When incidents happen from time to time, the government must ensure that it is dealing with them "rigorously as well as transparently" and "put it right", Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a press conference on Jul. 17.

Tan Chuan-Jin and Cheng Li Hui submitted their resignations from the People's Action Party (PAP) and Parliament to PM Lee on Jul. 17, as they had been in an "inappropriate relationship".

PM Lee highlighted:

"And in that process, I think everybody should draw the right conclusions and do the right things, whether they are in the government, whether they are in the party or the public watching how we are dealing with it."

He added:

"Sometimes things cluster up, but we make sure we put them right, and I hope I put them right and we will be able to set the right tone for a long time to come."

Responding to a question about a slip in the PAP's standards

The prime minister was responding to a question at a press conference on Jul. 17 about a perception among some of the public that standards in the PAP have slipped following incidents involving PAP MPs over the past few months.

PM Lee said:

"No system can be completely infallible. You appoint people, sometimes things go wrong, you have to find out and you have to put it right. You have to find out yourself whether or not somebody tells you something is wrong and put it right."

The prime minister also reiterated that it was crucial to ensure that high standards are maintained for more than one election or generation of leaders.

PM Lee elaborated:

"You have to make sure that you can maintain this, sustain this, feel that sense of mission and responsibility, and be able to transmit that beyond your term into the next generation, and imbue the next generation of people who come forward to serve as well as people who grow up as mature Singapore citizens and voters to understand that this is how our system works, and this is how it has to work in order for Singapore to succeed."

Series of "high profile" issues recently

The prime minister then noted that there had recently been a series of "high profile" issues.

"I think in the Ridout case, the matter came up on the Internet," he said.

The ministers involved then went through a "rigorous, full" CPIB investigation, as well as investigation by Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, he said.

The results and the reports were then presented in Parliament.

PM Lee added:

"And even the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Pritam Singh, said nobody's alleging corruption or wrongdoing. So, I think it is an example not of the PAP’s slipping standards but of how we deal with allegations against PAP MPs."

As for the case of Transport Minister S Iswaran, the matter did not come from an external report, but because the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) came across another issue while doing another investigation.

PM Lee added that when CPIB informed him about the matter, he replied, "take it up."

"After a few months it came back to me, they said, there is something to this, we want to open a formal investigation. I studied the paper, I said, yes, proceed, and that is what they have done, and it will go through to its full conclusion."

With regard to the case of Tan Chuan-Jin and Cheng Li Hui, they did not live up to standards that were expected, he said.

"We tried to get them to mend their ways, it did not work, and they had to go," he said.

Lee Kuan Yew: "Never let the system go corrupt"

PM Lee then referenced a moment when the government put on a party for the late Lee Kuan Yew for his 90th birthday in Parliament.

According to the prime minister, during the party, Lee Kuan Yew said, "Remember, never let the system go corrupt. Never, never let that happen. Uphold standards, make sure that Singapore can work."

"That is the key thing, and I am quite determined to do that and I am quite sure the 4G leaders are determined to do that too," PM Lee concluded.

Top image via PM Lee Facebook