Singapore’s Top 5 Headline-Making Stories of 2023: A Year of Political Drama and Viral Incidents
2023 has been a rather eventful year in Singapore. From intense competition for concert tickets, to ambitious attempts at opening MRT doors and even the presidential election, Singaporeans experienced a diverse range of headlines and events.
To provide an unbiased overview of the top stories, we’ve compiled data from our app reads, ensuring that our rankings remain unaffected by sensationalized headlines or social media algorithms.
If you prefer to, you can watch a video we’ve done for this topic, too.
Now, let’s delve into the top 5 sagas that defined Singapore in 2023. Can you guess which stories made the list? Which saga do you think top the list?
5) The Presidential Election
In the 5th spot, we have the presidential election. I am surprised to see that this isn’t part of the top three news… you guys are aware that Halimah Yacob is no longer our president, right?
On 2 September, at midnight, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam emerged victorious, becoming Singapore’s 9th President. The former senior minister, garnered an impressive 1,746,427 votes, comprising 70.40% of the total votes.
Notably, candidate Ng Kok Song secured second place with 390,041 votes (15.72% of the total votes), while candidate Tan Kin Lian received 344,292 votes (13.88% of the total votes).
4) Iswaran vs CPIB Investigation
In the 4th position, we have the Iswaran vs. CPIB investigation saga. You might recall this high-profile case involving Transport Minister S. Iswaran, who was embroiled in a corruption probe by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB).
CPIB initially began investigating a separate matter in May but subsequently requested an interview with Mr. Iswaran as part of further investigations in July. In response, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong placed the minister on compulsory leave of absence, temporarily relieving him of his duties.
Mr Iswaran was arrested on 11 July and released on bail. This investigation was the first graft concern involving a cabinet minister in four decades.
So yes, it was a huge deal.
3) SGT Clement / Cheers / Jonathan Tik Tok Incident
In 3rd spot is the SGT Clement / Cheers / Jonathan saga that took place at the start of 2023. I’m sure many of you might have already completely forgotten about this saga.
This viral incident involved an ex-Cheers employee, Jonathan, who publicly criticized Singapore Police Force (SPF) service members through a series of Tik Tok videos.
The incident began with a dispute between Jonathan, a Cheers cashier, and another individual at the Lau Pa Sat outlet on New Year’s. Despite reporting the matter to the police, Jonathan refused to cooperate with them, even declining to show his ID card.
This led to a temporary closure of the store for further investigations. Jonathan then filmed a series of videos on Tik Tok condemning the police actions. In other words, he called the police over but refused to let the police do their job… His action resulted in Cheers’ “refusing” to keep him as an employee as well.
Following the incident, officer Clement Ng, the officer in Jonathan’s Tik Tok videos, was featured on SPF’s official Tik Tok page. Many people praised the officer for staying calm and even commented on his resemblance to the Shang Chi actor, Simu Liu.
2) Nicole Seah’s and Leon Perera’s Affair
Coming in at 2nd place, is none other than the Nicole Seah and Leon Perera saga. What’s going on here? Are we all turning into the kpo aunties that we despise?
Both individuals are members of the Worker’s Party (WP) team; Leon Perera served as a Member of Parliament representing the Aljunied GRC team, while Nicole Seah is the Worker’s Party Youth Wing President. Interestingly, both were married, just not to each other.
A viral video showed Mr Perera stroking Ms. Seah’s hand in a restaurant, sparking a flurry of attention. Mr Perera’s driver even told AsiaOne that Nicole had sat with Mr Perera in his car on several occasions, and he had even dropped him off at various hotel where he once spotted Ms Seah leaving as well.
Worker’s Party chief Pritam Singh confirmed that their affair started after the 2020 General Elections. Following the aftermath of the events, both parties resigned from their positions.
1) Tan Chuan-Jin and Cheng Li Hui saga
Topping the list is the infamous Tan Chuan-Jin’s and Cheng Li Hui’s saga. Being kpo is certainly in our bloods. If you are somehow unaware of this controversy, I’ll give you a short explanation.
No, it’s not just WP, PAP also have drama.
Chuan-Jin was the MP in the Marine Parade GRC and Cheng Li Hui was the MP of Tampines GRC. Tan Chuan-Jin is a married man with two kids. No, he is not married to Cheng Li Hui. In fact, she is unmarried.
PM lee discovered that the two were having an affair after the 2020 general election and counselled them in February.
However, in July, he came across information suggesting that the relationship was still ongoing. Following their second exposure, both parties resigned and cleared their social media accounts.
You can watch this video for more details about the scandal.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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