RP is today reiterating the call made by our SG Kenneth Jeyaretnam on July 17th, for a thorough investigation or investigations into the handling of the removals of one PAP MP and The Speaker of the House who was also an MP and into their activities and remuneration whilst they were kept in role, despite being severely compromised. Furthermore we demand an Investigation into the cover-up which seems to have lasted for three years, after the improper relationship was revealed.

The removal of the Speaker who was also an MP under such circumstances represents a unique Constitutional as well as a political crisis.

It is being reported that on 17th July 2023 Jessica Tan became acting Speaker of the Parliament after TC-J resigned. Yet TC-J resigned and his resignation was accepted by the PM in February 2023.

The rules state that:

The Speaker may at any time resign by writing to the Clerk of Parliament. The Speaker must then vacate the office. Further if a Speaker who is also an MP ceases to be an MP for reasons other than a dissolution of parliament or a promotion to a Ministry then they must also vacate the office.

An MP ceases to hold office if they resign their seats by writing to the Speaker (!!!) or if they resign from the political parties they stood for in election.

An investigation must be transparent about the resignation letter of Feb 23. Did the PM pass the resignation onto the Clerk of Parliament as required by the rules. Had TC-J ceased to be a member of PAP at that time? Why did he not vacate the office as soon as he resigned? Why did the PM not uphold our constitution?

If the resignation letter was a resignation from the PAP then the rules for MPs apply and he similarly should have ceased to hold office at that time, Feb 2023.

With regard to the delayed removal of the Speaker from that role and as a PAP CEC member, we note that the PM has admitted to knowledge of the affair from some time in 2020.

Yet, the PM did not deliver the transparency required by the House. Neither did he deliver transparency to the citizens of Singapore at large, as well as specifically to the voters who voted PAP and Opposition in the GRCs affected. Notwithstanding that an investigation in 2020 would have most likely have led to TC-J’s expulsion. We remind Singaporeans that Pritam Singh, WP leader, was referred and found guilty by the CoP for not revealing his knowledge that Rasesah had fabricated her evidence for two months.

We call for any such investigations be taken out of the PM’s hands.

At this moment it is not known whether The President and the whole cabinet were also aware of the affair and we call for measures to be taken to ensure that the investigations are conducted only by those who didn’t have prior knowledge of the affair.

There are questions to be answered as to whether TC-J breached his Code of Conduct as Speaker and of Parliamentary ethics. This and the PM’s handling of the matter requires an investigation by the Committee of Privileges (COP)

With regard to remuneration: We call on an investigation to clarify whether TC-J continued to collect his Speaker’s salary of $600,000 p.a and/or his MP’s allowance of around $200,000p.a. up to February 2023? Did TC-J continue receiving one or both after the PM had accepted his resignation in Feb 23? If not did he continue in a volunteer capacity after Feb 23 further undermining our system of government and the supposed safeguards that the large salaries are designed to ensure. The same questions must be investigated with regard to Cheng. Did she also continue to receive her MP’s allowance when she was not fit for her position. Their salaries are paid for by Singaporeans.

Further, Government sources of information show that TC-J continued to undertake overseas travel at tax-payer expense after his resignation was accepted. For example a trip to the Czech Republic where he represented Singapore as Speaker of parliament when this was not constitutionally acceptable. It is not feasible for The Speaker to work out a long term of notice like a regular employee. He should have been immediately removed or immediately vacated his Office.

Further, according to Government sources, TC-J led at least one Parliamentary trip abroad on which he invited his mistress. There are photographs from November 2022 of Ms Cheng with TCJ on a visit to Cambodia as part of the Singapore delegation to the ASEAN Inter Parliamentary Association. She is clearly named. Taking his mistress on an official trip to further his affair away from his family is a blatant and egregious misuse of state funds, and ultimately represents a drain on our reserves. This needs a further investigation by CPIB as it may constitute Criminal Breach of Trust. As the PM knew of that the couple were going on a state-funded trip and approved it he should also be a subject of the probe.

What is of greatest concern is that through his actions on this matter since 2020, the PM has perverted the very system of government upon which we rely and by so doing risks fatally eroding the trust of the people.

We remind citizens that our Singaporean way of government is unicameral in other words, one house.* So it relies on a Legislature that checks the Executive.

The Executive comprises the PM and his Cabinet. The Legislature comprises all the MPs including Opposition MPs voted in by a 40% share of the National vote. NCMPs and NMPs join that legislature with certain caveats in a system unique to Singapore.

The Speaker of the House presides over all of this.

In the UK, the original Westminster system that we emulate, The Speaker resigns his political affiliation upon being elected in order to ensure his neutrality. Unique to Singapore, The Speaker has usually been a back-bencher of the PAP. The Speaker is neither on the side of the Cabinet or the Legislature. He is responsible for the smooth running of the whole parliament for all MPs no matter what party. He must be non-partisan and fair to all. It is vital that he works for 100% of Singaporean voters not for 60% and that he is visibly seen to be non-partisan and unbiased.

When the Speaker of parliament is compromised in the way that Tan Chee-Jin has been compromised, then Parliament itself is compromised and is prevented from functioning and every decision and step that this compromised Speaker took is open to question. Not least, by virtue of the cover-up, the Opposition MPS have strong grounds for valid complaints as the cover-up only benefited the PAP.

In this matter the PM has once again acted as though he has unfettered freedom to treat Singapore and parliament as his own personal fiefdom. It has taken the courts previously to disabuse him of this notion, in regard to the calling of a by-election in an SMC. Simply put the courts ruled that it was not his decision to make. The matter of the speaker of parliament conducting an illicit affair with an elected member of parliament was not a matter of narrow partisan party interests. It is not in the PM’s gift to determine unilaterally how to handle such a matter and to deal with a high level resignation outside of the rules governing such resignations. In this manner LHL was able to gain partisan political advantage that only benefited the succession of his own political party. It was properly a matter for The House. Over 42% of residents in Marine Parade voted for a party other than the PAP and they have been treated particularly poorly.

We are still awaiting the outcome of Pritam and Faisal’s referral to the AG for perjury but if the COP finds sufficient evidence of malfeasance then the Speaker, the PM, TC-J and Ms Cheng should be similarly referred.

Article 12 of our Constiturion says “All are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law”. If these are not to be just empty words, then it has to be shown that no one is above the law.

The investigations must be instigated without delay. At the first sitting of parliament, vitals reforms must be presented to put us back on a true path. It was always JBJ’s essential vision in setting up the Reform Party to see our parliament and other institutions reformed to restore the safeguards of democracy and the dangers of all the power being in the hands of one man.

We note that parliament is now missing 5 elected members with one suspended pending an investigation and a sixth currently appealing a decision. All 5 missing are from GRCs. 3 and a possible 4th are from minority communities. It is the bedrock of our GRC system that they were created to ensure minority representation.

We call on parliament to instigate immediate by-elections for all GRCs missing MPs or at the very minimum where required to restore minority representation. In the longer term we call for the abolition of GRCs

We call on new rules to be put in place to ensure the non-partisan status of the Speaker. No speaker who is on a party’s CEC should be eligible for the role.

The elections department should become an independent agency not under the control of the PM.

CPIB should be fully independent and not require the authorisation of the PM.

Kenneth Jeyaretnam

Secretary General

Reform Party Singapore

Published by kjeyaretnam

I'm a Singaporean economist who became an opposition activist. I blog to provide an alternative to the porkies that the Pinkies tell. It just so happens that my alternative is the truth. That's why I've never been sued in any civil or criminal court no matter how hard hitting my criticism. I'm quoted and interviewed and asked to speak across the world but largely censored in Singapore in an effort to silence my political opinions. The left hate me because they think I split their vote and because I eschew their outmoded economic models. Models that don't work. The Right and the Conservatives hate me because I'm a liberal. I'm not sure what the middle think of me. I don't think there are more than a handful of people in the middle, here in Singapore. I'm a Singaporean born and bred, dual heritage, my parents Singaporean established here before the State of Singapore was created. I'm not Eurasian. I read economics at Cambridge and could be broadly described as from the Keynesian school but I believe in interventions. I was formerly a successful hedge fund manager. After economics and politics my greatest interests are history, film and Makan. I run but I run so I can eat like a Singaporean. View all posts by kjeyaretnam