Guidelines and Avenues for Political Appointees to Address Allegations Publicly

1 Mr Chen Show Mao asked the Prime Minister what are the rules, directives, practices, understandings, standards and norms governing the circumstances under which a Minister or political appointee should defend his reputation in his official capacity in the Courts or refrain from such Court action and address allegations publicly, such as in Parliament.

Mr Lee Hsien Loong: I have addressed this in my Ministerial Statement on 3 July 2017. Any Minister who is accused of improper conduct must clear his name publicly. He should not allow the allegations to fester and affect the reputation of the Government.

If it is a serious allegation, I would expect the Minister to take Court action for defamation, unless there are other special considerations. He may also need to render an account in Parliament, particularly if the matter concerns his discharge of public duties and is of public interest. These are not mutually exclusive options. In all cases, there must be public accounting.