Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will be nominating Seah Kian Peng as the new Speaker of Parliament at the next sitting of Parliament in August, a Prime Minister Office statement announced on Jul. 21.
A former deputy Speaker
Seah, who was the former Deputy Speaker of Parliament from October 2011 to January 2016, is a Member of Parliament (MP) for Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency (GRC) since 2006, when he was first elected to Parliament.
He is currently the Group CEO of NTUC Enterprise.
He will be taking the seat after former fellow Marine Parade GRC MP Tan Chuan-Jin resigned due to an "inappropriate relationship" with Tampines GRC MP Cheng Li Hui.
Tan resigned as Speaker of Parliament, and as a People's Action Party MP, on Jul. 17, 2023.
On the same day, Tampines GRC MP Cheng Li Hui also resigned as a PAP MP.
Tan Chuan-Jin's resignation following recent controversies
Tan has been embroiled in some controversies recently.
Unparliamentary language
This includes his using of unparliamentary language when he muttered "f*cking populist" in Parliament on Apr. 17, 2023, after the Workers' Party MP Jamus Lim delivered his speech on poverty in Singapore.
PM Lee held a press conference on the same day after Tan and Cheng's resignations were announced on Jul. 17.
"Inappropriate relationship" with Cheng
PM Lee revealed that Tan and Cheng have been in an "inappropriate relationship" after the 2020 general election (GE).
While he acknowledged Tan's remarks in Parliament, PM Lee said Tan and Cheng's "inappropriate relationship" was more serious than the former.
Tan is married with two children while Cheng is not married.
Continued seeing Cheng despite being told to stop
PM Lee said he told Tan and Cheng to stop their relationship twice – when he got to know of it after the 2020 GE, and in February 2023, when he realised that the "inappropriate relationship" was still ongoing despite being told to stop.
Tan offered his resignation to PM Lee in February 2023.
While PM Lee accepted Tan's resignation then, he said he needed Tan to make sure that the residents in his Kembangan-Chai Chee ward in Marine Parade GRC were taken care of.
In the days leading up to the announcement of Tan's resignation on Jul. 17, PM Lee received information that "strongly suggested" that Tan and Cheng's "inappropriate relationship" was still ongoing.
He spoke to Tan after the latter returned to Singapore and Tan agreed to "leave immediately", whether or not the handover arrangement in Marine Parade GRC was ready.
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Top image from Seah Kian Peng/Facebook and Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images