Tan Chuan-Jin was one of two elected members of parliament who resigned on July 17 for having an “inappropriate relationship” despite being told to stop as early as February.
Yong Teck Lim | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
SINGAPORE – A series of revelations have rocked Singapore’s political scene in recent weeks.
The news has involved the private lives of some of its highly paid leaders and ministers.
Here’s what we know so far:
Colonial period bungalows
The news broke in May when an opposition politician questioned how Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam were able to pay the rents on two of the bungalows in the ‘good class’ Singaporean colonial era along Ridout Road in a posh residential area.
These dealings involved the Lands Authority of Singapore, a government agency under Shanmugam’s charge at the Ministry of Law.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong eventually ordered a “review” overseen by a senior member of his cabinet and conducted by Singapore’s anti-corruption agency, which ultimately found no evidence of allegations relating to a potential abuse of power and conflict of interest.
The result of the review was debated in the Parliament of Singapore.
“The fact here is that I don’t think anyone will report that the minister is corrupt [or] someone is corrupt in the system,” Pritam Singh, Singapore’s opposition leader in Parliament, he said on July 3.
“Singaporeans are not making that point. I think that’s pretty clear to me.”
“The issue I think we need to deal with here is the ministerial code of conduct, and a specific course of action that the minister took when he instructed his deputy secretary to obtain information,” he added. “Is quite incongruousin the eyes of many, that a minister is asking an official for data related to information for his personal use.”
The Minister of Transport arrested
In this September 19, 2013 file photo, Singapore property tycoon Ong Beng Seng speaks with then F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone in the pit lane ahead of the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Mark Thompson | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images
Ong is the CEO of the Singapore-listed hotel owner and operator Hotel Properties Limited and is widely credited with bringing Formula 1 to Singapore in 2008.
In 2022, his private company Singapore GP and the Singapore Tourism Board rights secured to host the Singapore Grand Prix until 2028.
The speaker resigns
Monday, Lee said he decided Tan Chuan Jin – the titular speaker of the Parliament of Singapore – “had to leave”. The decision came after he received information that Tan had not stopped an “inappropriate relationship” with fellow People’s Action Party lawmaker Cheng Li Hui, even after the prime minister advised them to stop at February.
Lee said Tan had offered his resignation in February but intended for Tan to leave only after succession arrangements had been finalised.
The prime minister said he learned of the affair between Tan and Cheng sometime after the 2020 general election.
Tan and Cheng had previously announced their resignations on July 17, without explicitly stating the full reasons for their departure. Tan, 54, is married with two children. Cheng, 47, is not married. Both have since taken down their social media accounts.
So it had seemed link your resignation with comments he did in private apparently unaware that his microphone was still on. he he apologized on July 11 for his “unparliamentary” behavior after a video surfaced containing a clip in which he was heard muttering an expletive to describe Jamus Lim, an opposition MP.
“Inappropriate Change”
The opposition Workers’ Party in a statement that he is “currently watching” a video circulating online showing MP-elect Leon Perera in “an inappropriate exchange” with Nicole Seah, a member of the party who had previously stood in the 2020 general election.
Neither Perera nor Seah have spoken publicly on the matter yet.
