Have you noticed how different the handling of every internal crisis is between PAP and opposition? Both among leaders and supporters.
You can look at AHTC or RaeesahGate, or even what these people say and write about public policy (like Louis Chua, Jamus or Leon Perera on HDB), not to mention more extreme ones like Terry Xu, Kirsten and the whole "I am an independent journalist" crowd, and all you see is denial, denial, denial.
Opposition supporters keep talking about their idols being "fixed", how every scandal is manufactured by the PAP to sink the only "credible" opposition, that nothing raised against them is ever true – despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
And then even their leaders deny, refuse to answer questions or, like Pritam, try to claim that what they said meant something entirely different ("your call").
There's never any admission of guilt or even mistake.
Now contrast that not only with the PAP but general standards of the public service established in Singapore over the years.
Remember SPH? Yes, the story was broken by a whistleblower but the data was obtained from an internal audit that was initiated without any external pressure. It was done precisely to thoroughly review the state of the company undergoing transformation.
It was not a political decision but simply a good governance practice.
When even someone like Kenneth Jeyaretnam started peddling his theories about Ridout Rd. rentals, the case was referred for investigation to CPIB, with a full public report following the review, containing explanations, figures and facts.
Nobody shirked responsibility – they would just very much prefer people didn't lie about them like they did about min. Shamugam's son.
Now, the very same CPIB uncovered something that directly or not implicates min. Iswaran in possible wrongdoing – and said minister was suspended from his positions in the cabinet and parliament, until investigation is complete.
Not only do I not see PAP leadership giving excuses but even supporters and overtly pro-government pages on social media are sharing the story that is most inconvenient, regardless of how you want to spin it.
Nobody is coming up with crazy theories.
Of course, it would be quite unlikely for the opposition to try and "fix" a minister but how hard would it be for the seemingly dominant PAP to sweep it all under the rug and silently replace Iswaran during next GE? I happen to come from a country where this would be very much a standard practice – and not only there but in many places in the "developed" West too.
Heck, remember how Hunter Biden's laptop story was roundly suppressed – including by the supposedly "free" media and Big Tech – despite at least indirectly implicating former VP and now sitting US president in connections to many unsavoury characters representing regimes that the USA is in direct conflict with, that his son received handsome payouts from or was in business deals with?
Or the various insider trading allegations about many members of American administration and Congress, suggesting that vast fortunes quite a few politicians amassed on their $200k per year salaries are at least somewhat suspicious?
Now compare that to Singapore.
When AMKTC probe by CPIB uncovered bribes collected by the GM of the Town Council, the people involved ended up in prison.
I don't remember anybody giving excuses then either, despite the fact that the managing agent that employed the corrupt GM was also in charge of other town councils won by PAP.
Bad apples are found even in Singapore and when that happens they have to bear the brunt of their crimes or errors.
When will opposition supporters acknowledge that, I wonder? Will Pritam ever apologise for, at least, mishandling Raeesah's lies? Will WP leadership accept that they could have done things better in their TC management? Will Louis Chua admit that public housing in SG is, in fact, affordable?
Or are we going to have to endure the claims of their infallibility forever? Kind of like people do in Xi Jinping's China...?
