In a Facebook post on Saturday (Sent 3), Workers’ Party cadre member Daniel Goh said that party leadership called for a disciplinary committee due to his Facebook posts about former WP MP Raeesah Khan late last year.
He wrote that while the committee has called for him to be interviewed, he has declined.
Mr Goh, who is Associate Provost of Undergraduate Education at the National University of Singapore, served as a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament for the WP from 2016 to 2020.
Late last year, he was publicly critical of how the WP handled issues surrounding Ms Khan, who resigned from the party and stepped down from her seat at MP of Sengkang GRC after admitting that she had lied more than once in Parliament.
The matter was investigated by a Parliamentary Committee of Privileges and she was fined $35,000 after she was found guilty of abusing parliamentary privilege.
The incident also dragged WP secretary-general Pritam Singh and vice chairman Faisal Manap into the issue, with the two leaders being referred to the public prosecutor after the COP probe ended.
After Assoc Prof Goh published his posts, however, Mr Singh told TODAY that “cadre members don’t usually operate in the way Mr Goh did,” adding that it was an “internal party matter that we will look into.”
On Sept 3, Assoc Prof Goh wrote the disciplinary committee wanted “to hear the reasons and rationale behind the above public statements made by you as: 1) Your posts had revealed the inner workings of the Parliamentary caucus of the WP Members of Parliament, and allowed our political opponents to have an inside understanding of how the WP operates; 2) Your posts had cast a cloud over the character of the leadership of the WP.”
The former NCMP said he has “nothing more to say about the questions that were publicly posted last year” and that he had been clear about the “reasons and rationale” in his posts.
He explained that he has not been associated with WP matters since he stepped down as NCMP over two years ago and that his posts had been “questions based on public information.”
Assoc Prof added that he does not plan to take part in further WP matters, including the upcoming Cadre Members’ Conference wherein party leaders are elected.
“I asked those questions as a concerned citizen and as a party member who believes that public accountability and integrity are non-negotiable values demanded of our political leaders. In issues of grave public interest, questions must be asked about the inner workings of any organisation. If asking those questions carry a price, I am willing to pay it, and count it inexpensive….
I spent nearly 10 years working alongside many colleagues, building WP up as a credible political party, with the core values of integrity, service, and public accountability. In the same spirit of public accountability, I would ask that the party leaders make public the grounds of their decision and explain any disciplinary sanctions they would impose on me.”
/TISG
WP's Daniel Goh is now a NCMP, but not before some slick maneuvering by PAP's Chan Chun Sing