SINGAPORE, July 17 (Reuters) – Two senior lawmakers from Singapore’s ruling party have resigned over their “inappropriate relationship”, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Monday, the latest high-profile scandal in the city-state known for its political stability. .
Lee said the resignations of Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin and lawmaker Cheng Li Hui were necessary to maintain the standards of his People’s Action Party (PAP).
Resignations of senior PAP members are rare in Singapore, where the party has been in power since 1959, before the country’s independence in 1965.
Tan’s personal conduct had “fallen short”, Lee said in a statement, and he understood the speaker’s desire to stay away from politics and “help heal (his) family”.
Lawmaker Cheng has been in parliament since 2015. Cheng could not immediately be reached for comment and her Facebook page had been taken down at the time of the announcement.
The political upheaval follows a high-level graft investigation into Transport Minister S Iswaran and hotel tycoon Ong Beng Seng, who were arrested last week before being released on bail. They have not yet commented on the investigations.
In June, two heavyweight cabinet ministers were erased from the wrongdoing following public scrutiny of his state-owned bungalows for rent at exorbitant rates.
Separately, the opposition Workers’ Party (WP) said on Monday it was investigating an “inappropriate exchange” between two of its senior members after a video appeared online that appeared to show them holding hands in a restaurant.
Both the PAP and the WP have in the past fired members for engaging in extramarital affairs.
Events like these are unusual in Singapore, which prides itself on being corruption-free and holding politicians to high moral standards.
Political scientist Chong Ja Ian of the National University of Singapore said Monday’s developments were “relatively controllable issues” that would not affect Singapore’s political stability.
“What it points to is that there is a need for greater transparency in both the ruling and opposition party systems,” Chong said.
Speaking to local media, Prime Minister Lee said on Monday that he would appoint a new speaker of the house by August 1. He added that he had no plans to call an immediate general election, which is planned for 2025.
Additional reporting by Chen Lin; Editing by Martin Petty, Kanupriya Kapoor
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