Judgements on Pritam have implications for Sylvia Lim, Faisal Manap: Indranee says Parliament will discuss matter

Parliament will not only debate Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh's convictions when it sits in January next year, but also a parliamentary committee's findings in 2022 that the Workers' Party's (WP) leaders Sylvia Lim and Faisal Manap had lied under oath, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Indranee Rajah on Monday (Dec 22). 

In a follow-up statement issued in her capacity as Leader of the House, Indranee said the court's judgements on WP chief Singh "have implications" for both Lim and Faisal, adding that the Committee of Privileges' (COP) findings have now been "borne out" by the judgements. 

"The COP found that Ms Lim and Mr Faisal had both lied under oath when they denied that, at the meeting in August 2021 which they attended, Ms Raeesah Khan was told to hide her untruth. 

"The COP's findings have been borne out by the court judgements," Indranee added.

She was responding to a media query on whether Parliament would also discuss follow-up actions with regard to Lim — who is WP's chair — and former WP MP Faisal — who is WP's vice-chair.

COP findings 

Raeesah first lied in Parliament on Aug 3, 2021, in a speech where she claimed that she had accompanied a 25-year-old victim of sexual assault to a police station and alleged that the police had treated the victim insensitively. 

On Oct 4, 2021, in an exchange with Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, she maintained her lie and refused to provide more details, citing confidentiality concerns. 

Singh was found by the court to have told Raeesah, at a meeting after the first lie, to take her lie "to the grave". 

Also present at the meeting were Lim and Faisal. 

The two WP leaders had told the committee, under oath, that Raeesah was not told to hide her untruth at this meeting. 

In its findings, the COP was of the view that the three WP leaders had guided Raeesah to repeat her lie in Parliament, and that such conduct — if true — would be "unbecoming of a parliamentarian", and would amount to contempt of Parliament.

The three WP leaders disputed the COP's findings and Parliament then postponed making a decision on the matter, pending the court's findings on Singh's case.

Singh has since been found guilty of lying under oath, and Indranee said that the court's judgements will "have implications" for both Lim and Faisal.

"These matters will be raised for discussion at the upcoming Parliamentary sitting in Janaury 2026," added the House leader.

[[nid:726880]]

editor@asiaone.com