SINGAPORE: Leong Mun Wai filed a formal complaint with Seah Kian Peng on Wednesday (Aug 16) over statements made by Murali Pillai in Parliament earlier in the month.
Progress Singapore Party’s (PSP) Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Mr Leong said that the Hansard for the debate on the Lease Agreements for Retail Premises Bill during the parliamentary sitting on 3 August 2023 shows that Mr Murali appears to have said that “[t]he hon Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Mr Leong Mun Wai had advocated some form of low-rent control”.
Subsequently, when I rose to clarify this statement with Mr Murali, he appears to have stated three times that he did not assert that I had advocated “some form of low-rent control” in my speech, despite expressly doing so earlier in his statement, and refused to retract said statement”, Mr Leong wrote.
He added that Mr Murali’s clarifications “confused the public and created the misleading impression that I was accusing Mr Murali of claiming that I was advocating for rent control when he did not”.
“If the Speaker finds that Mr Murali has said words that were at odds with my speech and imputed improper motives to me, I have also requested that Mr Murali make a statement to the House to retract his original statement and apologise for the misleading impression that was created”, Mr Leong added in his Facebook post.
Mr Leong’s full letter:
In Parliament, Mr Leong said he did not like the inference that Mr Murali had made, which was that he was trying to recommend pushing down rents “and toward the direction of rent control”. The NCMP then said this was “the same pattern” used by the Government to label him – of trying to raid the reserves when he spoke on lowering home prices. In making this point, Mr Leong brought his fist down to hit the rostrum.
Mr Murali then reiterated that he was not making any specific insinuation about rent control on Mr Leong. Mr Seah then stepped in, noting that what both MPs had said would be recorded clearly in the Hansard.