Raeesah Khan testified WP leaders advised her to stick to lie in Parliament: Committee of Privileges report

Khan also said that the WP leaders directed her not to respond to the police.

Martino Tan | December 04, 2021, 01:11 AM

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(Editor's note: This article has been updated for accuracy)

Former Sengkang GRC MP Raeesah Khan said the three most senior Workers' Party (WP) leaders -- Leader of the Opposition and Secretary-General Pritam Singh, WP chair Sylvia Lim and WP vice-chair Faisal Manap -- told her to continue with the lie that she had told in Parliament on Aug. 3.

This is according to a Committee of Privileges special report released on Friday night (Dec. 3).

Raeesah, who resigned from WP and as a Member of Parliament (MP) on Tuesday (Nov. 30), added that the leaders told her during a meeting on Aug. 8 that there was no need for her to clarify the lie and for the truth to be told.

The leaders also directed her not to respond to the police and to ignore the requests, the report noted.

"Take the information to the grave"

On the same day (Aug. 8), Raeesah told her secretarial assistant Loh Pei Ying and WP volunteer Yudhishthra Nathan what had transpired at her meeting with the three party leaders, after she confessed to them that she had lied, and sought their guidance.

This was her message to them:

"Hey guys, I just met pritam, Sylvia and Faisal. And we spoke about the Muslim issue and the police accusation. I told them what I told you guys, and they’ve agreed that the best thing to do is to take the information to the grave. They also suggested that I write a statement to send out this evening."

The message referred to two issues, which Raeesah had spoken about in Parliament on Aug. 3 -- (1) certain Muslim issues affecting women, and (2) her (untrue) anecdote about the sexual assault case and allegation against the police.

The reference to a “statement” in the last line of the message refers to the Muslim issues.

The reference to taking the “information to the grave” was for Raeesah to continue to lie about the sexual assault case and allegation against the police.

Singh visited Raeesah a day before October parliamentary sitting

On Oct. 3, a day before a parliamentary sitting, Singh visited Raeesah at her home and told her “that if she kept to her existing narrative on the untruths which she had said on Aug. 3, there would be no judgement by him (Mr Pritam Singh),” the report said.

Raeesah understood in her testimony that Singh was advising her to continue to lie, should the matter come up the next day on Oct. 4 during the Parliamentary session.

The report noted that Singh did not ask Raeesah to clarify and state the truth in Parliament.

Raeesah also said no one from the WP had told her that she should clarify and tell the truth to Parliament on this matter.

"To the contrary, Ms Khan was advised that she can continue to lie," the report said.

Leaders "directed her not to respond to the police and to ignore the requests"

Raeesah sought advice from Singh and Lim when she received the email from the police on Oct. 7, inviting her to assist them in investigating the matters she had raised on Aug. 3 in Parliament.

They directed her not to respond to the police and to ignore the requests, as the police could not compel Khan to speak with them, the report noted.

On Oct. 12, Raeesah met with Singh and Lim.

The report said:

"By then, Mr Pritam Singh and Ms Sylvia Lim came to the view that the matter would not be dropped, and was not going to go away.

The three of them discussed together, and decided that Ms Khan should come clean and tell the truth.

At this meeting, Ms Khan asked, if disciplinary action will be taken against her and the answer given to her was no."

On Nov. 1, Raeesah made her statement in Parliament, admitting her lie.

WP disciplinary panel

On Nov. 2, the WP formed a disciplinary panel to look into her lies in Parliament.

The report noted that Raeesah was "shocked and surprised" by this.

She attended a meeting with the panel on Nov. 8 to discuss the matter.

She met with the panel again on Nov. 29 to discuss her performance as an MP.

At that meeting, Singh and Lim suggested that she should resign as a member of the WP, for her well-being and because she no longer had the support of her fellow Sengkang GRC MPs.

WP press conference on Dec. 2

The WP held a press conference on Thursday, Dec. 2.

The committee asked Raeesah about some of the things that was said during that press conference.

Raeesah disagreed with Singh's purported statement that she was told to clarify the truth in Parliament in October, and said there was no such order.

This line of questioning appears to have been based on a misunderstanding of Singh's quote during the WP's press conference, and Singh was actually referring to a question about checking speeches.

During the press conference, Singh said the WP CEC had voted overwhelmingly that Raeesah would have been expected to resign on her own accord, failing which, she would be expelled from the party.

However, Raeesah said this was not "said to her".

Raeesah and Loh gave evidence to the committee on Thursday (Dec. 2) and Friday (Dec. 3), while Nathan did so on Friday.

Top image from Gov.sg Youtube.