Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam has issued a pointed response to former presidential hopeful Tan Cheng Bock, who only a day earlier had said the minister had apparently made contradictory remarks.

In response to Tan in a Facebook post on Sunday night, Oct. 8, Shanmugam said: "Dr Tan may be bitter. But that is no excuse for engaging in these elaborate charades."

Tan Cheng Bock's initial post

Tan's initial post on Saturday night, Oct. 7, pointed out an "apparent contradiction" in Shanmugam's parliamentary remarks earlier this week that supposedly did not tally with what the minister said last year at a dialogue.

In Parliament on Oct. 4, Shanmugam had said in response to Aljunied Member of Parliament Sylvia Lim that the government does not generally publish legal opinions that it is given.

This was after Lim had challenged the government to publish the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ (AGC) advice on the timing of the reserved election.

Tan said compared to a Channel News Asia report on Sept. 15, 2016, Shanmugam was quoted as saying: “Once we get the advice, we will send it out.”

Tan took the "it" in the CNA report to mean the AGC advice.

Shanmugam's rebuttal

In response, Shanmugam said Tan had “spliced my remarks, rearranged them, and put them together in a way to suggest something which I did not say”.

Shanmugam said in his post that he was clearly referring to making the government’s position public, and not the AGC’s advice.

This was so as he was responding to the question: When would the circuit-breaker to hold a reserved election after a racial group has not been represented in Presidential office after five continuous terms come into effect?

As such, there was no contradiction as the government does not generally publish legal advice it was given.

[related_story]

Shanmugam also explains why he spoke on behalf of other leaders

Shanmugam also responded to Tan's other question as to why he had responded to Lim, given that she had posed questions to earlier statements from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Chan Chung Sing.

He said he responded in Parliament on behalf of the government.

Shanmugam replied: “Surely as a former parliamentarian he knows that adjournment motions have strict time limits. The MP moving the adjournment motion has up to 20 minutes; and someone else has all of 10 minutes to respond. That’s it. As Law Minister, I responded on behalf of the Government.”

Top photo via

Read this previous article for context:

Read this article to see how Tan Cheng Bock responded to K Shanmugam's rebuttal: