PM Lee Hsien Loong to nominate new Speaker at next Parliament sitting

SINGAPORE — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will nominate a new Speaker for Parliament in the next sitting on 1 August, following his announcement of the resignations of Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin and Member of Parliament Cheng Li Hui on Monday (17 July).

He will also make a ministerial statement at the Parliament sitting. In the interim, Deputy Speaker Jessica Tan will serve as the acting Speaker.

Meanwhile, the duo's MP duties will be taken care of by their fellow MPs in their respective group representation constituencies.

For Tan, who was MP for the Kembangan-Chai Chee division of Marine Parade GRC, it will be taken care of by Edwin Tong. For Cheng, who was MP for the Tampines East division of Tampines GRC, it will be under Masagos Zulkifli.

The resignations came after Tan and Cheng had engaged in an "inappropriate relationship", which persisted despite being told to end it, according to PM Lee.

How government deals with scandals

PM Lee said during his media conference on Monday that the government has to deal with all sorts of rumours on MPs' personal lives going around, particularly online. While the government cannot police MPs’ private lives, they will investigate if the rumours seem to be credible and, if they are verified, they will speak to the MPs to correct the situation.

He added that, if the behaviour is not outrageous or scandalous to begin with – and the MP "heeds the advice, corrects it, makes amends and puts a stop to what should not happen" – then they will not be punished severely and automatically kicked out.

"What you do and what consequences the person should face also depends on the positions they hold and other factors, the circumstances, the family situations, how inappropriate or egregious the behaviour was,” he said.

“There is such a thing as appropriate or inappropriate behaviour, propriety and impropriety. And we expect our MPs and certainly ministers to know the difference."

No plans for immediate general election

When asked by journalists if the incident would affect his decision on when to call the next general election, PM Lee said he had no plans to call an immediate general election, which is due by 2025.

He added that the present government’ had just started the second half of its term, and there is a full agenda for government to work on. In the GRCs where there is an MP missing, other members of the constituency will step up and ensure that wards are well looked after.

When asked whether the recent spate of incidents - such as the Ridout Road saga and the arrest of Transport Minister S. Iswaran by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau - PM Lee insisted that no political system can be completely infallible.

"Sometimes things go wrong, and they will have to be put right," he said. "We have to make sure we deal with them, and to deal with them rigorously as well as transparently, and everybody can see that we are doing that."

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