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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. .<\/p>\n
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).<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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”.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In June, two heavyweight cabinet ministers were erased from the wrongdoing<\/a> following public scrutiny of his state-owned bungalows for rent at exorbitant rates.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Both the PAP and the WP have in the past fired members for engaging in extramarital affairs.<\/p>\n Events like these are unusual in Singapore, which prides itself on being corruption-free and holding politicians to high moral standards.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n “What it points to is that there is a need for greater transparency in both the ruling and opposition party systems,” Chong said.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Chen Lin; Editing by Martin Petty, Kanupriya Kapoor<\/span><\/p>\n