Singaporeans weigh morality in politics as adultery and corruption sagas ‘blow up’

Ordinary Singaporeans have been hit with whiplash by the week’s events, in a political culture built around ‘heroic personalities’

But can a romantic affair really be equated with a high-profile corruption probe to prove standards of probity in the country’s politics have slipped?

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Singaporeans have been trying to make sense of the week of political whiplash. Photo: AP

Published: 7:09pm, 21 Jul 2023Updated: 9:19pm, 21 Jul 2023

The extramarital affairs that forced the resignations of important figures on both sides of Singapore’s political divide this week have had the republic quaking – but some citizens are also asking: “What’s the big deal?”

On the side of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s People’s Action Party (PAP), Monday’s resignations of parliamentary speaker Tan Chuan-Jin and MP Cheng Li Hui over an affair capped one of the most torrid periods for the party in recent times.

A week earlier, the long-ruling party was rocked by the corruption-linked arrest of Transport Minister S. Iswaran. In June, the party was caught up in a separate public relations crisis over veteran ministers renting colonial-era bungalows.

The long-ruling PAP was earlier rocked by the corruption-linked arrest of Transport Minister S. Iswaran. In June, the party was caught up in a separate public relations crisis over veteran ministers renting colonial-era bungalows. Photo: Reuters

The PAP’s top rival, the Workers’ Party (WP), also suddenly found itself in the climate of intrigue when on Monday a video surfaced of popular MP Leon Perera and youth wing chair Nicole Seah – both married with children – appearing to behave in an intimate manner.

Seah and Perera resigned, and party chief Pritam Singh said he would have sacked them if they had not voluntarily stepped down.

In the national media, there has been an overdrive of commentary on whether – and how far – the much-hyped standards of probity in Singapore’s politics have slipped since the heyday of independence leader and PAP co-founder Lee Kuan Yew’s time in office.

Ordinary Singaporeans, too, have been trying to make sense of the week of political whiplash.