SINGAPORE — The Progress Singapore Party (PSP) on Thursday night (July 6) apologised for videos and Facebook posts relating to parliament discussions on Ridout Road.

The opposition party published the apology on its Facebook page and also took down the offending content just before 10pm, a deadline given by Leader of the House Indranee Rajah.

This was after the PSP put up a new, edited video and amended Facebook post on Thursday morning, in an attempt to address issues with an original clip put up on Tuesday and flagged by Ms Indranee on Wednesday.

The apology by PSP and its chief Leong Mun Wai acknowledged that both the original and edited videos had "created a misleading impression about the proceedings in Parliament on July 3, 2023 on the ministerial statements on the Ridout Road matter".

Monday's parliamentary sitting included a six-hour session on the rental of state properties on Ridout Road by ministers K Shanmugam and Vivian Balakrishnan.

PSP also acknowledged that its Members of Parliament could have further debated the matter by filing a motion, but did not do so; that Deputy Speaker Christopher De Souza told Mr Leong that he would be given latitude and could ask all his questions; and that Mr Leong did ask the questions he wanted to ask.

"We accept that through our two videos, we have given the impression that no debate was allowed (even though it was we who did not file a motion for debate). We also accept that this is misleading," PSP said.

"Our two videos are also misleading because they give the impression that Mr Leong was not given the time to ask the questions that he wanted to, when in fact he was given the time to ask all his questions, and he did ask all his questions."

Earlier on Thursday, in Parliament, Ms Indranee told Mr Leong — a Non-Constituency MP — that the PSP's edited video still gave the misleading impression that issues could not be "ventilated" in the House.

The segment of parliament proceedings showcased in the video was intended to "cast aspersions on the manner in which parliamentary proceedings were conducted and to suggest that the Deputy Speaker was not carrying out his duties neutrally, or fairly or in a proper manner", she said.

Ms Indranee said she had written to the PSP to formally request that Mr Leong and the party remove the revised Facebook post and edited video put up on Thursday morning, and to post an apology on all the social media pages the video had appeared on by 10pm the same day.

Otherwise, she would have had "no choice" but to refer the matter to the Committee of Privileges, said Ms Indranee.

In Parliament, Mr Leong tried to argue his case by pointing out that the PSP had removed inaccuracies about how much time was spent on clarifications. He also reiterated that Ms Indranee had misunderstood who the "sia suay" phrase in the video's caption referred to.

"Sia suay" is a Hokkien expression to indicate embarrassment or disgrace.

The edited post had read: "In what some online commenters are calling another 'sia suay' moment by our NCMP Leong Mun Wai.

"Our NCMP Leong Mun Wai was informed by the Deputy Speaker that members were allowed to seek clarification but not debate about the ministerial statements concerning the Ridout Road incident.

"The PSP's Leong Mun Wai & Hazel Poa Koon Koon are here to do whatever it takes to ensure that the voice of the people is heard.

"This short video is an excerpt taken from the full parliamentary session and is not to be taken as a representation of the entire discussion that took place in the House on July 3, 2023."

In the House on Thursday, Mr Leong said: "We should be entitled to a different view... We should not be forced to present only the view that you want to present. This is a democratic Parliament, not a rubber-stamp Parliament."

He also asked Ms Indranee to confirm if an apology was necessary if PSP took down the video, as the party did not "impugn" anyone and he was of the view there was no requirement to say sorry.

Mr Leong also proposed putting up an open letter to express their regret on the matter.

Ms Indranee said sternly that an apology was needed. "The reason is this: The parliamentary privileges, the conduct of Parliament are important things. They underpin our democracy."

She added that for a democracy to function properly, it must work on the basis that MPs and their political parties will speak truthfully to people and give accurate representations of what happened in parliament.

"Because that determines the kind of society we are and if you have a political party which has misrepresented what has happened in Parliament, which is a direct strike at the values that underpin this Parliament, you should apologise because it's not the right thing to do." CNA