Party. Refer to Category:Political Parties for other parties. |
C
D
DPP |
| Stands for the Democratic Progressive Party, a political led by secretary-general Hamim Aliyas. As of Jun 2023, they are part of the 4-party alliance called PAR. |
E
ELD |
| Stands for Elections Department. This is a department under the PMO's office, unlike the UK's Electoral Commission which is an independent body which oversees elections and regulates political finance in the UK. |
F
G
GCB |
| Stands for Good Class Bungalow as designated by URA. |
H
I
J
K
L
M
MAS |
| Stands for Monetary Authority of Singapore, the central bank of Singapore. It issues currency and sells government bonds to fund public spending. The MAS also manages SG's foreign reserves to keep the Singapore dollar (SGD) fixed within an undisclosed MAS-defined range, which is adjusted from time to time. It comes under the purview of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), unlike many central banks around the world which are independent from their government. |
MCYS |
| Stands for Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. The ministry was revamped to become Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth MCCY and Ministry of Social and Family Development MSF that were formed on 1 November 2012. |
MEWR |
| the old Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources. Refer to MSE for name change. |
MHA |
| Stands for Ministry of Home Affairs, consists of MHA Headquarters and 10 Departments, and is known collectively as the Home Team. It has departments such as Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), Internal Security Department (ISD), Singapore Police Force (SPF), etc. In addition, the (ROS) also comes under MHA, in addition to various Statutory Boards and Committees/Councils. Refer to Ministry of Home Affairs for details. |
Minister of State |
| An appointment made by the President which ranks below a Minister and above a Parliamentary Secretary. The Minister of State is generally appointed to assist the Minister in his work. |
MOH |
| Stands for Ministry of Health. Not to be confused with MOH Holdings (MOHH), which is the holding company of Singapore's public healthcare institutions including National Healthcare Group, National University Health System and Singapore Health Services and oversees the distribution of medical resources. Refer to Ministry of Health for details. |
MOHH |
| Refer to MOH. |
MP |
| Stands for an elected Member of Parliament. See Member of Parliament for the differences between elected MP, Non-constituency MP (NCMP) and Nominated MP (NMP). |
MSE |
| Stands for Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment. Used to be ENV (set up in September 1972) which was renamed Sep 2004 to Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources ( MEWR). MEWR renamed MSE on 27 July 2020. |
N
NSP |
| Stands for National Solidarity Party, led by Secretary-general Spencer Ng. |
NCMP |
| Stands for Non-Constituency Member of Parliament. The current Constitution allows for up to 12 NCMPs and these are candidates who had contested in a General Election, were not voted in but had received the highest percentage of votes amongst the unelected candidates. See also MP and NMP. |
NJC |
| Stands for National Junior College, the first public junior college in Singapore. Established in 1969, it offered two-year pre-university course. Officially opened by the then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on 14 May 1970. |
NMP |
| Stands for Nominated Member of Parliament, who is a non-elected Member appointed by the President. See article on Nominated Member of Parliament for more details. See also MP and NCMP. |
NTUC |
Stands for National Trades Union Congress. First established on 6 September 1961 as union for workers. After dissolution of STUC, split
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NTU |
| Stands for Nanyang Technological University, the successor to Nanyang Technological Institute (NTI) and Nanyang University (officially opened on 30 March 1958 and operated until 1980). |
NUS |
| Stands for the National University of Singapore, formed when the Nanyang University (which taught in Chinese) was absorbed into the University of Singapore (which taught in English) in 1980. In the process, the Nanyang Technological Institute (NTI) was formally established in 8 August 1981. In 1991, NTI officially became a full-fledged university and was renamed Nanyang Technological University (NTU). |
O
P
PAR |
Stand for People’s Alliance, a registered alliance of 4 political parties, namely:
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PMO |
Stands for Prime Minister’s Office. Notable departments/divisions that come under the PMO's purview include the following:
Refer to article on Prime Minister’s Office for more details. |
POFMA |
Abbreviation of the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act 2019 which came into force on 2 Oct 2019. Managed by the POFMA Office, under the Infocomm Media Development Authority IMDA, which is a statutory board under the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI).
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PV |
| Stands for the Peoples Voice, a political led by Lim Tean. As of Jun 2023, they are part of the 4-party alliance called PAR. |
Q
R
RI |
| Short for Raffles Institution, well-known prestigious school which counts these politicians among its graduates: ex-PM Lee Kuan Yew, Tommy Koh, Subhas Anandan, ex-PM Goh Chok Tong, Heng Swee Keat, Lim Hng Kiang, K Shanmugam, Tan Cheng Bock etc. Prominent non-PAP affiliated alumni include Tan Kin Lian, Png Eng Huat, Benjamin Pwee and Leong Mun Wai. |
Registry of Societies |
| A unit under the Ministry of Home Affairs, the ROS administers the Societies Act and Regulations which oversees the registration of any society and ensures societies which have "unlawful purposes, pose a threat to safety and security", or whose activities are contrary to the national interests" are curtailed or not approved. Also governs proper accounting/audits and fund-raising activities. All political parties must register with them. |
RP |
| Stands for the Reform Party led by Kenneth Jeyaretnam. As of Jun 2023, they are part of the 4-party alliance called PAR. |
ROS |
| Refers to Registry of Societies |
S
SMU |
| Stands for the Singapore Management University, an Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) that offers both under graduate and postgraduate courses. It is most well-known for its Business Management and Accountancy degrees. |
STUC |
| Singapore Trades Union Congress, established on 13 June 1951. Precursor to the SATU & NTUC. |
Speaker of Parliament |
Presiding officer of the Parliament of Singapore and second in the presidential line of succession.
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T
U
URA |
| Stands for the Urban Redevelopment Authority, Singapore’s national land-use planning and conservation authority. It started from the Urban Renewal Unit under the HDB in 1964 and was renamed the Urban Renewal Department (URD) in 1966 but still under HDB when the Land Acquisition Act was introduced in the same year. URA was officially formed in 1973 to take over URD, but its role was still mainly to revamp of the Central Area. From 1974 onward, URA was came under the Ministry of National Development (MND) as a statutory board. Only in 1989 did URA take on the overall urban planner role and national conservation authority. |
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