Singapore — In his testimony to Parliament’s Committee of Privileges, Workers’ Party (WP) vice-chairman Faisal Manap said that the opposition party’s leaders didn’t advise Raeesah Khan to continue lying, contrary to her WhatsApp message sent to two other party members.
Based on Mr Faisal’s testimony, Ms Khan, a former Member of Parliament (WP – Sengkang GRC), was caught in another lie regarding the initial lie she gave to Parliament.
Ms Khan’s WhatsApp message sent on Aug 8 to her assistants Ms Loh Pei Ying and Mr Yudhishthra Nathan reportedly reads:
“Hey guys, I just met pritam, Sylvia and Faisal. And we spoke about the Muslim issue and the police accusation. I told them what I told you guys, and they’ve agreed that the best thing to do is to take the information to the grave. They also suggested that I write a statement to send out this evening.”
During a debate on empowering women, Ms Khan had told Parliament on Aug 3 that she had accompanied a sexual assault victim to a police station, which turned out to be untrue.
Upon further questioning by Law Minister K Shanmugam and Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Tan, it was revealed that Ms Khan only heard the victim’s story in a support group for sexual abuse survivors as she, too, was sexually assaulted at 18 years old.
Ms Khan was examined by the committee on Dec 2 and 3 for breaching parliamentary privilege by lying. The WhatsApp message was a key point of evidence used during the hearings.
According to Mr Faisal’s testimony on Dec 9, everything in the message was true, except for her claim that the top leaders had spoken about her lie in Parliament and asked her to take it “to the grave.”
Mr Faisal said that Ms Khan was lying about this fact yet could not explain why she did so.
Other WP CEC unaware that leaders knew Ms Khan lied
Mr Faisal also disclosed that the rest of the WP Central Executive Committee (CEC) were unaware that Ms Khan had admitted to her lie to him, WP secretary-general Pritam Singh and chairman Sylvia Lim at an earlier time.
This was on Aug 8, when the three leaders met with Ms Khan, and she confessed about her lie in Parliament. However, the leaders overlooked her statement as they were overwhelmed with Ms Khan’s statement that she was a victim of sexual assault.
On Nov 2, a Disciplinary Panel (DP) was created by the WP to address the issue. During the CEC meeting on Nov 30 to study the panel’s recommendations on actions to be taken against Ms Khan, the other members were still unaware, said Mr Faisal. He is a member of the panel, alongside Mr Singh and Ms Lim.
They had recommended for Ms Khan’s resignation or expulsion from the party.
“The DP also did not disclose to the CEC that Ms Loh and Mr Nathan, senior cadre members who had worked closely with Ms Khan, had made very strong statements to the DP for the DP members to disclose their own involvement and knowledge, and come clean with WP members and the public,” the committee’s report noted.
The report added that the CEC had voted in favour of Ms Khan’s expulsion “without knowledge of the full facts.”
On Saturday (Dec 11), the committee released its second report on the hearings. It would call on the three WP top leaders, Mr Faisal, Mr Singh and Ms Lim, to provide evidence.
Fellow Sengkang GRC MP, Associate Professor Jamus Lim will also be asked to testify.
Members of the public can catch up on the committee’s report and video recording or Mr Faisal’s testimony, excluding sensitive information, here. /TISG
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