The Straits Times | I should have forced issue sooner: PM Lee explains approach to Tan, Cheng affair - video Dailymotion

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Delivering a ministerial statement in Parliament on Wednesday, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong acknowledged that he should have acted earlier on the affair between former Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin and former People’s Action Party MP Cheng Li Hui.  Read more at https://tinyurl.com/4s4ydk6u  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00 I have been asked why did I take so long, more than two years, to act.

00:04 It is a fair question.

00:06 In retrospect, and certainly now knowing how things eventually turned out,

00:12 I agree, I should have forced the issue sooner.

00:17 But let me explain my general approach as well as my thinking at that point in time.

00:22 There is no single template that applies to all extramarital affairs,

00:28 but there can be at least three situations.

00:32 The first situation is where the individuals involved will be talked to,

00:37 and if they stop, the matter ends there.

00:41 No further action need be taken.

00:46 The second situation, where immediate action has to be taken.

00:51 For example, when one party has supervisory power over the other party,

00:56 and we have in the past taken immediate action in a few cases.

01:01 Third situation, where the relationship raises some questions of propriety,

01:06 beyond it being an extramarital affair per se.

01:11 The parties will be talked to, but the matter cannot end there.

01:15 Even if the affair stops, some action has to follow.

01:19 But what that action is, and when it is taken,

01:22 depends on the nature of the facts and the boundaries that have been transgressed.

01:28 The present situation falls into this third category.

01:33 It is wrong. Mr Tan and Ms Cheng had to stop their affair. I told them to stop.

01:40 In deciding what more should be done, consider this.

01:44 Would we object to having the Speaker being married to an MP?

02:02 I think the answer is no. That would be perfectly all right.

02:09 There is no direct reporting line between the Speaker and an MP.

02:13 Thus an open, legitimate relationship between the Speaker and an MP is not in itself objectionable.

02:21 Hence this situation of the Speaker having an affair with an MP

02:25 does not fall into the category where immediate action has to be taken.

02:30 However, the Speaker has some official capacity vis-à-vis MPs.

02:36 An extramarital affair between him and an MP is therefore problematic.

02:40 It puts other MPs and staff in an awkward position, and it is just not proper.

02:47 After I spoke to Mr Tan in November 2020, he told me that the relationship would end.

02:53 I took it to be so.

02:55 I therefore felt there was some leeway to take some time to decide what further steps to take.

03:02 In this context, the possible actions that could have followed were

03:07 on the basis that the extramarital affair had stopped,

03:11 I would have asked Mr Tan to step down as Speaker sometime before the end of the term,

03:17 but in a way which would reduce the public embarrassment to him and his family.

03:22 As to whether one or both should also resign as MPs, I had not decided at the time,

03:28 but quite likely both would have had to leave at some point.

03:33 But by giving the matter some time, I had hoped to give them a softer exit,

03:39 and save them and their families the pain and embarrassment that they are suffering now.

03:46 I placed much weight on protecting their families, perhaps too much.

03:52 Regrettably, in the end, Mr Tan and Ms Cheng did not stop the affair, and both had to go.

03:59 On reflection, as I said, I should have forced the issue earlier, certainly before mid-term.

The Straits Times | I should have forced issue sooner: PM Lee explains approach to Tan, Cheng affair

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