Pritam rejects COP findings, says will 'clear my name'

Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh yesterday rejected conclusions by the Committee of Privileges (COP) that he had instructed former Workers' Party (WP) MP Raeesah Khan to lie to Parliament last year, or that he had committed any offences in the affair.

The WP chief said that he objected to a motion calling on the House to agree with the committee's recommendation to refer him to the Public Prosecutor for possible criminal charges.

But should Parliament choose to adopt it, said Mr Singh, he would cooperate fully with the Public Prosecutor to clear his name.

Rejecting Ms Khan's assertion that he had told her to take her lie "to the grave", Mr Singh said a natural explanation was that she felt "disenchantment" with the party once told to resign.

He said the COP's processes "leave many questions, gaps and omissions and, by extension, suggest political partisanship".

He noted that no witness had corroborated Ms Khan's testimony that the WP leadership instructed her to lie, other than Ms Khan herself. At the Aug 8 meeting, none of the three WP leaders told Ms Khan to take the lie to the grave, he said.

Ms Khan had said it was on Aug 8 last year that she first confessed to WP leaders that she had lied, partly because of her trauma of being sexually assaulted. She came clean to Parliament on Nov 1 and resigned as an MP and WP member on Nov 30.

"Her post-resignation behaviour was natural in the arena of political participation," said Mr Singh.

Citing former People's Action Party MP for Whampoa Augustine Tan's observation that there was a lot of "strain, tension and resentment" when older first-generation lawmakers were told to step aside for second-generation ones, he noted some even spoke against the candidature of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the 1984 elections.

"The comparison with Ms Khan's behaviour and testimony at the COP is apt," he added.