'Incorrect impression' of 'gatecrash': Pritam clarifies Faisal knew Noor Deros was attending April meeting

Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh clarified that he might have created an "incorrect impression" by saying that Islamic preacher Noor Deros "gatecrashed" an April meeting between Workers' Party (WP) Malay candidates and Malay-Muslim religious leaders before the General Election.

Responding to a ministerial statement by Indranee Rajah in Parliament on Tuesday (Nov 4), the WP chief sought to make clarifications to his statement on Oct 14 at a previous sitting.

The clarifications were made of his own accord, said Singh, and had been submitted to the Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng on Monday night without knowledge that Indranee, who is Leader of the House, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Finance and National Development, would address the same issue.

Indranee pointed to contradictions "made outside of this House", in reference to a YouTube video by Noor on Oct 18.

In the video, Noor said that he "did not gatecrash the meeting as some have irresponsibly claimed", alluding to Singh's comment in Parliament on Oct 14.

Noor also claimed that he was "publicly asked whether he had really been invited", said Indranee, which led her to question the truth in Singh's statements about the meeting.

In response, Singh said that he was not informed of Noor's attendance at the meeting on April 20, but revealed that WP vice-chair Faisal Manap was aware.

According to Singh, Faisal contacted him on Oct 21, about a week after Coordinating Minister for National Security K Shanmugam's ministerial statement drew Singh's "gatecrash" comment, showing him a WhatsApp message that Noor would be in attendance at the meeting.

Singh added that Faisal only knew about Noor's attendance around one hour before the meeting, and that Noor had been invited by an ustaz.

"In using the word gatecrashed, I may have created an impression that Mr Noor Deros was not invited by anyone," he said.

Singh emphasised that he was unaware of the details surrounding Noor's attendance until Oct 21, and thus wanted to clarify his earlier statements made in April and in October.

At the same time, Singh also reiterated that "no promises or undertakings were made by Mr Faisal or the WP Malay-Muslim candidates present in exchange for political support from Mr Noor Deros during the elections".

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dana.leong@asiaone.com