SINGAPORE — Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh on Wednesday (Aug 2) questioned the potentially "suspicious" circumstances of the release of a video of a hot mic incident involving former Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin's use of unparliamentary language.

Speaking in Parliament, he also asked whether a police report has been filed to look into what some are saying could be a "false flag" incident. Encyclopedia Britannica defines "false flag" as a harmful event or action designed to appear as though perpetrated by someone other than the person or group responsible for it.

Addressing a statement by Leader of the House Indranee Rajah on Mr Tan's unparliamentary language, Mr Singh said that the case involved "a very senior member of Government" and asked whether "there will be some thought placed on the total circumstances" of how the video came to be circulated online.

Mr Singh said the key question was the duration of time it took for the video to become public, adding: "I'm not sure if the leader (Ms Indranee) considers there to be something suspicious about that".

A YouTube video of a parliamentary debate on President Halimah Yacob's address was uploaded by the Communications and Information Ministry on April 17, 2023, in which Mr Tan was recorded responding to a speech by Workers' Party (WP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Sengkang Group Representation Constituency (GRC) Jamus Lim with an expletive.

A short clip from the video that included Mr Tan's "f*****g populist" comment, in a version that was more audible, began circulating on TikTok and Reddit three months' later, around July 10 and July 11 this year.

"I have had some individuals come up to me questioning whether there is a false flag in this," added Mr Singh, who is an Aljunied GRC MP and WP's secretary-general.

Following a statement on Wednesday by Ms Indranee in which she addressed the incident, Mr Singh asked if she had considered referring the matter to the police, given that no one in the House was aware of the former Speaker's remark until the video surfaced.

He also noted that the audio was adjusted to make Mr Tan's inappropriate comment more audible.

"Would the leader (Ms Indranee) be minded to refer that matter to the police to investigate, to inquire who released that video? Because as the leader said, I don't believe anybody in this House picked up that language," said Mr Singh.

To this, Ms Indranee asked Mr Singh what specific offence he had in mind since "making something louder" does not constitute an offence if the words were indeed spoken.

In response, Mr Singh said that he was not looking at any offences per se, but whether the police should be looking into the timing of the video's release.

"There is also the matter of what we came to know later of a long-running affair between the Speaker and another MP, whether in total there are circumstances which the authorities should actually look into," he added.

He was referring to subsequent public revelations that Mr Tan was involved in an extramarital affair with former MP Cheng Li Hui. Both MPs later resigned.

Ms Indranee said in response that it was not apparent to her that there was an offence, and if there were "credible material" to be referred to the police, "then of course one should do so".

"I think Mr Singh is aware that one only refers matters for investigation by the police if an offence has been committed," he said.

"The police do not genuinely investigate things which are not offences. So, I still struggle with what exactly one is to ask them to investigate because release of (the video) at a later stage is not per se an offence," she said.