- A series of revelations has rocked the Singapore political scene in recent weeks.
- From a government investigation into ministers renting out government-owned bungalows to the Transport Minister’s involvement in an anti-corruption probe, the headlines have highlighted the private lives of some Singaporean leaders and ministers.
Tan Chuan-Jin was one of two elected members of parliament who resigned on July 17 for engaging in an “inappropriate relationship” despite being told to stop in February.
Yong Teck Lim | Getty Images Sport | fake images
SINGAPORE — A series of revelations has rocked Singapore’s political scene in recent weeks.
The news has implicated the private lives of some of its highly paid leaders and ministers.
This is what we know so far:
The news broke in May when an opposition politician questioned how Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and Home Affairs and Legal Minister K. Shanmugam were able to pay the rents on two of the era bungalows. Singapore ‘good class’ government owned colonial along Ridout Road in a posh residential area.
Those deals involved the Singapore Land Authority, a government agency run by Shanmugam at the Justice Ministry.
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 the allegations relating to a possible 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 is claiming that the minister is corrupt.” [or] someone is corrupt in the system,” Pritam Singh, Singapore’s opposition leader in Parliament, said on july 3.
“Singaporeans are not making that point. I think it’s pretty clear to me.”
“The issue that I think we have to deal with here is the ministerial code of conduct and a specific course of action that the minister took when he instructed his undersecretary to obtain information,” he added. “Is quite incongruousin the eyes of many, that a minister is asking an official for details that pertain to information for his personal use.”
In this September 19, 2013 photo, Singaporean real estate magnate Ong Beng Seng talks with then F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone on pit road ahead of the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix on the street circuit. from Marina Bay.
thompson brand | Getty Images Sport | fake images
Ong is the managing director of the owner-operator of a Singapore-listed hotel. limited hotel properties and is widely credited for bringing Formula One to Singapore in 2008.
In 2022, his private company Singapore GP and the Singapore Tourism Board secured the rights to host the Singapore Grand Prix until 2028.
On Monday, Lee said that he decided Tan Chuan Jin — the incumbent speaker of the Singapore Parliament — “had to go.” The decision came after receiving information that Tan had failed to stop an “inappropriate relationship” with People’s Action Party lawmaker Cheng Li Hui, even after the prime minister advised them to stop in February.
Lee said that Tan had offered his resignation in February, but intended for Tan to leave only after succession arrangements had been finalized.
The premier said he found out about 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 reportedly not married. Both have since deleted their social media accounts.
so had appeared link your resignation with comments he did in private apparently not realizing that his microphone was still on. He apologized on July 11 for his “anti-parliamentary” behavior after a video surfaced containing a clip of him muttering a swear word to describe Jamus Lim, an opposition MP.
The opposition Workers’ Party said in a statement that it is “currently investigating” a video circulating online showing MP-elect León Perera in “an inappropriate exchange” with Nicole Seah, a party member who previously contested the 2020 general election.
Neither Perera nor Seah have publicly commented on the matter yet.
