SINGAPORE, July 18 — The resignations of Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin and Member of Parliament (MP) Cheng Li Hui are the latest in a series of controversies and while these things happen “from time to time”, the People’s Action Party (PAP) has to make sure that they are dealt with “rigorously as well as transparently”, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday.
“Everybody should draw the right conclusions and do the right things, whether they are in the Government, whether they are in the party or the public watching how we are dealing with it,” he said, in response to a question about a perceived slip in PAP’s standards during a briefing with news editors at the Istana following the resignations of Tan and Cheng.
Tan, MP for Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency (GRC), and Cheng, the Tampines GRC MP, had continued to be involved in an “inappropriate relationship”, despite Lee urging them to stop in February. They have since resigned from Parliament and from the party.
“In the case of Tan Chuan-Jin and Cheng Li Hui, they did not live up to the standards which were expected. We tried to get them to mend their ways, it did not work, and they had to go,” he added.
The latest case comes after a string of high-profile controversies in recent weeks involving MPs from the ruling party.
Last week, Transport Minister S Iswaran was arrested by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) in relation to a graft probe.
The arrest led Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to state that the PAP will be upfront and transparent even when such developments are “potentially embarrassing or damaging” to the party or the Government.
Earlier this month, Parliament also debated the rental of bungalows along Ridout Road by Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. Investigations by CPIB and a separate review conducted by Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean on the matter found no wrongdoing by the ministers involved.
Up to party to ‘put it right’
Referring to the recent incidents, Lee said no system can be “completely infallible”. It is thus up to the party itself to find out when something is wrong and “put it right”.
For example, in the case of Ridout Road, the results and reports of the investigation were fully presented in Parliament, said Lee.
“So, I think it is an example not of the PAP’s slipping standards but of how we deal with allegations against PAP MPs.
“In Iswaran’s case, the matter came up not from any external report, but because CPIB came across the issue while doing another investigation, and they told me, I said, take it up,” he said, adding that he acceded to a formal investigation by the CPIB a few months later.
“Sometimes things cluster up, but we make sure we put them right, and I hope I put them right and we will be able to set the right tone for a long time to come. Because we are not just maintaining high standards for one election term or one generation of leaders.
“You have to make sure that you can maintain this, sustain this, feel that sense of mission and responsibility, and be able to transmit that beyond your term into the next generation, and imbue the next generation of people who come forward to serve as well as people who grow up as mature Singapore citizens and voters to understand that this is how our system works.”
Inappropriate relationships by politicians
Addressing other rumours of inappropriate relationships by politicians going around, Lee said that although he is unable to police the private lives of MPs, the PAP will investigate them and correct the situation if rumours seem to be credible.
While it is “essential” to maintain high standards of propriety, honesty and proper conduct within the party, the party also has to be cognisant of human frailties and conscious of the impact that its actions will have on innocent parties, on families, on spouses, on their children and deal with them as sensitively as it can, said Lee.
“As for what the opposition parties should do if the rumours concern their members, you have to ask them,” added Lee.
His comment comes after the Workers’ Party said yesterday that it is looking into a video suggesting an “inappropriate exchange” between Aljunied GRC MP Leon Perera and its youth wing chief Nicole Seah.
On the resignations of Tan and Cheng, Lee said he was “saddened” to discover that the two MPs had fallen short of the standards expected of PAP MPs.
“When such a situation arises, it is my duty as Secretary-General of the party to deal with them and put things right.
“This means to counsel, to correct, to admonish, and ultimately, if necessary, to remove the MP from the party and Parliament,” he said.
Lee added that while it is “painful” to remove MPs, who are friends and comrades-in-arms, from the party and Parliament, it can also be politically embarrassing and costly.
“But the PAP has to maintain party discipline and standard of conduct. Our duty is to Parliament and the people of Singapore, and that is paramount,” said Lee.
“High standards of propriety and personal conduct, together with staying clean and incorrupt, are the fundamental reasons Singaporeans trust and respect the PAP, and give us their mandate to form the Government and work together with us to improve the lives of Singaporeans,” said Lee.
He added that all PAP MPs, whether they are ministers or backbenchers, must uphold these “cardinal values” at all times.
“Without party discipline, without integrity, we are nothing, so this is an absolute requirement,” he said. — TODAY
