A series of scandals has put the Singapore government at a disadvantage

The People’s Action Party (PAP), which has been in power in Singapore since 1959, has always demanded that its legitimacy be judged by its steady hand at the helm and its impeccable conduct. Yet the uncomfortable revelations in recent weeks have put the country on the defensive. Singaporeans are baffled by a party that has been in power longer than the city-state has been independent.

In mid-July, Transport Minister S. Iswaran was arrested along with a tycoon, Ong Beng Seng, who brought Formula 1 racing to Singapore. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) is investigating the relationship between the two men.

Lee Hsien Loong, the prime minister, claims the arrests show the system is working. After all, the government acted immediately; Mr Lee himself authorized the CPIB investigation. However, questions remain, not least why Mr Iswaran’s arrest was only announced three days after it took place. Many Singaporeans think the explanation of “operational considerations” given by Lawrence Wong, the deputy prime minister and Lee’s would-be successor, is weak.

Much harder to defend are the circumstances surrounding the departure of the Speaker of Parliament, Tan Chuan-Jin, once a PAP high-flyer. An innocent outsider might assume that his appointment of opposition Workers’ Party member Jamus Lim, a “damn populist”, caught in Parliament on a hot mic, would be the clear reason for his departure (Mr Lim merely argued that more needs to be done to help lower income groups). Mr Tan later apologized for “unparliamentary” language. Yet, as Ian Chong of the National University of Singapore points out, it had apparently occurred to few PAP leaders to consider the blatant bias in a supposedly impartial position.

In Mr. Lee’s book, the blemish was the smallest sin. Worse still, he said, Mr Tan was having an affair with a fellow MP. Set aside the Prime Minister’s astonishing claim that he found time to provide marriage counseling to the troubled couple. Even more disturbing was his admission that he had accepted Mr Tan’s resignation back in February, but had asked the speaker to remain in place until he had sorted out succession arrangements for his constituency. Extending the term of a compromised speaker certainly places the party above the country. Was the president informed? Nobody said it. Meanwhile, for the PAP, the mysterious leak of a video showing that two prominent opposition members were also having an affair could not have come at a better time.

The government cites the Tan saga as further evidence that it remains alert to misconduct and then takes action on its findings. There is a Singaporean expression for it: ‘Controlling yourself’, a form of self-control that has been almost elevated to dogma by the PAP leadership.

The trial was also triggered by the revelation that the Minister of Home Affairs and Justice, K. Shanmugam, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, have rented colonial-era houses on Ridout Road from the land authority where Mr Shanmugam himself supervises. Once again the CPIB was called in. She found no misconduct or favors for either minister. A review by Singapore’s Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean also cleared them of any taint.

So why do Singaporeans hate the Ridout episode? Especially because, to turn the PAP’s words against it, public perception matters. The CPIB reports to the Prime Minister, who appoints its head, and cannot be completely independent. The senior minister is both a friend of Mr Shanmugam and a member of the same branch of government. There are strong arguments for the appointment of an independent judge to lead such assessments. Even though everything on Ridout Road is spotless, the optics are terrible. Finding affordable housing is a major concern for cash-strapped Singaporeans. Mr Shanmugam has a house and land the size of a shopping centre.

Another characteristic of the Singaporean model stems from the party’s flawlessness and steady hand: when adults are in charge, liberal-democratic features such as a combative press and a strong civil society can be left behind. There’s nothing wrong with ‘checking himself on himself’. But if internal controls cannot guarantee flawlessness and a steady hand, there is a good reason to add external controls. That is a conclusion that the PAP, which is now hunting down what it says are false online comments on the various scandals in the press and online blogs, is still far from reaching.

Correction (July 29): An earlier version of this article stated that Tan Chuan-Jin had an affair with a fellow MP who was married. In fact she was not married. Sorry.