I do not expect politicians to be perfect or without faults.
I still remember WP MP Yaw who had affair and had to step down. The media went all out and WP reputation was tarnished by accusations of poor selection etc.
However shortly after there were 2 scandals on PAP side ...it was "quietly settled". I still remember LTK gracefully saying Palmer was a good speaker of the house and was fair....
In 1996, Chee Soon Juan made a mistake at a parliamentary committee on health care figures. When pressed he admitted the error, said it was a typo. He was put through a COP and fined along with 3 SDP members. The contention is he fabricated the number then lied that it was a typo.
Incident was used to tear down. The correct number was "25%" the number Chee submitted was "5%".
So how they "proved" its a it was not a typo and a fabrication? They said the number also appear in his book and a typo cannot be missed so it has to be a fabrication and hence Chee is a liar.
The media then proceeded to destroy Chee's reputation calling him liar.
The lesson learnt here is the PAP has created a system of minefields that constantly gives it opportunities to catch the opposition. Once a mistake is made e.g. typo or some statement they can use for defamation lawsuits, they will proceed to inflict maximum damage. Many opposition leaders had to go through bankruptcy and jail due to thus.
The power is asymmetrically used against opposition. In the past Singaporeans were part naive and part blinded by the economic progress to close one eye to what the pap is doing. This was known as the social contract...if life is good, let pap do what it wants to opposition.
Over the years people become more and more conscious of what is happening and how the pap has concentrated power to itself. This system no long benefits Singaporeans as much as Singapore transformed into a globalised city and economic benefits become unevenly distributed. The structural power elites make sure the are the prime beneficiaries and ordinary citizens get the trickle down.
Trust in the pap govt has gone down and everytime it uses its machinery against the opposition it is seen by the people as "fixing" the opposition as it has done so for last 50yrs.
https://amp.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1...dia-debate
One just have to see how the political power machinery as turned against his own brother and sister in law both respected members of our society once the dispute over the house occurred.
In our role as good citizens we have to put in place the check and balance so badly needed in our country and reduce PAP's power concentration.
I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.