Economist Donald Low apologises, takes down Facebook post about MP Rahayu Mahzam & Pritam Singh trial

Singaporean economist Donald Low has deleted his Facebook post, a day after Member of Parliament Rahayu Mahzam said that she was seeking legal advice and intended to "take action" against him.

He acknowledged that his post on Oct. 18, 2024, commenting on the ongoing Pritam Singh trial, prejudged issues in the pending Court proceedings and this may prejudice the proceedings, among other things.

Two posts

On Oct. 18, the Hong Kong-based academic said that the Committee of Privileges (COP) appeared to have "got it wrong", and mentioned "a PAP MP". This MP, he later clarified, was Rahayu.

On Oct. 19, Low published two posts, about an hour apart.

In the first post, he wrote that he had "prejudged issues in the pending Court proceedings".

This "prejudiced, interfered with, or posed a real risk of prejudice to or interference with, the course of pending Court proceedings".

He also apologised to the court and said he had taken down the post, and promised not to publish any more posts to that effect.

In the second post, he admitted to making "false allegations" in relation to Rahayu that "wrongly impugned her character and integrity".

He similarly promised not to make any more statements or allegations on the matter.

Rahayu's response

Rahayu, who is Minister of State for Digital Development & Information and also Health, also published a statement of her own about Low's statements.

"Some statements were unfortunately made by Mr Donald Low which crossed the line and impugned my character and integrity," she wrote, adding that she was being "careful not to comment on matters which may affect the conduct of the trial".

"These statements were defamatory. I have sought legal advice and my lawyers have written to Mr Low for an apology and to state my position."

The Jurong GRC MP then went on to say that while people are entitled to different views, they are not entitled to make "baseless allegations".

"We need to be accountable for the statements we make. When false and defamatory statements are made, those affected are entitled to seek recourse," she added.

"We need to voice out when we see or hear something wrong but do so in a constructive manner and not jump to conclusions.

I do hope we all exercise some care and decorum as we interact with one another."

Background

On Oct. 17 and 18, former WP member Loh Pei Ying took the witness stand at Singh's trial.

During her testimony, Loh admitted that she had lied about redacting a message sent by another former WP member — Yudhishthra Nathan — in a document submitted to the COP in 2021.

She shared that she did so after a three-hour meeting with Rahayu, who was a member of the COP, where they reviewed all her messages "relevant to the COP" and agreed on what could and could not be redacted.

When questioned by Singh's lawyer Andre Jumabhoy if Rahayu knew that Loh was redacting that particular message, Loh replied: "No, this redaction is mine, but my position is that she would have seen (the message)."

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Top image from Donald Low/Facebook and Rahayu Mahzam/Facebook