Committee of Privileges Hearing on 10 December 2021

The Committee of Privileges hearing on 10 December 2021 focused on the testimony of Mr. Pritam Singh, Leader of the Workers’ Party (WP), regarding the Raeesah Khan affair. This hearing was part of an investigation into Ms. Khan’s false statements made in Parliament and the subsequent handling of the matter by the WP leadership.

Key points from the hearing:

Pritam Singh’s Testimony:
- Mr. Singh admitted that he knew Ms. Khan had lied in her parliamentary speech as early as August 2021, but did not instruct her to correct the falsehood immediately. Instead, he suggested that Ms. Khan do so when she was ready.
- He stated that he did not pressure her to maintain the lie but acknowledged a lapse in judgment by not addressing the issue sooner.
Party’s Internal Discussions:
- The Committee questioned Mr. Singh about the internal discussions within the WP leadership. It was revealed that both Mr. Singh and other party leaders had been aware of the untruth for months before it was publicly corrected in November 2021.
Responsibility and Actions:
- The Committee sought clarity on whether Mr. Singh had directed Ms. Khan to maintain the lie or gave her leeway in handling the matter. He denied any directive to conceal the truth but accepted responsibility for not taking more decisive action earlier.

The Committee’s investigation sought to determine the extent of the WP leadership’s involvement and accountability in the false statements made by Ms. Khan in Parliament.

Part A

Timestamp	Key Moments of the Committee of Privileges (COP)
4:44	Pritam Singh taking a vow, truth and nothing but the truth.
9:35	Police are not a broken back organization, however, he apologised to the Police.
14:57	Pritam agrees that if a MP fails to correct a lie despite knowing of it, it poses a grave problem.
15:15	Pritam acknowledged that he is aware that Raeesah lied on 7 August.
21:14	Pritam stated that Raeesah had been “raped” without anyone asking him about this incident.
26:43	According to Pritam, he asked Raeesah to tell the truth to him in the LO’s room on 3 August. Pritam stated that he was very clear in his instructions to Raeesah.
28:05	Raeesah was asked by Pritam to clarify the matter for the record.
34:38	Pritam stated that Raeesah had been raped a second time.
34:38	Pritam explained that he asked Raeesah to clarify the record at some point and that she should speak with the parents, with her therapist, and settle herself before she cleared the false information.
35:06	Pritam’s primary concern is Raeesah informing her parents.
37:21	Pritam agrees that if an MP lies, they must correct it. This is the least we should expect from any MP.
38:44	Pritam reiterate the word “rape” for the third time.
42:12	Pritam said that he made it clear to Raeesah that she need to take ownership and responsibility which also means clarify the correction by the October sitting.
56:40	On 3 Oct, Pritam told Raeesah to “take responsibility and ownership of the issue and I will not judge you”
58:30	Pertaining to Raeesah’s account on the 3 Oct seating, Pritam said that she lied.
1:08:06	Screenshot from Raeesah saying “what should I do Pritam?”.
1:09:39	Completely at odds with what Pritam ‘s understanding of what Raeesah should do.
1:18:50	Pritam reiterated that Raeesah Khan is fully aware of how her party leader repeatedly urged her to reveal the truth. She knows exactly what to do and must tell the truth.
1:51:46	On October 4, Pritam did not ask Raeesah to tell the truth, despite witnessing her lie in Parliament, and he also did not ask Raeesah whether she had informed her parents, which Pritam felt was an immediate concern.
1:57:31	On October 4, despite meeting Raeesah twice, Pritam did not ask if she had informed her parents, which he felt was an immediate concern.
2:23:05	Pritam stated that Loh Pei Ying and Yudhis should approach the CEC if they believe he instructed his MP to lie.
2:48:35	If Pritam was certain that Raeesah would clarify her lie on October 4, why wasn’t the CEC informed?
2:55:08	CEC was not informed prior to October 4, but it was informed before November 1, after her draft was cleared and it was confirmed that her father had been informed.
3:06:25	On October 4, Pritam was not prepared for Raeesah to tell the truth unless she was pressed. It’s quite telling that it was Pritam who advised her to stick to the narrative if she wasn’t pressured.
3:10:00	Pritam showed signs that he did not ask Raeesah to tell the truth on October 4, contrary to his claim of being clear and precise with his instructions to Raeesah Khan.

Part B

Timestamp	Key Moments of the Committee of Privileges (COP)
1:08	Pritam acknowledged that by October 4, the CEC had not been informed that Miss Khan might make a clarification in Parliament.
1:48	Pritam told Raeesah to take responsibility and take ownership but did not ask her to tell the truth.
4:00	Pritam acknowledged that he told Raeesah to take ownership and responsibility, but he did not explicitly instruct her to “speak the truth” using those words.
4:30	Pritam agrees with Min Edwin that its important to characterise and access the facts for complete disclosure.
5:40	Pritam agrees that he did not instruct Raeesah to take responsibility and ownership on 3 Oct.
7:45	Pritam replied that he had no untoward reason to exclude it in his judgment, as doing so would have put Raeesah under more pressure and in a negative light.
10:10	Pritam disagrees that the lie should be made public at that time, as he did not find it necessary to expose Raeesah to more attention.
26:40	Pritam mentioned that Yuddish and Miss Low had a skewed impression because they are already protective of her. However, that is just his speculation. but he did communicate with them to take ownership.
28:00	Pritam accepts responsibility for not leaving Miss Loh and Yudhis with the impression that the instruction to Raeesah.
1:03:00	Pritam feels that Yuddish and Miss Loh wanted to protect Raeesah, and Miss Low, in particular, is unhappy that Raeesah had to resign and used it as a reason to lie to COP.
1:07:00	Pritam speculates that Miss Loh came to the tribunal to lie because she was unhappy with the WP leadership.
1:14:00	Pritam mentioned that he did not see a need to inform the public about the 3rd of October in his press conference because she had already resigned.
1:22:00	Pritam agrees that throughout the whole of August and September, it did not cross his mind to pressure Raeesah.
1:50:00	Pritam did tell Raeesah to just reply to the police and tell them she would address the issue in Parliament.

Part C

Timestamp	Key Moments of the Committee of Privileges (COP)
1:34	Pritam agrees that there was nothing unusual with Raeesah’s work as a Member of Parliament.
2:36	Pritam tries to portray Raeesah negatively by saying she was “not as active as other MPs”.
10:02	Pritam describes Raeesah’s sexual assault incident insensitively by using the rape word.
11:00	Pritam recounts the conversation with Raeesah on 8 August, asking Reesah who else knew about the sexual assault.
12:37	Pritam told Raeesah to speak to her parents first.
13:45	There was no substantial discussion on the lie and instruction on how to deal with the lie on 8 August.
16:16	There was no other communication between Raeesah and Pritam about the lie until 3 October, almost 2 months later.
21:51	Pritam disagrees with Raeesah’s account of the meeting on 8 August.
28:07	Pritam reveals that Raeesah suffers from dissociation.
40:23	Raeesah knew Peiying and Yudhish were scheduled to meet Pritam on 10 Aug, just 2 days after the meeting on 8 Aug. It is inconceivable that Raeesah would lie to the two of them knowing well that this issue would be discussed on 10 Aug.
50:32	Pritam confirms there was no discussion on any follow-up action to the lie with Peiying and Yudhish on 10 Aug.
54:51	Edwin Tong says that it seemed out of character for Pritam to not have actions on clarifying the lie.
56:53	Pritam used the word rape again.
59:21	According to Pritam, Raeesah would have to take ownership and responsibility if the issue came up on 3 Oct, but he fails to address what if it didn’t come up. Was Raeesah supposed to keep quiet or come clean?
1:08:23	In preparation for Raeesah’s speech in Parliament to admit her lie, Pritam looked at the draft on at least 4 occasions. That showed how careful he was. Why was there a stark contrast in effort before the sitting on 3 Oct? If they really had the intention to tell the truth.
1:13:00	Pritam says it is not relevant for the public to know that he, Pritam Singh, knew about the lie as early as 7 August.
1:16:00	Pritam brought up TraceTogether and questioned why didn’t the government come clean.
1:17:02	Edwin suggested that it was because the public were pressing for answers, that is why they came clean about their knowledge.
1:17:57	There was nothing to hide and this idea of protecting himself is not what Pritam entered politics for.
1:19:51	Edwin Tong asked Pritam why would it not be relevant consideration for the DP that the 3 of them knew about the lie. Pritam replied that it would only have been relevant if what Raeesah said is true that they told her to lie.
1:23:39	“Why are the three of you and only the three of you looking into this, judging her, when it is the three of you who were aware of the falsehood three months ago and had been advising her and speaking to her about coming clean?”
1:25:10	Pritam disagrees that the fact that the 3 of them knew about lie was relevant to the public, Parliament and WP.
1:37:19	Loh Peiying was Pritam’s SA and Pritam spoke of her in glowing terms. Peiying was also a Cadre member of the WP. Peiying told Pritam to be transparent and to let people know about their involvement in the issue.

Part D

Timestamp	Key Moments of the Committee of Privileges (COP)
06:23	Pritam disagrees that they (Pritam, Sylvia and Faisal) should have disclosed the fact that the senior leadership knew about the lie.
21:10	Pritam confirms that CEC did not know that the three of them, Sylvia, Faisal and himself, knew about the untruth when they appointed them into the DP. The only exception was He Ting Ru.
39:10	Chairman confirming with Mr Singh, that it is irrelevant for anyone else to know that the 3 leaders knew about the lie.
43:19	Pritam says it is purely coincidental that they released the information (that the 3 leaders knew about the lie) on 2 Dec, the very day that the COP commenced.
49:34	On 29 Nov – At 1844hrs, CEC was still scheduled to meet on 1st Dec. At 1901hrs, Sylvia made aware of COP sitting. At 2037hrs, CEC meeting was moved forward to Tuesday (30 Nov).
51:41	Raeesah wanted the CEC to deliberate before COP commenced.
55:44	Pritam said it was an absolute coincidence for press conference to be on 2 Dec.
1:07:58	Message between Peiying and Yudhish on 3 Nov Peiying: Can I just say, I am glad Pritam is getting some of the mud in this slinging contest, he knew before us in every instance, he flagged the anecdote but didn’t ask her to take it out. He knew before she told us, he had many opportunities to really take charge or responsibility, but he is only doing it now.
1:24:38	Agree that he did not tell RK to tell the truth (in these words) until after 7 Oct.
1:30:36	When they met Raeesah on 8 Aug, none of the 3 leaders discussed about the untruth and how to clarify it, except that Raeesah needed to tell her parents.