PAP in a crisis of a generation -- Has the "Men in White" gone black?
Opinion: Amidst various scandals plaguing the People's Action Party (PAP), Joseph Nathan questions the integrity of Singapore's politics and suggests that the only honorable action for PM Lee is to step down, thereby preserving Lee Kuan Yew's legacy.
by Joseph Nathan Goodness gracious, it seems that the People's Action Party (PAP) is being savagely plagued by a never-ending streak of bad luck, as if karma is determined to bring them into the abyss of hell. Just last week, we saw how the “Men in White” had desperately used their majority in parliament to forcefully push for the narrative that both Vivian Balakrishnan and K. Shanmugam, who were their cabinet ministers involved in the Ridout Rental’s Fiasco, were innocent. Within this one-sided drama in parliament, we saw how Christopher De Souza, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, who, despite being charged with professional misconduct as a lawyer, was allowed to preside over a parliament hearing over the Ridout Rental scandal where the integrity of two PAP ministers were being questioned and the house is debating if there is any “conflict of interest” involved. Then news broke that the Court of Appeal found two senior politicians from the Workers’ Party liable for fiduciary failure in the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC ) case. Yet throughout the Ridout Rental scandal and the investigation carried out by the PAP’s own politicians, no one bothers to mention the numerous fiduciary lapses and failures that had occurred at Singapore Land Authority (SLA), which in turn, would have implicated their Law Minister who oversees the statutory board. Has politics in Singapore become so perverse and vindictive? As karma would have it, then we heard how Tan Chuan-Jin, the Speaker of Parliament, who finally admitted that he did use expletive language in making a disparaging remark about a parliamentarian from the Workers’ Party, and ended up showing his true “nasty” colour.
