Speaker Seah Kian Peng apologises for nodding off while chairing parliamentary proceedings

SINGAPORE – Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng has apologised for nodding off while chairing proceedings in the House on Sept 9.

In a Facebook post on Sept 18, Seah said he had been feeling unwell that day and taken medication, but added that that does not excuse what happened.

“This should not have happened, and I take full responsibility,” he said.

Seah was seen nodding off during a debate on a Bill to consolidate health regulatory functions under the Health Sciences Authority (HSA).

After Hougang MP Dennis Tan finished his speech, the Speaker was supposed to call on the next MP to speak.

There was a pause of about 20 seconds that was caught on the live feed, and Seah did so after he was roused by a parliamentary staff member.

In his Facebook post, Seah added that he should have called for a break earlier rather than continuing, and that he normally does so after four to six hours of parliamentary proceedings.

He had fallen asleep after the four-hour mark on that day’s sitting, which began at 10.30am.

Seah added that over the past three years as Speaker, he has sought to discharge his duties conscientiously and to uphold the standards expected of the office.

“This incident fell short of those standards,” he said.

He apologised for the lapse and said he will learn from it and take steps to ensure it does not happen again.

“I remain fully committed to serving Parliament and Singaporeans to the best of my ability,” he said.

The Sept 9 incident took place on the second day of a three-day parliamentary sitting that saw MPs debate the Government’s response to a review of the salaries of political office-holders and MPs.

On Sept 8, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Coordinating Minister for Public Services Chan Chun Sing delivered ministerial statements that said the Government had accepted recommendations by a salary review committee, and would raise the benchmark annual salary for a minister at the entry-level MR4 grade to $1.8 million from $1.1 million.

However, political salaries would not be moved to the new benchmark immediately. Instead, existing political office-holders will on Oct 15 get a one-off increment of up to 9 per cent, depending on their performance, said PM Wong.

This will bring the salary of a minister at MR4 grade to close to $1.2 million. The Prime Minister said he expects most ministers at MR4 to earn about $1.35 million by the end of this term of government.

On Sept 10, the House debated the revised salary structure, which included the tightening of three of the four indicators used to determine the variable component of political office-holders’ pay: unemployment rate, as well as the real income growth rate of Singaporeans at the 50th percentile and 20th percentile.

The fourth indicator, real gross domestic product growth rate, will be revised down from Jan 1, 2027, given Singapore’s maturing economy, said the Government.

The sitting also saw Parliament debate a motion on Singapore’s food resilience and pass four sets of laws, including the Bill on the HSA’s powers.