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Singapore Minister’s Legal Woes Sink Storied Political Career
(Bloomberg) -- S. Iswaran, the Singapore transport minister who resigned after facing graft charges, was in public service for more than a quarter of a century. It took just months for his storied career to unravel.
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The 61-year-old Iswaran — who helped bring Formula 1 racing to Singapore and represented the city-state at the World Economic Forum — was charged Thursday with two counts of corruption, 24 counts of obtaining “valuable things” from someone he had business dealings with as a public servant, and one for obstructing justice.
He said he’s innocent. He tendered his resignation earlier this week to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who accepted it on Wednesday.
“I reject the allegations in the charges and will now focus on clearing my name,” Iswaran said in a letter to Lee on Jan. 16. “Given the circumstances, I feel it is right for me to resign from Cabinet, as a member of parliament and as a member” of the ruling People’s Action Party, he said.
Iswaran’s resignation is the end of a high-flying government career that had seen him in leadership positions in at least five ministries, including key ones such as trade, a sector vital to the city-state’s survival.
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His downfall marks a low point for Singapore, which prides itself on a reputation for clean governance and business-friendly policies. The People’s Action Party, whose distinct white uniforms are meant to signify its politicians’ incorruptibility, has ruled the island since the country’s independence in 1965.
“I am disappointed and saddened that you are leaving politics in these circumstances,” Lee wrote in reply to Iswaran. “But it is essential that I deal with such matters rigorously in accordance with the law. It is the right thing to do.”
Iswaran had held the role of transport minister since May 2021, and was concurrently the minister-in-charge of trade relations, representing Singapore at global meetings such as the WEF in Davos and those by the International Civil Aviation Organization and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
Tasked by Lee for almost a decade to deliver the annual National Day speech in Tamil — one of Singapore’s four official languages — it was the premier himself who announced in July the anti-corruption agency’s probe into Iswaran. Lee later said Iswaran had been blocked from access to official resources and government buildings, the same corridors he had roamed since first winning a seat in parliament in 1997.
Tough Times
The Iswaran scandal is taking place at a particularly sensitive time, with the country preparing for a leadership change this year when Lee is expected to hand power over to his deputy, Lawrence Wong.
Iswaran’s arrest in July 2023 added to a difficult few months for the PAP, with voters’ trust already shaken by the poor optics of two ministers renting state-owned colonial mansions. They were later cleared of wrongdoing in a government review. In mid-July, speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin — once seen by observers as a prime ministerial candidate — resigned after an extramarital affair with a fellow lawmaker.
Singapore’s ministers are among the world’s best-paid, earning about S$1.1 million ($820,000) a year, according to the Public Service Division. The city-state is ranked as the fifth-least corrupt country in the world, according to the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, trailing Denmark, Finland, New Zealand and Norway.
Iswaran was alleged to have improperly obtained tickets to watch musicals and soccer matches in the UK over a period of years from property tycoon Ong Beng Seng. Iswaran was also charged with obtaining dozens of tickets to the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix race over several years from Ong.
A spokesman for Ong declined to comment about the case.
Career Journey
Iswaran started his public service journey in 1987 in the home affairs and education ministries before he was seconded to the National Trades Union Congress, an umbrella labor movement with ties to the government. He was the first chief executive officer of the Singapore Indian Development Association, a government-approved body aimed at boosting the socio-economic status of the local Indian community.
He was director for international trade in the lead up to Singapore’s hosting of the World Trade Organization’s Ministerial Conference in 1996. Later, he was managing director at state-owned investor Temasek Holdings, where he carried out investment, takeover, buy-out and merger transactions in the pharmaceuticals, biotech, high-tech manufacturing, transport and logistics sectors.
Iswaran’s working relationship with Ong predated the 2008 arrival of F1’s night race in Singapore. When he was managing director at Temasek in the early 2000s, the state investor backed Ong’s bid for NatSteel Ltd., Singapore’s biggest steelmaker.
The tycoon won control of the steelmaker in 2003 through one of his entities known as 98 Holdings Ltd., which listed Iswaran as a director on behalf of Temasek. The state investor unloaded its stake in Ong’s firm in 2004. In 2022, a consortium led by Ong, together with units of Temasek, acquired a media and property company in the city-state.
Easy Camaraderie
Iswaran boasted an easy camaraderie publicly with legislative and ministerial colleagues. He was often seen chatting with peers as they left the parliament floor, where he has a seat in the front row as a minister.
As is typical with many Singapore politicians, Iswaran’s family is rarely in the limelight. He met his wife when they were both in their late teens and studying at the University of Adelaide, she said in an interview with India Se magazine in 2019. He read economics there, and later earned a masters in public administration from Harvard University.
His wife is listed as chairwoman of a non-profit organization which helps students from low-income families when there is a crisis. They have three children who are now around their early 20s, according to the 2019 interview.
His Instagram feed over eight years featured mainly his interactions with constituents on his walkabouts and at community events, cycling around the island, hosting visiting politicians from overseas and his travels for work. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made some appearances, as did other politicians from the South Asian country. One post was a picture of Iswaran, his son and soccer star David Beckham.
Famous Friends
In the early months of Covid-19, Iswaran reached out to Indian celebrities including actors Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and musician A.R. Rahman to send messages of support to the local migrant worker community who weren’t allowed to leave their dorms.
The transport portfolio he oversaw is one of the most challenging in the Cabinet. The ills of subway breakdowns, a shortage of taxis or complaints about ride-hailing platforms and high car prices are shared on social media quickly and widely, with blame directed at the government.
In announcing a 2021 Cabinet reshuffle, Lee praised Iswaran’s work in his prior role as communications and information minister, saying he had “helped us understand and respond to citizens’ views and concerns.”
Iswaran made reviving aviation a priority after the pandemic devastated the travel industry. The national carrier had cut thousands of jobs during Covid-19 and was forced to raise billions of dollars to survive.
As the nation gradually reopened its borders and allowed more freedoms domestically with the easing of the pandemic, Iswaran said in January 2022 that Singapore would continue to host the F1 race for another seven years after “thoroughly evaluating the long term benefits that a term extension could bring.”
Lee wrote to Iswaran on Wednesday that the integrity of the ruling party and government must be upheld.
“Singaporeans expect no less,” he said.
--With assistance from Ruth Carson, Liz Yee Xing Ng and Chanyaporn Chanjaroen.
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