Pritam Singh agrees some of his words could be understood as giving Raeesah Khan a choice to own up: Privileges committee

SINGAPORE — Workers' Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh agreed that some of his words to Ms Raeesah Khan could be interpreted as giving her a choice to admit that she lied about accompanying a sexual assault victim to the police station, or to continue lying. 

However, he maintained in his testimony to Parliament's Committee of Privileges on Wednesday (Dec 15) that it was not what he meant and that he had communicated to her in his own way the need to take responsibility.

His testimony was detailed in the committee's fifth report on its hearings into Ms Raeesah's lies in Parliament, which was released on Wednesday evening.

The report also stated that the committee has issued summons to Mr Singh, WP chair Sylvia Lim and vice-chair Faisal Manap on the same day, because they did not produce documents such as those on "internal correspondence between senior leadership concerning issues raised in the committee" as requested on various occasions from Dec 10 to 14. 

The summons requires the WP leaders to produce the documents at the committee's next meeting on Dec 20. 

This is the second time that Mr Singh is testifying before the committee. He was recalled for a hearing on Wednesday because of a piece of document that Ms Lim produced on Monday. 

Ms Lim provided notes of an exchange between Mr Singh and Ms Raeesah that took place on Nov 29 during a WP disciplinary panel meeting to look into her lies. Ms Raeesah, who has since resigned from WP and as a Member of Parliament (MP), told Parliament on Aug 3 that the police made insensitive remarks to a sexual assault victim even though she did not witness it in person.

On Oct 3, Mr Singh and Ms Raeesah were talking at a meeting where no one else are present. This was the day before Ms Raeesah repeated her lies in Parliament again after she was being questioned by Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam. 

Mr Singh testified that Ms Lim's notes accurately reflected what he had said to Ms Raeesah during the Nov 29 interview. 

He also agreed that the phrase “your call” might be understood as giving Ms Raeesah a choice as to whether to tell the truth or continue to lie, if she was asked about it in Parliament on Oct 4. 

The committee's report stated: "However, Mr Singh said that what he had meant when he said 'your call' was not this ordinary meaning, but that Ms Raeesah should take responsibility for her work in Parliament." 

It added that he also testified that although he used those words during her Nov 29 interview with the WP panel, those were not the actual words he uttered during the Oct 3 meeting itself and the words he used did not offer her a choice. 

Mr Singh was asked by the committee why he had not said to Ms Raeesah on Oct 3 that she "must own up, tell the truth in Parliament”, and why he had not made things absolutely clear, especially since she was a new MP and had admitted to telling a lie in Parliament.

Mr Singh said he believed that he had communicated this message to Ms Raeesah in his own way, when he suggested to her on Oct 3 to take ownership and responsibility.

In its report, the committee also said that it has largely concluded its proceedings, except for a few outstanding matters that it will be addressing.

"The committee will present its findings and recommendations to Parliament in due course."

The report and video recording of the testimonies have been made available to Parliament as well as to the public on the Parliament's website.