SINGAPORE, July 18 — The emergence of several scandals and controversies in quick succession will make it more challenging for the People’s Action Party (PAP) to repair its battered image, said political analysts and an ex-Member of Parliament (MP) yesterday.

They were chiming in after an announcement yesterday that Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin and MP Cheng Li Hui had both resigned after having an "inappropriate relationship”.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had told them to end the relationship in February this year, but they did not do so.

The fact that Lee had given Tan and Cheng a chance to break off their relationship some time before they finally had to leave the party may also lead to public questions on the party’s transparency, the analysts added.

The PAP could face difficulties in calling a General Election (GE) any time soon given that three MPs have stepped down from their roles — Tan, Cheng and former Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in his bid for the Elected Presidency.

The analysts also noted Transport Minister S Iswaran’s arrest and suspension from his ministerial and MP role amid a probe by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB).

However, one PAP member and former MP noted that it is beneficial for PAP to ensure that the party is clear of any scandals or controversies now, rather than risk them emerging closer to an election.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, PM Lee said he did not plan to call a GE immediately, and noted that it was due by 2025 and that Parliament reopened just in April for the second half of the present Government’s term.

Ex-MP: Timing of scandals, controversies ‘unfortunate’, will tarnish PAP’s ‘whiter than white’ image

Inderjit Singh, a PAP member and former Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency MP between 1996 and 2015, told TODAY that the timing of the various controversies and scandals being made public has been "unfortunate”.

In addition to the affair between Tan and Cheng, there was also Tan’s use of unparliamentary language, which was followed by Iswaran’s arrest and probe by the CPIB.

This came not long after a controversy involving two ministers’ rental of black and white colonial bungalows on Ridout Road. A CPIB probe and a separate review by Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean found the rentals of the state properties had involved no wrongdoing or preferential treatment.

Said Singh: ”It’s quite unfortunate all these events are happening at the same time, never before in history have (PAP) had so many things coming in altogether.

"This would have shaken the party a bit in terms of people’s view of PAP, because we have always been whiter than white, as far as I recall.”

He said that once in a while, the party does encounter "one or two issues”, which the party can shrug off as an occasional human error.

"But when you have so many of these things coming together, people will start to question if the party has been able to keep itself as white as before,” he said.

"We have to find a way to recover from this (and) I hope that there will be no more issues for now, until after the General Election.”

Singh said it has been more than six decades since the PAP last faced an analogous scenario of MPs leaving.

"The only time I can remember will be the split from the PAP from Barisan (Sosialis). It was a long time ago, Singaporeans won’t be able to remember that. I think PAP did purge the party and they came up much stronger after that,” he said.

In 1961, Barisan Sosialis was formed by members of PAP who had been expelled by the party. It eventually became part of the Workers’ Party (WP).

Associate professor of law at the Singapore Management University Eugene Tan said that a "seed of doubt” has been sown within the public on PAP’s image given the developments of the last few weeks.

"It would be hard to say that the element of doubt in the ruling party’s commitment to high standard has not been cast,” he said. "This could be the perfect storm for the ruling party.”

He added that with the tarnished image, there could be questions on whether there are flaws in the selection system for PAP MPs that enable people to get past the rigorous checks, and also party discipline.

"It’s not enough to say, ‘look, this is what we have done and it shows that we have zero tolerance’. I think the expectation is that all the recent incidents shouldn’t have happened in the first place.”

Differences between Tan Chuan Jin-Cheng Li Hui affair and other past cases

During yesterday’s press conference on the resignations of Tan and Cheng, PM Lee said that he was first alerted to their relationship after GE 2020.

The pair had been counselled, but Lee spoke to them in February this year after it was discovered that they were still in an affair.

At this point, Tan offered his resignation, which Lee accepted but said he wanted to first ensure that the residents of Tan’s ward in Kembangan-Chai Chee would be taken care of and that his position as anchor minister in Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency (GRC) can also be taken over by others.

Lee also asked Tan to end the relationship with Cheng.

It was only when Lee came across information "very recently” that the affair had continued that he decided to act now.

Analysts said that the way the current case was handled is different from previous cases where MPs were involved in extra-marital affairs.

For instance, extra-marital scandals involving former Pasir Ris — Punggol GRC MP Michael Palmer and former Bukit Batok MP David Ong saw both MPs resign immediately after the party knew of the matters.

Analysts said that questions will be asked by the public as to why the current case with Tan and Cheng was not disclosed when the party first knew about the matter after GE 2020.

Assoc Prof Tan said that unlike previous cases where the news of the improper relationships had the threat of being made public or were already made public, the current case involved two PAP MPs and so appeared to be kept under wraps internally.

"When the affairs go public, there’s nothing the party can do other than to demand their resignation,” he said.

Assoc Prof Tan added: "There’s the question of why there is that delay in accepting that resignation, was it an attempt, that if the affair was over, then they need not resign after all?

"These are questions that will be raised, that the party needs to address.”

Agreeing, senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) Gillian Koh said that it is natural that questions will arise about "gaps” in the timelines of yesterday’s developments.

It is PAP’s duty to explain them to the public, she added.

"What the PAP will need to address are the gaps and how the timing of the public release of the information on these developments were not attempts to hide or get away with anything, unless and until there were leaks of information when presumably the PAP leaders would have no choice but to admit to them,” she said.

She added that PAP will thus have to explain the rationale behind the timing of the public release of information.

"This, or the public will stew in doubts, speculation and even conspiracy theories which are truly even more harmful than, say, the misdeeds of individual political leaders,” she said.

How PAP can recover, prepare for next GE

Analysts said that to recover from the fallout, the PAP first needs to engage in a process of internal reflection to ensure that its members are keeping to the highest standards expected of them by the public.

Said Dr Felix Tan, a political analyst with Nanyang Technological University: "There is a need for them (PAP) to have an honest discussion, a thorough reflection and perhaps a re-examination of how their party members conduct themselves in their personal and public lives, because being public figures, it is all intertwined.”

Agreeing, PAP member Singh said that no matter who falls short of standards, the PAP needs to stand by its principle that no person is bigger than the party.

"As long as we keep to that principle, no matter who you are, if you did something wrong, you have to be taken to task. And I think PM Lee has done that,” he said.

"The public cannot have the impression that there is a possibility that we can cover up.”

He added that it is also better that PAP is clear of all controversy before the run-up to the election.

"For the GE, it is important that the leaders ensure that we clean up whatever mess there may be, and then we can convince people that the party is as committed and strong, and as clean as what you want people to see us as.”

And with three MPs leaving Parliament and one suspended, more has to be done to ensure that residents of the affected GRCs will be taken care of.

He said that for the GRCs, where there is a member missing, the other GRC members will step up and will ensure that the constituents are well looked after.

This was also a point made by PM Lee.

Assoc Prof Tan said that the PAP will also likely deploy retired MPs and veteran party activists to "shore up support in the affected GRCs”.

"It will have to show that voters there are not detrimentally impacted because of one fewer MP,” he said.

In addition, the resignation of the MPs will also slow down the retirement process of current PAP MPs while also "intensifying the search for suitable candidates to contest in the next GE”.

"With more scrutiny of elected officials, recruitment of potential electoral candidates and retention of MPs will be challenging,” he said.

How will PAP scandals affect WP?

PAP’s announcement of Tan and Cheng’s resignations came less than an hour after the WP announced that it is looking into a video suggesting that an "inappropriate exchange” took place between party leaders Leon Perera and Nicole Seah.

While analysts were unable to comment on whether the close timing of the announcements was a coincidence or not, they said that Tan and Cheng’s resignations will mean that no less will be expected of WP members should they be found to have been in an inappropriate relationship.

Said Dr Woo Jun Jie, a senior research fellow at IPS: "WP will likely have to take the cue from the PAP, that means they have to be equally transparent to the public, share the details with the public.”

And should the WP members be found to be in an inappropriate relationship, then they most likely would have to resign.

"The public does have high expectations of our politicians, so given that PAP had handled (the resignations of Tan and Cheng) in a relatively transparent way, WP will be under pressure to do the same if it doesn’t want to lose public trust,” he added. — TODAY