SINGAPORE, July 22 — Party insiders from both the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) and opposition Workers’ Party (WP) said that there were gaps in how their leaders handled recent political controversies but felt that their parties would nonetheless be able to move on from the scandals.

Questions remained on the minds of both PAP and WP party members TODAY interviewed, with some WP members wondering if secretary-general Pritam Singh should have done more to investigate allegations of an affair between two party members when they first emerged.

For their part, some PAP members are concerned over the time it took for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to address the affair between then-Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin and then-Member of Parliament (MP) Cheng Li Hui, since he first learnt of their relationship in 2020.

While the respective party members believe that their parties will be able to move on from these scandals, they acknowledge that morale has taken a hit for now.

Background

Both the PAP and WP have recently been hit with political controversies.

This week, two PAP MPs — Tan and Cheng — resigned over their extra-marital affair. Tan was also in the media spotlight earlier this month for using "unparliamentary language” during an April Parliamentary sitting.

Also this week, WP MP Leon Perera and member Nicole Seah resigned after an affair between them came to light in a leaked video just hours before news of the PAP MPs' resignations emerged.

The ruling party had already faced another recent controversy.

Earlier this month, two of its ministers were under scrutiny for their rental of two bungalows along Ridout Road. The issue was debated in Parliament and two separate probes into the case found no wrongdoing.

Shortly after that, it came to light that Transport Minister S. Iswaran had been arrested on July 11 over a graft probe by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) on a separate matter. Iswaran is currently on leave of absence and assisting with the investigations.

What PAP members say

Former MP Yaacob Ibrahim told TODAY that there are concerns among some members over how long it took for PM Lee to address the extra-marital affair between Tan and Cheng.

"I think there is some concern among some people and I must admit, I’m also a bit perplexed (at how long it took),” said Dr Yaacob, a former MP for Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency (GRC). He is a former minister, having served in various ministries including the Ministry of Communication and Information, and Environment and Water Resources.

In a press conference earlier this week, PM Lee revealed that he had learnt of the relationship after the 2020 general election and had most recently spoken to Tan about it in February this year.

Nevertheless, Dr Yaacob said that was prepared to give party leaders the benefit of the doubt, adding that they might have taken a while to address the affair so as to give Tan and Cheng "a second chance”.

He added that he felt Lee had also held "a very effective press conference” following the resignation of the two MPs to "lay out the facts" to the public.

Another PAP member, who declined to be named, said that both WP and PAP could have handled the affairs within their respective parties with more sensitivity to the parties involved and their families.

"Neither the political parties nor the media handled this episode with grace. The press had a field day dramatising it, and political parties seemed to be competing to appear the most righteous,” he said.

He added that he hoped that the PAP had nothing to do with the revelations by Perera’s former driver about the affair in the media, adding that it would "diminish PAP’s stature in the eyes of its members” if it emerged the party played any role in leaking the video.

On Wednesday, Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam refuted allegations that he had tipped off a media outlet and provided information on the ex-driver of Perera.

The PAP member, who is a former MP, also said that some PAP members doubt that the party’s "whiter-than-white” branding can realistically be sustained.

"They would like the party to focus more on good governance and less on the private lives of politicians. Leave the latter to politicians and their families to manage, as long as it does not seriously detract from their political duties,” he said.

Likewise, Dr Yaacob said that he was aware of some party members, including younger ones, who felt that the party should not bother with the private lives of MPs. However, Dr Yaacob felt that extra-marital affairs by party members raised ethical issues and could also raise questions on the integrity of the party.

Similarly, former MP Zainal Sapari agreed that the party should focus more on good governance but said that if the actions or the behaviour of a politician casts doubts on their integrity, it puts the person’s suitability for political office in doubt as well.

"Politics goes beyond good governance but also entails the ability to win the trust and confidence of the people because people want to be sure what you say or do reflects your values in private and political lives,” he added.

Mood among PAP members

Despite the quick succession of political controversies to hit the ruling party, members interviewed by TODAY were confident that the party would be able to move on.

The former MP who did not want to be named said that he did not expect the latest episodes to deal "a mortal blow” to the party.

He pointed out that the ministers involved in the Ridout Road saga had not breached any laws, while extra-marital affairs involving politicians on both sides of the aisle are not new.

The corruption probe involving Iswaran is also the first time in 40 years that a PAP MP had been investigated for graft, he noted, referring to former National Development Minister Teh Cheang Wan being investigated for allegedly accepting bribes in 1986. Teh committed suicide before the matter was resolved.

Nevertheless, the mood among some members remains low for now.

Zainal said that he was "saddened and disappointed” at the recent spate of incidents as it could erode the party’s credibility among the public. The former MP for Punggol-Pasir Ris GRC added that the PAP would have to work hard to win back public trust.

However, Inderjit Singh, a PAP member and former Ang Mo Kio GRC MP between 1996 and 2015, said that while the morale of branches affected by the recent incidents is likely to be low, he had not observed an overall drop in morale among activists for now.

This was because party activists felt assured that the leadership had taken "decisive actions” in a bid to ensure that the party’s image was not tainted by the scandals.

What WP members say

Within the WP, some members have questioned the lack of investigation into the initial allegations against Perera and Seah, while others also felt that they had not been kept in the loop on the matter.

However, some members also felt that the party responded well to the situation, and that it would bounce back from the setback.

All of them spoke on condition of anonymity.

On Wednesday, Singh, WP’s chief, said that he had first heard of allegations of the affair from Perera’s ex-driver. However, when he had asked Perera about it, he had denied such an affair.

Singh said he was also aware that Perera was about to terminate the services of the driver and was seeking legal advice on how to handle the driver’s allegations.

One member said that morale within the party had "definitely” taken a hit, due in part to some of the cadre members questioning the party leadership on how they dealt with initial murmurings of an affair between Perera and Seah.

"According to what I am seeing, people are generally disappointed with the party's leadership,” said the member. "They feel ashamed that the leaders knew about this but did not get down to it and let it get to the current state.”

For one thing, the member wondered if the party leadership could have taken the ex-driver’s claims more seriously.

"There are definitely more questions I have in mind with regards to this issue which I hope as the party leader, he should give members an explanation,” the member said.

"Did Pritam actually bother to ask the driver for evidence (of the affair)? Members want to know.”

She added that the explanation from Singh on how he eventually believed Perera was thus "not satisfactory”.

"Wouldn't he as a leader want to get the truth on his own by perhaps engaging a private investigator, sitting both parties or all three parties down for a talk with the ex-driver, or checking Leon's conversations via WhatsApp with Nicole... rather than just listening to a one-sided reply and simply trusting it?”

Agreeing, another member said that the investigation into the matter left much to be desired.

"It was a hasty decision by Pritam made without a full picture and explanation from Leon and Nicole. We (the cadre members) were also kept in the dark,” the member said.

The member added that some cadre members were also dissatisfied with the fact that they learnt of Perera and Seah’s resignations through the press, rather than from the party itself.

"We don't know what transpired between Leon and (Singh), and also Nicole and (Singh),” said the member. "We were only told that they were asked to resign, and that if they don’t resign, they will be expelled, and all these came from the media.”

Mood among WP members

While he had some frustrations over how the matter was handled, the member nevertheless said that he was confident the party would move on from this incident, the same way it had moved past Raeesah Khan's resignation from the party.

There are also some members who feel assured with how Singh handled the matter, especially in relation to his stance that there was no corroborative evidence of an affair.

"I am satisfied with the process because there was evidently no corroborating information or non-conflicted sources to support the allegations back in 2021,” said another member.

"It wouldn't be reasonable to try and investigate further, because of this,” the member said.

However, when asked about whether there was any disappointment among party members on how the matter was handled, the member had no comment.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, WP member Yee Jen Jong said that his "heart was heavy” given how Perera and Ms Seah had left the party under "difficult circumstances”.

He described Perera as a "fearless” parliamentarian and Seah as a "passionate lady” who was eager to serve Singapore.

Despite the revelation of the affair, Yee, who has been a WP member since 2011, said that his opinions of them had not changed.

"It is unfortunate that our politics has developed into one in which personal indiscretions will result in a media circus and people having to leave politics,” added the former Non-Constituency MP.

Yee said that the move by WP to fire former Hougang MP Yaw Shin Leong over allegations of an extra-marital affair in 2012 "have come back to haunt the ruling party and the WP several times over”.

"It had not always been like this. If today’s standard and circus had applied in the earlier years, we might even have lost some of our best ministers,” said Yee in his post. ― TODAY