Singapore PAP MPs’ resignation over ‘inappropriate relationship’ embarrassing for ruling party: PM Lee Hsien Loong

Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin and Cheng Li Hui had continued having an ‘inappropriate relationship’ even after being told to stop

The incident, which comes after the arrest of Transport Minister S Iswaran amid a graft probe, is a ‘body blow’ to a country dependent on stable leadership, an analyst says

Reading Time:4 minutes

PM Lee Hsien Loong said he had learned about the relationship in 2020. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 1:22pm, 17 Jul 2023Updated: 9:42pm, 17 Jul 2023

Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), reeling from its highest-profile corruption case in decades, was plunged into further crisis on Monday after two of its MPs, including the speaker of parliament, were effectively sacked by the prime minister for having an “inappropriate relationship”.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he had accepted the immediate resignations of Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin, a former army brigadier general, and Cheng Li Hui, another member of the PAP.

Lee, the PAP’s secretary general, said in letters to both MPs that their resignations were necessary “to maintain the high standards of propriety and personal conduct which the PAP has upheld all these years”.

Cheng Li Hui and Tan Chuan-Jin at a Singapore grass roots event in 2016. Photo: Internet

In a press conference, Lee said he had learned about the relationship after the city state’s 2020 general election, and later sought to counsel both to end the affair. Still, there were recent indications that the relationship continued after both were spoken to, Lee said.

Lee did not provide details on the relationship, but when asked if there had been any conflict of interest or abuse of power, Lee said it was “completely inappropriate” for a speaker of parliament to have a relationship with an MP.

Tan was again spoken to in February this year, and he offered to resign, Lee said. The prime minister said he accepted Tan’s resignation at the time, but hoped to have a clean handover of MP duties in Kembangan-Chai Chee and Marine Parade.

The group representative constituency of Marine Parade was one of the most hotly contested wards in the 2020 polls.