Singapore — The Parliamentary Committee of Privileges (COP) will present its findings and recommendations after investigating the complaint against former Workers’ Party MP Raeesah Khan “in due course”, said Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin.
Summing up 2021’s parliamentary sessions and detailing certain changes that had to be made because of the pandemic, Mr Tan used the opportunity on Monday (Jan 3) to givean update on the Raeesah Khan case.
In a blog entry posted on the Parliament website, the Speaker said: “As Members of the House, all MPs enjoy parliamentary privilege. In layman terms, this means that we are immune to prosecution and civil lawsuits for the statements we make in the Chamber so that we may speak freely on matters and issues. Nonetheless, the onus also lies with every MP to apply due diligence and responsibility even as we exercise this privilege. Statements made must be based on facts or well-substantiated information”.
Ms Khan had lied in Parliament on Aug 3 when she claimed she had accompanied a rape victim to a police station and heard an officer make “inappropriate” remarks. She repeated this lie on Oct 4.
Then on Nov 1, she admitted in Parliament that she had learnt of this case through a support group for sexual assault victims,. It was then that she revealed that she herself had survived sexual assault at 18 while studying overseas, but never told her family.
She resigned from the WP on Nov 30. But when she appeared before the COP, she claimed Mr Singh, party chair Sylvia Lim and vice-chair Faisal Manap told her to stick to her story instead of admitting she had lied.
Mr Singh, Ms Lim and Mr Manap have denied this.
Mr Tan said that “The Committee of Privileges (CoP) thus takes any formal complaint about breaches of Privilege seriously, and I, as the Speaker of Parliament, am the Chair of this SSC”.
Ms Khan has since maintained that it was the party leadership who advised her to keep to the lie that she told on Aug 3.
In video footage of her testifying fto the COP or the second time, she again insists that party chief Pritam Singh told her to “take the information to the grave”, as she had stated in her first testimony to the COP, according to a special report released on Dec 3.
In his blog post, Mr Tan said that “The CoP will thoroughly investigate the complaint to uphold the sanctity and integrity of parliamentary privilege”.
“The recent complaint that we looked at – and for which we will be presenting our findings and recommendations to Parliament through our Report in due course – is an important reminder that MPs must not wilfully abuse the immunity and privileges being an MP accords them”, he added.
Pritam Singh says message to Raeesah Khan ‘proves’ he wanted her to come clean