Eugene Tan, Associate Professor of Law at SMU & Former Nominated Member of Parliament analyses the current state of politics in Singapore, coming on the back of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s ministerial statement and parliamentary discussions following a recent spate of incidents involving local politicians. 

Presented by: Lynlee Foo & Ryan Huang

This podcast is produced and edited by Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)

Highlights: 

(00:00) Introduction

(01:07) Both PM Lee and Minister-in-charge of Public Service Chan Chun Sing answered a series of questions put out by the Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh, along with other MPs. What did you make of the session which lasted more than two hours?  

(02:48) Going into this parliamentary session, there was a high level of interest from the public and a lot of questions people had in their minds. How much do you that went into answer at least some of them, these burning questions that people had?

(04:22) You mentioned briefly about the CPIB investigation, I'm sure details will surface in due course. But in your opinion, would this indirectly lower the morale in the public service?

(06:15) What's your current reading of the extent of impact on the ruling party PAP's 'whiter than white' branding?

(07:31) The Workers’ Party has also had its fair share of scandals, including the Raeesah Khan case and more recently, the affair between Leon Perera and Nicole Seah. Are these incidents signalling a shift in our political or even social landscape? 

(09:21) Talking about a new beginning, looking back - are there any lessons to draw from this, perhaps that could be applied to maybe policy changes to address some of the issues and questions that have cropped up based on what we've seen in these incidents?

(11:40)  Between now and the next election, what really is needed in order to rebuild public trust in the government?