Singapore — The Workers’ Party issued a media statement on Sunday night (Dec 5) tackling the release of the interim report by the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges late on Friday evening (Dec 3).
The Committee of Privileges had been formed after a complaint had been filed regarding former WP MP Raeesah Khan’s breach of parliamentary privilege.
In its statement, the WP noted that the report had been released “without having taken the evidence of Workers’ Party leaders against whom serious allegations have been made.”
“Leader of the Opposition, Mr Pritam Singh, had made it clear on 2 December, that he is prepared to give evidence before the Committee of Privileges,” the party added.
The WP said in its statement that members of the public had asked why its leadership has not yet responded to the report, to which the party replied that it understands that “the Committee’s work remains in progress. It is thus prudent for a response to be given at the appropriate forum and juncture.”
The party also thanked its supporters for their messages of encouragement.
Following the firestorm ignited by her admission on Nov 1 that she had lied in Parliament concerning a sexual assault case, the news broke late on Nov 30 that Ms Khan had quit the Workers’ Party and resigned her seat in Parliament (Sengkang GRC).
During an Aug 3 debate on empowering women, Ms Khan had claimed that she had accompanied a victim of sexual assault to the police station, wherein she accused the police of making inappropriate remarks. She was asked for clarification by Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Tan and later on by Law Minister K Shanmugam in Parliament, which she refused to give, pleading confidentiality.
She admitted that this had not occurred, but she had merely heard about the incident in a support group. Ms Khan apologised on Nov 1 to the Police, the rape survivor, Members of Parliament, the Workers’ Party, her constituents, and her family for having lied about the incident.
Afterwards, the Leader of the House, Ms Indranee Rajah, said she would refer the matter to Parliament’s Committee of Privileges. While she expressed sympathy for Ms Khan, Ms Rajah added that she had “no choice” but to raise a complaint about the breach of privilege based on Ms Khan’s disclosure that she had thrice lied in Parliament, and also her inability to substantiate an allegation she made.
The following day, Nov 2, the Workers Party announced that a disciplinary panel had been formed “to look into the admissions made by MP Raeesah Khan in Parliament arising from an earlier speech that she had made in Parliament on Aug 3 this year.”
The panel, comprising party chief Pritam Singh, chairperson Sylvia Lim and vice-chair Faisal Manap, was to report its findings to the WP’s Central Executive Committee.
The party issued a statement on Nov 30 announcing Ms Khan’s resignation, saying that she had expressed her intention to resign from the Party at 4:30 pm that day.
On Dec 2, the WP held a press conference. In it, Mr Singh explained that when Ms Khan was asked to clarify the details of the reporting of the sexual assault incident a week after her Aug 3 speech, she admitted to have lied.
The party then told her to come clean in a Parliamentary sitting in October, but she failed to do so. Immediately after this, Mr Singh told her to set the record straight.
He then apologised to the residents of Sengkang, as well as “all victims of sexual assault, who’ve been hurt by this matter.”
On the evening of Dec 3, the Committee of Privileges’ interim report was released and widely covered by the media.
In her testimony to the committee of Privileges, Ms Khan said that she called Mr Singh on Aug 7 to come clean on the matter after he pushed her to substantiate the anecdote she recounted in Parliament. She said that she met Mr Singh, WP chair Sylvia Lim and vice-chair Faisal Manap the next day to discuss the matter.
Ms Khan told the committee, “The reaction was that if I were not to be pressed, then the best thing to do would be to retain the narrative that I began in August.” /TISG
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Raeesah Khan started the mess, not Pritam Singh, Sylvia Lim or Faisal Manap