In a year marked by twists and turns, highs and lows, the realm of scandals has been no exception. As we bid farewell to the twelve months that shaped headlines and sparked debates, it’s time to reflect on the seismic events that left us collectively astonished.
Join us as we embark on a riveting journey counting down the biggest scandals that defined the narrative of the year, unraveling the stories that gripped our attention and ignited conversations across Singapore.
#5 The Infamous DBS Outage
Back in October, a number of essential online services were down, resulting in thousands of people being affected.
The Straits Times reported that about 2.5 million payment and transactions couldn’t be completed by the outages that hit DBS Bank and Citibank.
According to Channel NewsAsia, among the services that are down include DBS PayLah!, the iBanking app, DBS’s paywave feature, and ATMs reportedly showed messages stating that the machines were “offline”.
Several users took to social media to complain about the outages, with a netizen sharing that he was stuck at The Coffee Bean while buying drinks because his Paywave and the iBanking app was not working.
Other users chimed in and revealed that even PayNow and PayLah services were down as well, and disgruntled customers started calling out the bank.
Other users also had problems completing transactions at places such as FairPrice, a local bakery, 7-Eleven and Cold Storage, among others.
A netizen shared that he was stuck inside the carpark and can’t get out because he can’t make payment to top up his cashcard.
Another netizen shared that his sister tried to pay for petrol at Esso using her DBS credit card but the payment couldn’t go through, and she got stuck at the petrol station.
“senior management will be held accountable”
Following the outage saga, DBS Chairman came out and said that the DBS Board apologises for the digital banking disruptions, and added that “as an acknowledgement that the bank could have done better, senior management will be held accountable, and this will be reflected in their compensation.”
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) also took action and imposed a six-month pause on DBS Bank Ltd’s (DBS Bank) non-essential IT changes to ensure that the bank keeps sharp focus on restoring the resilience of its digital banking services.
DBS Bank will not be allowed to acquire new business ventures during this period or reduce the size of its branch and ATM networks in Singapore. The actions were taken following the repeated and prolonged disruptions of DBS’ banking services this year.
#4 Han Feizi
29-year-old Chinese national Han Feizi, who has taken the Singapore news media by storm with her antics in a now-infamous incident at the Singapore General Hospital, was sentenced on 25 October to 5 weeks and 5 days imprisonment, as well as a fine of $600, according to Channel NewsAsia.
She had pleaded guilty to 5 charges that included using criminal force on a condominium security officer, insulting a hospital employee, public nuisance, making a false statement in her work permit application; three other charges were also taken into consideration during her sentencing.
The prosecution said that Han was arrested on 11 October, and the Ministry of Manpower was then informed about possible breaches under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.
Worked as a hostess
Investigations then ensued and it revealed that Han had applied for a work permit earlier this year in August, after her application for a student pass was rejected.
In her application, she declared that she would be working as a clerk but failed to do so. Instead, she worked as a freelance hostess in Singapore from 1 August 2023 to 11 October 2023.
The prosecutor for MOM also added that Han had only wanted to come to Singapore to “have fun”, and that she applied for the work pass without trying to understand what it said, as the form was in English.
Incident at The Sail
The prosecution said that on 3 October at about 10pm, the police were called in by the security at The Sail at Marina Bay, a private apartment building, because there was a drunk resident that needed help.
Han was found by a security officer squatting in a common area, and she said that she was drunk; the security then helped the woman back to her unit but she became aggressive inside the lift and pushed the guard, insulting him with vulgarities.
SGH Incident
On 10 October, the Singaporean police received a call for help at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) at around 2:35 am.
Han claimed to have waited for three hours in the hospital’s emergency department without receiving any medical attention after allegedly being hit by a car.
She further alleged that a nurse told her she would not be treated because she was not a Singaporean citizen. These claims were later disputed by SGH.
She had insulted a hospital staff member and refused to put on a face mask at the time.
The woman posted two videos on Douyin, both exceeding 11 minutes. She was also seen demanding a plainclothes police officer to identify herself and attempting to grab her police lanyard.
According to ST, the Singapore Police Force said that the two plainclothes officers, who were investigations officers, had introduced themselves in front of uniformed officers before speaking to the woman.
The female police officer was seen in the video repeatedly asking the woman if she had used vulgarities on the nurse, but the woman refused to answer.
The woman refused to cooperate and used vulgarities on one of the police officers, and filmed her interview with one of the female investigation officers and sharing them on her Douyin account.
The videos, which have since been reposted on several social media platforms, have been viewed more than a million times in total.
You can watch the videos here, here and here.
Previously jailed in China for drink driving
She was also found to have been jailed in China for drink-driving offences.
According to a judgement in China, there was also a woman named Han Feizi who was jailed in Beijing for dangerous driving a few years ago.
According to Shin Min Daily News, that woman is the same woman as the one in the viral SGH incident.
She was arrested on 29 December 2018 for dangerous driving and causing a car accident after drinking alcohol, at the Chao Yang district in Beijing at about 1.30am.
She was found with 89.8mg of alcohol per 100ml of breath, and she later pleaded guilty to her offence and was detained from 40 days, as well as being fined 2,000 RMB (or SGD $374).
Deported
Following her latest jail term in Singapore, she was subsequently deported back to China and banned from returning to Singapore to work.
#3 The Billion-Dollar Money Laundering Scandal
Earlier this year, Singapore was hit by revelations of a money laundering syndicate that had been operating in Singapore, before being foiled by the authorities.
According to a transcript of the interview by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Shanmugam said that the case is one of Singapore’s largest anti-money laundering operations, with more than 400 officers conducting the raids in 1 day that saw 10 people arrested.
He said that prior to the raids, there had been many months of investigations being conducted.
Snippets of Shanmugam’s explanation
The amount seized is now closer to $1.8 billion, and it could be even more. This is one of Singapore’s largest anti-money laundering operations. More than 400 officers conducted the raids on a single day and 10 persons were arrested.
The investigations leading to this, have been going on for many months. There is a lot of interest. You can understand, the amount of money, other assets that have been seized.
When it first came out, the amount was about a billion dollars. Now, as I have said, closer to $1.8 billion, so catches the imagination, of course, the pictures of the cars, the houses, and so on.
So it is entirely understandable the amount of interest, and we are a major financial services centre.
Matter is before the courts, so as you said, not much I can say, investigations are ongoing. I can tell you that 10 persons, as some people know, have been charged.
On what will happen to the seized assets
The seized items are now under Police custody. That’s the way Police handle any seizure. If you file any Police report, a matter involving a $10,000 case and there’s a fraud, and Police seized some asset, they have a certain SOP, which is set out in the law.
They’ll keep it in custody, whether it’s $1.8 billion or you know, $18,000. The money or assets will have to be kept and dealt with. There’s a set procedure. The money and assets seized here will be dealt with in the same way that they’re dealt with in other cases.
What does that mean? Case will have to be dealt with in court. Once the case is over, the courts will decide how the assets will be dealt with. It depends on who the courts identify as owning the assets. These are issues that will have to be gone into based on whatever findings the courts make.
Suspects will have to serve sentences in Singapore if convicted
Again, how these people will be dealt with if they are found guilty or not found guilty, would be the same way in which others who are before our courts are dealt with.
Whenever a foreign national is convicted and sentenced in Singapore, that person will have to serve the sentence.
After completing the sentence – supposing it’s a custodial sentence, after serving jail – he or she may be deported out of Singapore to wherever the passport will allow the person to go.
You have a valid passport, it allows you to go somewhere, you can go to that place. But of course, if there is an extradition request from a country and assuming that, there is an agreement for extradition, extradition treaty, then we will comply with the treaty or arrangement.
#2 Nicole Seah and Leon Perera’s Extra Marital Affair
The Workers’ Party’s (now-former) Member of Parliament Leon Perera and senior party member Nicole Seah were reported to have been engaged in an extramarital affair in leaked videos posted online earlier this year.
According to reports by several news outlets including The Straits Times, 8world News and MustShareNews, who cited their sources; the rumoured extra-marital affair between the Workers’ Party (WP)’s Aljunied GRC Member of Parliament (MP) Leon Perera and senior WP member Nicole Seah, had allegedly begun sometime in the middle of 2020, when Perera was mentoring Seah at the time.
Both Seah and Perera are married to other people and each of them have two children of their own.
The WP was allegedly made aware of the rumoured affair sometime between late-2020 and early 2021.
The allegations came about following the emergence of a now-viral video circulating on social media, showing two people who strongly resemble both Seah and Perera having an intimate dinner with red wine, with the latter holding the former’s hand and gently stroking it.
According to the source(s) who brought up evidential text messages and spoke to ST, showing that those who were made aware of the allegations of the rumoured affair, included WP chairman Sylvia Lim and Sengkang GRC MP Jamus Lim.
WP members were allegedly made aware of the duo allegedly going into hotels together and behaving inappropriately with each other since mid-2020.
ST reported that WP chief Pritam Singh, MPs Dennis Tan and Gerald Giam were also believed to have been alerted about the allegations of marital wrongdoing.
Addressing the scandal
The Worker’s Party held a press conference, helmed by WP chief Pritam Singh and Sylvia Lim, addressing the extra-marital affair between WP member Nicole Seah and MP for Aljunied Leon Perera following the emergence of a video on 17 July suggesting an “inappropriate exchange” between the latter two.
Both Seah and Perera are married to other people and have two children of their own.
Singh said that he was made aware of the allegations sometime between late 2020 and early 2021 by Perera’s driver via Whatsapp, that both Seah and Perera had been meeting each other at restaurants and hotels very often, holding hands and hugging each other.
Singh said that at the time, there was no evidence or corroborating information to support the driver’s allegations and that he didn’t know Perera’s driver personally.
Initially denied the allegations
He then questioned Perera about the allegations and asked him if there was anything going on between him and Seah, Perera then denied the allegations, telling Singh that he was in the midst of an ongoing dispute with his driver and was about to terminate his services, and was seeking legal advice against his driver for the allegations.
The driver also shared the same information with other Central Executive Committee (CEC) members of the party over the next few months, with the party members seeking to verify the allegations with Perera, who once again denied the allegations.
The CEC then approached Seah about the allegations by the driver and she also denied the allegations of anything going on with Perera.
Eventually confessed to the affair
When the now-viral video of both Seah and Perera first emerged on 17 July, Singh said that it was the first time they saw it and he immediately got in touch with Perera and arranged a meeting with him in the afternoon, where he admitted to having an affair with Seah after the General Elections 2020.
Singh also arranged a separate meeting on the same afternoon with Seah where she also admitted to having an affair with Perera, but claimed that it had “stopped some time ago”.
Singh added that Perera told him that he should have been more “forthcoming” when approached by the WP members about the allegations.
Resignations
Both Seah and Perera have since resigned from the Workers’ Party, with Perera also resigning from his position as MP of Aljunied GRC.
Singh added that on 18 July, he received a letter of resignation from Seah; as well as Perera’s letter of resignation from the WP and informing the acting speaker of parliament that he was also resigning from his seat in Parliament.
He also added that Perera’s conduct and not being truthful when the party leadership asked him about the allegations were “unacceptable”, and that had he not offered his resignation, Singh would have recommended for Perera to be expelled from the party.
Singh added that from the moment the WP was made aware of the video, they moved as quickly as they could to get to the bottom of the matter and put things right.
#1 Tan Chuan Jin & Cheng Li Hui’s Extra-Marital Affair
It was earlier reported on 17 July that (former) Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan Jin and his fellow People’s Action Party (PAP) Member of Parliament (MP) Cheng Li Hui had resigned from their posts and from he party.
It was later revealed that both Tan and Cheng had been engaging in an extra-marital affair, with the “inappropriate relationship” being one of the reasons for Tan’s resignation, on top of his now-infamous hot mic gaffe in Parliament where he muttered the phrase “f- populist” after Jamus Lim’s speech on a defined poverty line.
A statement was then issued by the Prime Minister’s Office before a press conference was called by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to address the situation.
Timeline of events
General Elections (GE) 2020
PM Lee said that he was made aware of Tan and Cheng’s illicit relationship after the GE2020, and although he doesn’t know when their “inappropriate relationship” had begun, both of them were spoken to and counselled about the matter.
February 2023
PM Lee had a conversation with Tan about the relationship that he had with Cheng, to which the former admitted to his wrongdoing and offered his resignation from his posts, which PM Lee duly accepted.
However, PM Lee said that he needed to ensure the residents under Tan’s constituency (the Kembangan-Chai Chee ward in Marine Parade GRC) were taken care of first, as well as settling the succession matters with the other MPs that included the Minister of Culture, Community and Youth, Edwin Tong and Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng.
In the meantime, he had to stop his relationship with Cheng; PM Lee also spoke to Cheng about the relationship as well.
The period after February 2023
PM Lee revealed that he “came across information that strongly suggested that the relationship had continued,” despite his instructions to Tan to stop the inappropriate relationship with Cheng.
PM Lee then decided that regardless of whether the arrangements were ready, Tan “had to go”.
April 2023 Parliament Sitting
During a parliamentary sitting in April, Tan uttered a profanity under his breath, which was overheard on the microphone that was still on at the time, and subsequently circulated online.
Tan was heard muttering the phrase “f-g populist” at the 1:25:28 minute mark of MCI’s livestream after calling for MP Vikram Nair (PAP-Sembawang) to speak following a speech by Workers’ Party MP Jamus Lim on the absence of an “official poverty line” in Singapore.
However, the remark went unnoticed at the time during the parliament sitting and in the live-streamed video.
10 July 2023
Tan’s “f-g populist” remark was discovered by a netizen who posted the clip online and subsequently went viral across social media platforms.
11 July 2023
Tan then took to his Facebook profile to issue a public apology, where he said:
“There is a recording of a Parliament sitting in April this year that has been circulating. I had to listen to the recording as I did not recall the occasion.”
“Based on the clip it appears that I had a reaction to a speech made in the chamber.”
“When I listen to speeches made, like everyone, I do form views on them. What was said were my private thoughts which I had muttered to myself and not to anyone.”
“However I should not have expressed them aloud or in unparliamentary language, and I apologise for that.”
“I have also spoken to the Member, A/P Jamus Lim, to make that apology as well; which he has kindly accepted.”
Jamus Lim then commented on Tan’s Facebook post and confirmed that “Speaker did indeed call, and I have accepted his apology.”
17 July 2023
Tan returned after going away for a while, submitting his resignation to PM Lee.
PM Lee said in his first public comments addressing the situation that he had “very recently” came across new information that Tan had continued his relationship with Cheng despite telling him to stop.
During their discussion, Tan agreed to leave immediately, because of his inappropriate relationship with Cheng, as well as the hot mic saga in Parliament.
At the same time, Cheng also resigned from her post.
A statement was then issued by the Prime Minister’s Office and a press conference was later held by PM Lee addressing the situation.