At a temporary press conference on July 17, Singapore Prime Minister Li Xianlong recalled the scene of his father Li Guangyao's 90th birthday.

At that time, Li Guangyao, the founding Prime Minister of Singapore, who was already weak, only said two or three words.He said that we must remember that the system must not be corrupted, and this situation can never be made. It is necessary to maintain the quality of civil servants and ensure that Singapore can operate.

Chen Chuanren, Singapore Parliament Congress, and a series of scandals such as the retreat of the party because of extramarital affairs, and evoked Li Xianlong's memories.When he explained to the media and the public, he said when Chen Chuanren and Zhong Lihui retired from the party: "Unfortunately, Chen Chuanren leaves politics in this case, but he must be responsible for his actions and ethics, and to be responsible for Congress, the party, voters, and his family."

Figure/Vision China

For the Singaporean People's Action Party, which has been in power in the past 60 years, challenges have been challenged in the past.First, Most Morgan, Minister of the Internal Affairs and Minister of Justice, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Victoria's long -term rental "Black and White House Mansion" caused heated discussions and also shocked Congress to conduct investigations.Subsequently, Minister of Transport Yi Huaren was arrested for suspected rare high -level corruption surveys.In Singapore's politics, ministers -level officials were investigated by the Corruption Council, and the last time it still occurred nearly 40 years ago.The most recent scandal was that Chen Chuanren and Zhong Lihui resigned and resigned with their marriage.

Li Xianlong, 71, said a few years ago that he was ready to retire at the age of 70.In April last year, Li Xianlong officially pushed the fourth -generation (4G) leadership team to the front desk, saying that the ruling party was in a critical period of alternating the old and new leadership.However, the recent scandal has caused a huge impact on Singapore politics known for its integrity.Some scholars believe that this allows Singapore to face "the worst crisis in history", which is likely to shake the confidence of voters in the ruling party.

July with frequent scandal

54 -year -old Chen Chuanren was once considered the core member of Singapore's fourth -generation leadership team.

In the 24 years of his military career, Chen Chuanren obtained the highest rank of prospective generals.After the Indonesian tsunami in 2004, the Singaporean army went to Indonesia to participate in humanitarian assistance. Chen Chuanren was the commander at the time.To this day, this rescue operation is still one of the largest overseas military operations in the Singapore Armed Forces.

In 2011, Chen Chuanren switched to politics after retiring from the Singapore Armed Forces, and served as a senior Minister of Government Affairs and Acting Minister of the Ministry of Human Management, Minister of Human Management, and Minister of Society and Family Development of the Ministry of Social and Family Development, all the way.

Since 2017, Chen Chuanren has been the speaker of Congress.For a long time, the appointment of Singapore Parliament's position requires both rich governance experience and understanding of the parliamentary process, but also to have good credibility.

Chen Chuanren, who is married and has two children, is still unmarried by 47 -year -old Zhong Lihui.As a member of the parliament, Zhong Lihui focuses on paying attention to female issues, and has repeatedly mentioned the agenda about selective frozen eggs.

As early as the 2020 election, Prime Minister Li Xianlong learned the unfair relationship between Chen Chuanren and Zhong Lihui, and gave a commandment to the two.After the two were discovered, Li Xianlong persuaded the two to end the relationship in February this February.

But until this month, Li Xianlong said that he still got some information. The relationship between "strong display" that should not be started should not be maintained for several years has not been cut off.Despite the regret of the political future of the two, Li Xianlong eventually believed that they were necessary to resign.

Chen Chuanren also resigned intentionally after being talked in February this year.In April, he also missed his words in Congress.Lin Zhiwei, a member of the Shenggang Collection District, talked about how the government should provide more help to the poor in Singapore, not just to help the poor in the elderly, Chen Chuanren whispered to the other party."Populist".

Chen Chuanren later said that he had apologized to Lin Zhiwei privately and was understood.However, the Speaker has made no choice in the Congress, and has made people more widely question the neutral and fairness of the speaker.

Compared with the peach -colored scandal of Chen Chuanren and Zhong Lihui, it has also caused a greater impact on the rotten charges of the Cabinet Minister.On July 14, the Singapore Corruption Council confirmed that the Minister of Transportation of Singapore, Yi Huuren, was recently arrested and subsequently released on bail and was assisting the bureau for investigation.Yi Huaren, 61 -year -old, is also the core member of the fourth -generation leadership team. He has served as the Minister of the Prime Minister's Office, Minister of Trade and Industry, Communications and News. He was transferred to the current job in May 2021.

From left to right: Chen Chuanren, Zhong Lihui, Yi Huaren.

In the past two days after the Corruption Council launched an official investigation of Yi Huaren, another name of the other name of the real estate tycoon and the company's company executive director Wang Xingxing, the company's HOTEL Properties listed hotel.According to Forbes' 2022 rankings, the Wang Xingxing couple ranked 24th in Singapore's 50 richest lists, with assets of $ 1.75 billion.

Wang Mingxing is a Malaysian. He has settled in Singapore for many years. He was widely praised for bringing the World -first -level Formula F1 Grand Prix in 2008. His private company also won the Singapore Station Grand Prix with the Singapore Tourism Bureau last year last year.The right to undertake until 2028.It is also disclosed that Wang Mingxing was involved in the corruption storm in politics in 1995. At that time, he was accused of selling two sets of real estate, Li Xianlong, who was the deputy prime minister who was the wife of the prime minister Li Guangyao at a discount price.The then Prime Minister Wu Zuodong had a Congress debate specifically for this matter, and eventually clarified that they had no improper behavior.

Before the investigation, Yi Huaren suspended his duties and could not enter any government office and contact any government resources.According to the Singapore Lianhe Morning Post, on July 18, Yi Huaren appeared in the Corruption Council and took a nearly 10 hours of investigation to leave by car.

In Singapore, there have been nearly 40 years of corruption.The last time it happened in 1986. Zheng Zhangyuan, who was the Minister of Development of the National Development, was accused of collecting bribes. It was suspected of receiving 500,000 yuan in bribery in 1981 and 1982.But during the investigation, Zheng Zhangyuan denied these allegations.

Before appearing in court, Zheng Zhangyuan suddenly committed suicide, and left Li Guangyao a suicide note: "In the past two weeks, I feel very frustrated. For this unfortunate incident, I should bear all the responsibility.Oriental gentleman, I should accept the strictest punishment for the mistakes I made -your loyal Zheng Zhangyuan. "

Since Zheng Zhangyuan's case, Singapore has never appeared in the investigation by the Cabinet Minister by the Cabinet Minister, until this time the Minister of Transport Yi Huaren was involved in the case.

Recently, in addition to the arrest of Yi Huaren, the Singapore Ministry of Justice and Minister of the Interior, Shang Morgan, and Foreign Minister Vivian, rented the "Black and White House Mansion" for investigation by the Corruption Council for corruption or bribery.

But Li Xianlong's statement about the incident involved in Shang Mogan and Wevin was "they did nothing wrong, I still fully trust them."During the investigation, Shang Morgan and Vivian did not suspend their positions.Li Xianlong instructed Yi Huaren to take off vacation during the assistance to the investigation.Chen Qingwen, a professor at the Law School of Singapore's University of Management, believes that it is very serious to be ordered to take a vacation, which means that the Corruption Council may have reliable evidence in the process of preliminary investigation, which is enough to expose some illegal behaviors.

The integrity requirements of "whiter than white"

"During the Li Guangyao era, the DAP often emphasized that the selection of officials must have high standards and abilities, which also raised the Chinese pairExpectation of politicians."Zhuang Jiaying, an associate professor of the Department of Political Science of the National University of Singapore, told China News Weekly.

Zhuang Jiaying recalled that until now, there are still many older generations of Singaporean remembering this scene. In 1959, Singapore was just independent. In the conference room of the Municipal Hall, Lee Kuan Yao took all team members to wear white shirts and white white shirts and white.The trousers were sworn in, promised to people not tolerate corruption, and vowed that politicians should be pure and white, whiter than white.

In the early days of Li Guangyao's administration, the corruption atmosphere left by the colonial era was prevailing."Corruption is popular everywhere, from the highest level of bureaucratic regime to the lowest level, corruption has become a way of lifestyle." Li Guangyao once described the situation at the time.

In 1960, when the Dutch economist Albert Wins Musi led Singapore, Zeng Siwang said: "Singapore is about to collapse, it is just a small country in the dark corner of Asia."

After Li Guangyao came to power, Singapore established an autonomous government to take severe measures to severely punish corruption.Under the leadership of the People's Action Party, the Singapore government promulgated the prevention of corruption in June 1960, not only stipulating that civil servants do not allow their posts and power to receive compensation, but also have detailed regulations on how officials can handle those unable to resign gifts.EssenceAt the same time, the law stipulates that in addition to confiscating all the illegal income of corruption, in addition to confiscating all illegal income, it is also imposed or sentenced to more than 5 years or less than 7 years.

This is not only that, Singapore has also expanded the power of the Corruption Council.Established in 1952, the Corruption Investigation Bureau often encountered obstruction when investigating government officials, and some reports could only end without illness.After 1960, the Corruption Council was upgraded to the highest level. The director of the bureau was appointed by the president and was directly led by the Prime Minister.It is both an administrative agency and a law enforcement agency. Any Singaporean citizen, from senior officials to civilians, and even overseas Chinese citizens who live overseas are their supervisory objects.

Since the mid -1980s, Singapore has also started to raise a sharp increase in civil servants, further making corruption a criminal act of "high risk, low return" in Singapore.Ren Jianming, director of the Integrity Education and Research Center of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, observed that the history of Singapore official's salary system has gone through four major adjustments. The time points were 1982, 1994, 2007, and 2012.Singapore official wages have generally risen all the way and are at the world's leading level.According to foreign media reports, in 2012, Singapore's primary minister's annual salary reached $ 850,000, and Singapore Prime Minister Li Xianlong's annual salary was as much as $ 1.7 million.

In addition, Singapore has also promulgated relevant regulations such as Civil Service Law Civil Servant Code and Disciplinary Property Appliance Law to implement a strict property declaration system. Among them, the most special and controversial "guilty presumption" clause, that is, ""Unusual wealth" can become evidence of allegations, and the property that cannot be explained is corrupted.

New challenges to improve transparency

In recent years, the People's Action Party has continued to face anti -corruption challenges.In 2017, Li Xianlong had accused of abusing power for his first prime minister Li Guangyao's former residence, and Chen Peiling, a member of the Mai Bo Family Establishment District, was accused of accepting private enterprises.Although the two incidents above were investigated, the official conclusion was that there was no violation of laws, but many people still thought there was doubts.

In Zhuang Jiaying's view, a series of incidents have caused many Singaporeans to doubt whether the DAP has always paid attention to whether the "capable people" governance route needs to be adjusted.

Chu Qifei, a political analysis person in Singapore, also acknowledged that the first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, had set a high standard for the Singaporean's governors, which may make it difficult for the new generation of politicians to be able to reach, and may even become the cause of trouble in the future.EssenceHe believes that as society becomes more open and free, more behaviors that do not meet standards may occur.

Zhuang Jiaying also observed that Singaporea society has been changing.Almost at the same time when Chen Chuanren and Zhong Lihui's extramarital affairs were exposed, the Singapore Opposition Party Workers' Party also revealed the extramarital affairs of members of the member Beli and the Party Central Committee Xue Ling. A 15 -second intimate and dinner video circulated the Internet.For this matter, many Singaporeans, especially the younger generation, are not so concerned about extramarital affairs itself, but whether Belician and Xue Xueling have deceived the leadership of the workers.

"They understand private morals and public power, no longer myths or idolized politicians. Under this understanding, whether the behavior of politicians affects public office, involving conflicts of interest, abuse of power, harassment, force, etc.It is more important than their private life. "Zhuang Jiaying said.

At the same time, more and more people have begun to question that the anti -corruption system created by Lee Kuan Yew is not impeccable.In 2013, Singapore's anti -corruption senior official Yang Shaoxiong "risked to self -theft" and was suspected of misappropriating S $ 1.7 million, of which S $ 240,000 was used for gambling.Before the corruption scandal was revealed, Yang Shaoxiong was the assistant director of the Singapore Corruption Investigation Bureau.This case also exposed some loopholes in the anti -corruption system, that is, the misappropriation of public funds cannot be reflected in the personal property application system.

Gu Qingyang, an associate professor of the School of Public Policy of the National University of Singapore, said that the Corruption Council is the core link of the Singaporean national machine. The regulatory authorities must further improve the anti -corruption system and strengthen supervision and prevention to block the new loopholes.

In recent years, the Singapore government has also been questioned by insufficient transparency.During the corruption investigation of officials, Prime Minister Huang Xuncai stated on his Facebook that the government will admit frankly on corruption cases, even if they may bring embarrassment or damage to the People's Action Party.However, in social media, some Singaporeans have been carefully studying each detail and questioned why Li Xianlong knew the relationship between the two officials in 2020, and until now, let the public know?Why didn't people know that Yi Huaren was arrested on July 11 until July 14?

Michael Balt, a professor of international relations in Australia, who has long tracked Singapore's politics for a long time, believes that Singapore has no strong mechanism to investigate the responsibility of powerful people.

Zhuang Jiaying also said, "I think the biggest problem revolves around the fairness of authority, supervision, transparency, and parliamentary procedures." And the People's Action Party has refused to accept some systems, such as publicly disclosing the income and assets of senior officials and their direct relatives.EssenceSingapore also needs to improve transparency, strengthen public supervision of officials, and improve the mechanism of power restrictions.He also believes that any system needs to be continuously adjusted and innovated in order to face challenges that have been evolving more strongly.The Singapore system, including "elite" and "high salary" and other anti -corruption measures.

"No system is truly perfect, sometimes something goes wrong, you must find out and correct it." At the press conference, Premier Li Xianlong admitted to the public.

The "worst period" of the People's Action Party

September this year is the 100th anniversary of Lee Kuan Yew's birthday. At present, Singapore is at a new crossroad. The ruling party is experiencing the transition of the leadership. The political impact of a series of scandals also occur at this subtle moment.

Singapore's senior political observers Biville Singh bluntly stated that it is currently the "worst period" that the People's DAP has been questioned in the past 50 years.Chen Qingwen, a professor at the Law School of Singapore's University of Management, also believes that this is facing Singapore to face "the worst crisis in history."

Since Singapore's independence in 1965, the People's Action Party has been the ruling party.However, with the resignation of Zhong Lihui, a member of Chen Chuanren, who is a member of the Marin Baili settlement, resigned, and Zhong Lihui, a member of the Tamletni Constituency, resigned, coupled with the former Minister of State and Politics and Social Policy, Shang Daman, a former president of the president, and unloading.In all political positions and withdrawal from the People's Action Party, there are many elections such as Jurong, Marin Billle, Tanni, and West Coast.But Li Xianlong said that he did not plan to hold the election immediately, and the next election must be held in 2025.

Chen Qingwen believes that it is difficult for people's trust to gain people's trust for the People's Action Party.The West Coast and the Marin Benlie selection will face large competition, and it is likely to be captured by the opposition party.

Michael Balta analyzed China News Weekly that although the People's Action PartyThere is no possibility of defeat, but in the next election, it is very likely to lose more parliamentary seats.This may have a medium and long -term impact and eventually weaken its authority.

The Singapore Congress will resume on August 2. Li Xianlong recently stated that Xie Jianping will be the Speaker of the New Congress.Xie Jianping is a member of the Malaysia Baili settlement. He also served as the deputy speaker from October 2011 to January 2016.For the danger, Xie Jianping said: "No matter what the situation, what happened has happened, and I will look forward. If I can finally be elected, I will focus on doing things in my division."

A series of scandals have also triggered whether the fourth -generation leadership team can take over as scheduled.According to Li Huiling, a political analyst at Singapore, Li Xianlong is likely to make a stick before the next election, so that Deputy Prime Minister Huang Xuncai leads the People's Action Party to face the next election.According to her observation, the style of Li Xianlong and the leader of the DAP is to complete the most difficult things, including international, regional and foreign affairs, etc., and then hand in a clean stick to the next.In Singapore, the promise of the next generation is intact.

Zhuang Jiaying also believes that although the DAP may have improper behavior, how to deal with these behaviors and how to recover the prestige of the ruling party is an important thing at the moment.At this time, if the fourth -generation leadership team led by Huang Xuncai can perform more positive, propose and promote the reform plan that can face up to these issues, show leadership courage and responsibility, and may be able to get the trust of the people.However, at present, I have not seen the new leadership team standing up to meet the challenges, responsible for dealing with the tricky problems faced by the party and the country now.

Michael Ballet speculates that Li Xianlong, who is planning to retire at the age of 70, still keeps in the post, may be a manifestation of lack of confidence in the successor.

At a press conference on July 17, Li Xianlong also expressed his expectations for his successor. Anti -corruption was the key to Singapore and his determination. He also believed that the fourth -generation leadership team also had such determination.

Send 2023.7.31 Total No. 1102 China News Weekly Magazine

Magazine title: "July Earthquake" in Singapore's politics

Author: Zheng Liying