Ex-Workers' Party (WP) members Yudhishthra Nathan and Loh Peiying have expressed their disapproval of WP Secretary-General Pritam Singh's repeated use of the word "rape" in relation to Raeesah Khan's case.

Their message came after the Aug. 2 sitting of Parliament, when Singh referred to Raeesah Khan's case as an example for his argument against alleged "selective standards".

Debate on the use of word

During clarifications for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's ministerial statement on former Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin and former MP Cheng Li Hui's affair, Singh claimed that the PAP "selectively applies these standards".

He said that while PAP asked for "sensitivity" for the former Speaker's affair, he claimed they did not apply the same when the Opposition sought to make the same point.

Singh raised the example of Raeesah Khan's case:

"When former WP MP Raeesah Khan revealed to the WP leaders that she was a rape victim, sensitivity was not even considered by the Committee of Privileges in accounting for the delay in addressing Raeesah's lies to Parliament."

Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam then responded to Singh, and said that his statements were misleading.

Shanmugam said that his recollection was that the Committee was very sensitive about not describing what exactly happened to Khan. But it was Singh who insisted that the word rape ought to be mentioned.

"The word rape, my recollection, was insisted upon by Mr Singh. So much for sensitivity," Shanmugam said.

He added that the point in relation to Khan was that she lied in Parliament, and she informed the WP leaders, including Singh.

"It was a serious matter, lying in Parliament. Serious enough for her to be out of Parliament. September came, October came, she repeated the lie in front of Mr Singh. And no correction. That was the issue," he said.

Singh defends use of word

Singh said it was about the "selective standard" and added, "It is normal for the PAP to say look, be sensitive when a matter of this nature comes up."

He said he used the word because he wanted to convey the point of "how serious the matter was for us leaders to think about".

He added that he was asked at the Committee of Privileges, "Why didn't you respond earlier" and "Why didn't you react earlier" when he had "an MP who had made such a serious point about something of a personal nature".

"I also needed to make sure that she had addressed the matter with the parents because, in the words of the Prime Minister, you have to look at the circumstances, spouses and the families' conditions.

So I think the Minister (for) Law is missing the point here. It wasn't an insistence because of a lack of sensitivity, vis-à-vis the word rape. That wasn't it. It was the circumstances we were in to make a decision in double quick time on what to do going forward."

Singh misses the point: Shanmugam

Shanmugam said Singh "missed the point".

"I believe the Committee suggested that we don't need to expressly talk about rape, and Mr. Singh insisted on talking about rape. Not only that, he insisted on bringing in her mental condition."

Shanmugam said he thinks "most observers" felt "a considerable degree of disquiet at this" on "attacking a young lady on the basis of her mental condition", and also "insisting on putting on record that she had been raped".

At one point, newly minted Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng stepped in to remind the House that the issue at hand was clarifications for PM Lee's ministerial statement, not a "debate" between Members.

Singh thanked the Speaker for his reminder and concluded by saying that he had stated the "difference of opinion" he had with Shanmugam on the use of "the word" and why "the word" was "important in the context of what the Committee of Privileges (COP) was investigating".

Yudhishthra Nathan and Loh Peiying's post

Singh's statements didn't sit well with Nathan and Loh, who previously announced their resignations in a joint Facebook post on Nov. 9, 2022.

The pair had been with WP for nine years or so, becoming cadres in 2016.

Loh was Khan's secretarial assistant from July 2020 until the latter's resignation in November 2021.

In another joint post on Aug. 2, 2023, the ex-WP members said that they "strongly [disapproved] of [Singh's] behaviour" and watched his statements in Parliament play out with "'regret".

"As far as we know, Raeesah Khan constantly maintained to everyone involved that she preferred not to have the 'r' word mentioned, and that she preferred her traumatic experiences to be described more generically as sexual assault."

They went on to state that Singh's detailed revelation to the public about what happened to Khan had been without her consent and "against her repeated, explicit request for her privacy to be respected".

"We find it extremely insensitive and were horrified to witness this disrespect while watching the COP videos and again today in Parliament," said Nathan and Loh. 

Top images via CNA video and govsg/YouTube