‘PAP has taken a hit but we will do the right thing’: PM Lee on Iswaran graft probe and former Speaker-MP affair
Sharon See
THE ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) has “taken a hit” following a high-profile graft probe and the resignations of two party members following the revelation of an extramarital affair, but Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong assured Singaporeans that the government will “uphold standards and do the right thing”.
“Let me assure Singaporeans that we will protect the integrity of our system of government,” he told Parliament in a ministerial statement on Wednesday (Aug 2). “For the good of our country, we will carry through what needs to be done in accordance with the law, even if it may be politically embarrassing and painful to the party.”
He added that he will not “flinch or hesitate to do (his) duty” to keep the Singapore system “robust and clean”.
PM Lee’s statement follows a probe by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) involving Transport Minister S Iswaran, as well as the resignations of former speaker of parliament Tan Chuan-Jin and former member of parliament Cheng Li Hui.
He told the House that the way the incidents are handled shows how seriously the PAP takes its responsibility of governing Singapore and being accountable to Parliament and Singaporeans.
He outlined two aspects of how the PAP government works.
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First, there is “zero tolerance” when there is a suspicion or allegation of wrongdoing in the discharge of official duties, especially possible corruption.
Second, “when people slip in their personal lives, the PAP will look at the facts of each case carefully, and deal with the matter as humanely and sensitively as possible, according to the principles the party has established”.
PM Lee added that systems are composed of human beings and “sometimes, something will still go wrong” however comprehensive the safeguards are.
He also explained why he had taken more than two years to act after finding out about Tan and Cheng’s relationship sometime in November 2020. Their extramarital affair was revealed slightly over two weeks ago.
Noting that questions about this are fair, he said: “In retrospect, and certainly now knowing how things eventually turned out, I agree. I should have forced the issue earlier.”
Explaining his approach to such situations, PM Lee said these sorts of relationships happen “from time to time”. “They have happened in the past and will no doubt happen again in the future,” he added.
What he does depends on many factors, he said, such as the circumstances, how inappropriate or scandalous the behaviour was and their family situations. He added that there is also a need to be conscious of the impact on innocent parties, particularly the spouses and children of those involved.
There is “no single template”, and there can be at least three situations, he said.
In the first situation, the matter ends if they stop, without any further action needed. In the second, when one party has supervisory power over the other, immediate action has to be taken.
For the third category, which is where Tan and Cheng’s affair fell, the relationship “raises some questions of propriety, beyond it being an extramarital affair per se”.
“The parties will be talked to, but the matter cannot end there. Even if the affair stops, some action has to follow, but what that action is and when it is taken, depends on the nature of the facts and the boundaries transgressed,” said PM Lee.
He noted that an open, legitimate relationship between the Speaker and an MP is not in itself objectionable, but an extramarital affair between them is “problematic” and puts other MPs and staff in an awkward position.
If the affair had stopped, PM Lee said he would have asked Tan to step down before the end of the term, in a way which would have “(reduced) the public embarrassment to him and his family”.
“By giving the matter some time, I had hoped to give them a softer exit, and save them and their families the pain and embarrassment they are suffering now,” he said. “Regrettably, in the end Mr Tan and Ms Cheng did not stop the affair, and both had to go.”
In seeking clarifications, Leader of the Opposition and Workers’ Party MP Pritam Singh asked why Tan and Cheng were allowed to be on the same standing select committee of Parliament after the 2020 General Election when PM Lee was already aware of the affair.
Leader of the House Indranee Rajah said she had put forward the names for the composition of the committees, with the ratio of majority and opposition MPs roughly mirroring that in the House.
Singh, who is MP for Aljunied GRC, also wanted to know why there was a need for “so much time” to plan for the care of residents of Marine Parade – specifically Kembangan-Chai Chee ward – when other cases of MP resignations did not warrant the same length of time.
In response, PM Lee said: “As I have said, if I could play it again, I would have acted earlier.”
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