SINGAPORE — With the departure of Ms Raeesah Khan from the Workers’ Party (WP) and from her role as a Member of Parliament (MP), the Compassvale ward of Sengkang Group Representation Constituency (GRC) will be split up into three divisions, each to be served by one of its remaining MPs, the party announced on Thursday (Dec 2).

The party announced on Thursday (Dec 2) that Mr Faisal Manap, vice-chairman of WP's central executive committee, will help out as an adviser to the GRC team, which comprises Ms He Ting Ru, Mr Louis Chua and Associate Professor Jamus Lim. 

In response to media queries during a press conference on Ms Raeesah’s resignation, WP chairperson Sylvia Lim categorically stated that the three remaining Sengkang GRC MPs will not be resigning from their seats and therefore,  no by-election will be held.

“In the General Election last year, the voters of Sengkang gave the Workers' Party a mandate to represent them in Parliament. We have three MPs in Sengkang still there to do the work and it is the party's responsibility to take this through for the remainder of the term,” Ms Lim said.

Ms He assured Sengkang residents that the team was working on a smooth transition of affairs for residents in the Compassvale division, which was the ward where Ms Raeesah served as MP.

She outlined how the ward will be divided among the remaining MPs:

• Blocks 215 to 241 (Compassvale Mast/Vista/Plains/Port) will now be served by Ms He
• Blocks 244 to 256, 291 and 292, as well as 295 to 299 (Compassvale Haven/Lodge/Green) will be under Mr Chua
• Blocks 286 to 290, 293 and 294, and 257 to 263 (Compassvale Cape/Broadwalk/Gardens/Northgate) will be taken over by Assoc Prof Lim

Ms He said that the changes will ensure that all residents of Compassvale will have a direct line of contact with an MP who will represent them.

“Operations of Sengkang Town Council will be uninterrupted and residents can continue to reach out to town council staff via existing channels.” 

Ms He also said that residents of Sengkang have raised questions to her and other MPs on the incident during their walkabouts and house visits. 

Ms Raeesah confessed last month that she lied in Parliament in a speech she made in Parliament in August, which contained an account of a sexual assault victim who she had claimed was treated insensitively by police officers when filing a report. 

She tendered her resignation on Nov 30 from the party, which meant that her seat in Sengkang GRC was automatically vacated. 

On concerns that Sengkang GRC no longer has a minority candidate to represent their needs, WP’s secretary-general Pritam Singh said that Mr Faisal’s appointment as adviser to the team would address this gap. 

When asked whether her teammates knew of Ms Raeesah’s lies in Parliament, Ms He said that she only knew about it sometime in October.

She described the turn of events as “unfortunate”, but thanked Ms Raeesah for her work with Compassvale residents and wished her the best in her future endeavours. 

Given that the nature of revelations from Ms Raeesah were “deeply personal”, Mr Singh said that the party leadership decided to keep what she shared within a close circle, namely just him, Ms Lim and Mr Faisal. 

Mr Singh revealed on Thursday that the party leadership knew that Ms Raeesah had been untruthful in her Aug 3 speech about a week after it happened. 

She eventually confessed after being pressed repeatedly by the party chief and she also revealed that she herself was had been a victim of sexual assault. 

However, the party did not act on her confession earlier because he wanted to give her time to talk to her family about the matter, and because she had to be the one to correct the untruth in Parliament.
Mr Singh said that losing one MP is a “big thing” for WP, but the remaining MPs are a “strong team made up of stern stuff”.

.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }