SINGAPORE — Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin and Member of Parliament (MP) Cheng Li Hui have been having an "inappropriate relationship" and they had to resign as they did not break it off despite being told — most recently in February — to do so, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday (July 17).

The relationship has been going on since at least the 2020 General Election, Mr Lee said, though he was unsure of when exactly it started.

The Prime Minister revealed this to news editors during a briefing on the two resignations, which were announced earlier the same day.

During the briefing, Mr Lee also said that he will nominate a new Speaker by the next sitting of Parliament, on Aug 1 when he will also be making a ministerial statement. In the meantime, Deputy Speaker Jessica Tan will be the Acting Speaker.

Mr Lee noted that in recent weeks, Mr Tan made headlines for a "hot mic" incident in which he could be heard using unparliamentary language in reference to opposition MP Jamus Lim.

But he added that this issue of the inappropriate relationship with Ms Cheng, an MP for Tampines Group Representation Constituency (GRC), was “the more serious matter”. 

“(This is) because he was the Speaker and she is an MP, and there should not have been a relationship,” he said.

Mr Lee said that he had most recently spoken to Mr Tan about the affair in February.

At that time, Mr Tan admitted what he did was wrong and offered his resignation.

“I had accepted his resignation. But I told him: First I needed to make sure the residents of Kembangan-Chai Chee and Marine Parade continued to be taken care of. Meanwhile, his relationship with Ms Cheng had to stop,” said Mr Lee.

Mr Lee said that succession arrangements in Marine Parade have been ongoing since then, such as putting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng as the anchor ministers in the GRC.

“But very recently, I came across information that strongly suggested that the relationship had continued. I decided then that Mr Tan had to go forthwith, whether or not the arrangements were ready,” he added. 

“It could not wait any longer.”

Mr Lee said that as members of the People’s Action Party (PAP), they were expected to uphold high standards of propriety and personal conduct.

“PAP MPs – whether they are ministers or backbenchers – must uphold these cardinal values at all times. Without party discipline, without integrity, we are nothing, so this is an absolute requirement," he said.

HOW PM LEE FOUND OUT

Mr Lee said he was alerted to the relationship after the last General Election in 2020.

"I do not know when it began, but they were spoken to, counselled. Unfortunately, the matter didn’t close and so it came to the hard conversation we had in February this year," he said.

Mr Lee was asked whether, were it not for the hot mic incident, the affair would have to come to light this soon.

He replied: "It would have come to light probably sooner rather than later because it had reached that point. It so happened that the hot mic incident came up and therefore, it precipitated this moment, but it will happen sooner rather than later, anyway."

Asked why the relationship was allowed to go on, Mr Lee replied: "We hoped that they would put things right, but unfortunately, they did not."

Mr Lee was also asked why Mr Tan and Ms Cheng were given time to end their relationship even after it had been discovered, whereas in 2012, then-Speaker of Parliament Michael Palmer was asked to resign much more quickly after his extramarital affair with a People's Association employee was discovered.

It was reported at the time that Mr Palmer resigned on the same day that party leaders found out about his indiscretion, and the whole incident was then announced to the media days later. 

Mr Lee said: "I think it depends on the situation of the case. As I said you’ve got to look at the circumstances, spouses and the families’ conditions at how you can manage this as sensitively as you can and yet do your duty. And it depends on the person's response as well as the specifics, so I don't think it's possible to make direct comparisons."