Kenneth Jeyaratnam, the head of Singapore’s Reform Party, is arguing that after bribery charges were filed against S. Iswaran, the former Minister of Transport in the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), the government needs to formulate a requirement that cabinet ministers make a public declaration of their assets, an issue that in recent months has become a worldwide concern, with members of the United States Supreme Court in particular coming under withering criticism for the lack of laws in the court regarding such declarations.
In Ukraine, under public and Western pressure, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law last October to resume the submission of asset declarations by officials and immediately make them publicly accessible. Malaysia, Singapore’s next-door neighbor, even now is embroiled in demands for public declarations of assets, with tycoon Daim Zainuddin and the children of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad being hauled before the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and asked to declare their personal holdings. So far, there has been no response.
PAP lawmakers are said to be required to declare their assets to the Singapore prime minister’s office but not to the public. However, an inquiry by Asia Sentinel to the Singapore prime minister’s office over the issue went unanswered. An inquiry if the government would be open to sponsoring such a law also received no reply…