SINGAPORE, July 20 — The extramarital affairs involving politicians in the People’s Action Party (PAP) and the Workers’ Party (WP) have dominated headlines this past week, but what is particularly striking is the similarities between the two cases.
Yesterday, WP chief Pritam Singh announced the resignation of Member of Parliament (MP) for Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) Leon Perera and party member Nicole Seah, due to an affair that started sometime after the 2020 General Election.
This came two days after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin and Tampines GRC MP Cheng Li Hui had resigned over an “inappropriate relationship” that Lee first learnt about in 2020.
Both scandals shared a similar timeframe — from when they were uncovered to when the people involved were taken to task — and the same conclusion: The end of their political careers.
TODAY spoke to political observers to analyse how the PAP and WP responded to these incidents, and the broader impact this has on Singapore politics.
For starters, Dr Tan Ern Ser from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy said that both the PAP and the WP took the misconduct of their party members “very seriously”.
Lee said that their resignations were necessary “to maintain the high standards of propriety and personal conduct which the PAP has upheld all these years”.
He added in his address to the media on Monday that while the incidents could be “politically embarrassing and costly” to the PAP, “our duty is to Parliament and the people of Singapore”.
Likewise, in a media statement put out by the WP on Wednesday, the party cited its constitution and the need for its members to be “honest and frank in their dealings with the party and Singaporeans”.
“Had they not offered their resignations, the party Secretary-General would have recommended their expulsion from the party,” the statement read.
Another key similarity pointed out by observers was how long the two political parties took to deal with the incidents — from the time their two leaders first learnt about their members’ respective affairs to the day the details were made public.
“Both (parties) took a very long time before they admitted to the indiscretions of their political members,” said Dr Felix Tan, a political analyst with the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
This has given rise to an “inevitable perception” that the PAP and WP had tried to hold off revealing this information for as long as they could “until there was a real likelihood of it being exposed”, said political observer Eugene Tan, who is Associate Professor of Law at the Singapore Management University (SMU).
“It does reflect how extremely concerned the parties are with the reputational impact and, more critically, the backlash, from not measuring up to the standards of conduct promised,” he said.
NTU’s Dr Tan also noted that most of the individuals involved were “very valued members of their party” and that “there might have been an attempt to, at least, give them the benefit of the doubt that they either had ended the relationship or were not involved in any personal indiscretion”.
“However, what this reflects is a lack of transparency and accountability,” he said.
Differences
Assoc Prof Tan said that while both WP and PAP’s responses will leave members of the public with questions on how the matter was handled, a key difference will be in the questions asked of both parties.
He said that WP’s troubles may not end with Wednesday’s press conference, even though it was “well-put together”.
“As much as the party appeared to have acted swiftly and decisively and appear to have given a full account, there are still some critical questions left unanswered,” he said.
These questions include whether the party leadership had thoroughly interviewed Perera’s driver, whom Singh said was the only person who provided evidence of Perera and Seah’s affair.
Singh did not elaborate on whether there had been further conversations between him and the driver.
Singh also said that he and other party members had asked Perera about the allegations and party members had also asked Seah about it — and both denied them at that time.
Asked Assoc Prof Tan: “There was denial initially from both Perera and Seah when the party did enquire, (but) could the party have probed further?”
Singh had also indicated in his acknowledgement of Seah’s resignation letter that her family knew about the relationship since at least last year.
Assoc Prof Tan asked whether, in the process of informing her family, Seah had informed the party as well.
Meanwhile, the questions asked of PAP will be on the gap between the time the party first learnt about Tan’s affair with Cheng and the eventual public revelation of it, analysts said.
PM Lee had known about the inappropriate relationship since 2020, but had only gone public with it on Monday.
NTU’s Dr Tan said: “I think the PAP needs to be more transparent, more upfront about what transpired from two-and-a-half years ago to today.
“They need to let people know what were the processes in place, what did they do from the time when PM Lee knew about it until early this year in February.”
Assoc Prof Tan said that people may wonder if both the former Speaker and Cheng would have still been in political office had the relationship stopped.
“I would say neither party handled their latest case well... Both press conferences have raised more questions than answers (and) you can’t repair the affected trust and confidence when doubts prevail,” said Assoc Prof Tan.
“So, they both have lots of work to do on that front.”
Singapore politics the real casualty
Aside from how the responses differed, there is still the issue of how the public now perceives both parties’ credibility.
For NTU’s Dr Tan, he believes that while the credibility of both parties has not been completely diminished, it has been “severely weakened”.
Agreeing, Dr Tan of NUS said that the sagas have made “a dent” in the PAP and WP’s reputations — but “how they address the fallouts is more critical”.
“Violations can occur from time to time, but what matters is whether the parties are committed to putting their house in order, thereby keeping the institution intact or even strengthened,” he said.
Overall, the resignations speak volumes about the standards expected of MPs, analysts said.
“It does suggest that we hold elected officials to much higher standards of honesty, integrity and probity than we would of ourselves,” said Assoc Prof Tan.
Added NTU’s Dr Tan: “I think Singaporeans value moral standing, integrity and professionalism in those that hold political office or are in politics. So you are a representation of Singapore, and Singaporeans.” — TODAY
