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3 key areas Raeesah Khan’s testimony differs from Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh’s account

aseanpr
7 minutes

SINGAPORE - Further questions have been raised about the incident involving former Sengkang GRC MP Raeesah Khan lying in Parliament, after she and other Workers' Party members gave evidence to a parliamentary committee on Thursday (Dec 2) and Friday. Ms Khan told the Committee of Privileges chaired by Speaker Tan Chuan-Jin that senior WP leaders Pritam Singh, Sylvia Lim and Faisal Manap had advised her to stick to the lie she had told in Parliament on Aug 3. This was among a number of revelations contained in a special report that the committee presented to Parliament on Friday. Here are three key areas where differences arose between what Ms Khan and the other WP members told the committee and what Mr Singh said during a press conference on Thursday. 1. On the WP disciplinary panel and Ms Khan's resignation Mr Singh told the media that the WP central executive committee (CEC) on Nov 2 had agreed to form a disciplinary panel to "look into the admissions made by Raeesah Khan" the day before. The CEC later deliberated the panel's recommendations and "voted overwhelmingly" that Ms Khan would have been expected to resign, or she would be expelled, he said. Ms Khan, as well as WP member...

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Morning Briefing: Top stories from The Straits Times on Dec 4

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2 minutes

Good morning! Here are our top stories to kick-start your Saturday, Dec 4, 2021. WP leaders told Raeesah Khan to stick to the lie she had told Parliament: Committee of Privileges Ms Khan said she was advised that there was no need for the truth to be told. READ MORE HERE Aide, volunteer say WP leaders were not upfront about being told Raeesah Khan lied in Parliament Ms Khan “is not a sole actor in how things transpired”, said Ms Loh Pei Ying, who was her secretarial assistant. READ MORE HERE Raeesah Khan's testimony to parliamentary committee: Timeline of events since August She tells committee she would have admitted to lying in Parliament if WP leaders had told her to do so. READ MORE HERE More on this topic Related Story Get newsletters curated for you Supply chains, interrupted: Why a bicycle takes 40 days to reach Singapore ST looks at how supply chain problems have hit delivery times for everyday products. READ MORE HERE Daily ART tests for all VTL travellers arriving in S'pore from Dec 7 Seven countries including Ireland, Norway and Poland will also be placed in a higher-risk category. READ MORE HERE Vaccination-differentiated measures are better than mandating Covid-19 jabs...

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No by-election in Sengkang after Raeesah Khan’s exit, 3 remaining MPs will stay on: Sylvia Lim

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2 minutes

SINGAPORE - There will be no by-election in Sengkang GRC following the resignation of Ms Raeesah Khan, said Workers' Party (WP) chairman Sylvia Lim on Thursday (Dec 2). Ms Khan's Compassvale ward will be divided up between the remaining three MPs, Ms He Ting Ru, Associate Professor Jamus Lim and Mr Louis Chua, who will continue to serve the constituency. WP vice-chairman Faisal Manap, who is an MP for Aljunied GRC, will serve as an adviser to the Sengkang team. Speaking at a press conference, Ms Lim said the residents of Sengkang had given the WP team a mandate to represent them at last year's General Election. The law is clear that a by-election can be called only if all the MPs in a constituency resign, she said. The Court of Appeal had ruled in 2019 that no by-election needed to be called in Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, after Madam Halimah Yacob stepped down as MP in 2017 to run for the presidency, she noted. Said Ms Lim: "We have three MPs in Sengkang still there to do the work, and it is the party's responsibility to take this through for the remainder of the term, so that is what the party will do." More on this topic Related Story WP leaders knew in Aug Raeesah Khan had lied, deci...

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WP leaders told by Raeesah Khan in August she had lied, decided to give her time to deal with matter: Pritam Singh

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6 minutes

SINGAPORE - Leaders of the Workers' Party (WP) were told by their MP Raeesah Khan that she had lied in Parliament, about a week after she made false statements about a sexual assault case in a speech on Aug 3. But the party leaders decided to give her time to deal with the matter because she had also told them she had been a sexual assault victim herself, and had not told her family about it, WP chief Pritam Singh said on Thursday (Dec 2). At the next session of Parliament that she was able to attend, in October, Ms Khan was supposed to clarify the matter. But she did not and, in fact, repeated untruths that were wholly inconsistent with the revelations she had shared with WP leaders Mr Singh, WP chair Sylvia Lim and vice-chair Faisal Manap. Speaking at a press conference two days after the WP announced Ms Khan's resignation from the party and as an MP, Mr Singh said he had asked her to make her best efforts to contact the victim or to contact the individuals involved in the sexual assault case. “Initially, Raeesah stuck to her untruth in her communication with me,” said Mr Singh at a the press conference at the WP headquarters in Geylang. “After being repeatedly pressed, a number ...

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WP forms disciplinary panel to look into Raeesah Khan’s admission she had lied in Parliament

aseanpr
3 minutes

SINGAPORE - The Workers' Party (WP) has formed a disciplinary panel to look into the conduct of MP Raeesah Khan, after she admitted to lying in Parliament about the details of a sexual assault case. A party spokesman on Tuesday (Nov 2) said the panel will look into the admissions made by Ms Raeesah in Parliament on Monday, arising from an earlier speech made by the MP on Aug 3, when she alleged that the police had mishandled the case. "The panel comprises secretary-general Pritam Singh, chair Sylvia Lim and vice-chair Faisal Manap. The panel will report its findings and recommendations to the central executive committee after it completes its work," said the spokesman. He added that the work of the party's disciplinary panel is separate from any decision the Committee of Privileges of Parliament may make. On Monday, Ms Raeesah had admitted that she did not accompany the rape victim to a police station, as she had recounted in her Aug 3 speech in Parliament. She apologised in Parliament to the Singapore Police Force and retracted an anecdote she had shared of the alleged incident. In explaining why she had made up details of that case, Ms Raeesah, 27, said she lacked the courage to ...