COP condemns Pritam Singh for using mental disorder to discredit Raeesah Khan

In its latest report released this afternoon (Feb 10), Parliament's Committee of Privileges (COP) looking into the complaint against Raeesah Khan dealt some harsh words to Workers' Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh.

The COP's criticism included how he  "used mental health issues as a smear against Ms Khan, to explain away his own conduct and lies to this Committee."

He had claimed she was prone to lying because of her possible dissociation condition.

The report stated: "Mr Singh essentially made unsubstantiated allegations, that Ms Khan was unstable and unreliable because of her mental health – and that this was connected to her being a sexual assault victim.

"His statements are an affront to sexual assault victims in general."

On Dec 10 last year when he was giving evidence to the COP, Pritam said Khan had confessed to the WP disciplinary panel that she suffered from dissociation. He added her condition could have caused her to lie in a text message to her aides that WP's leaders had told her to take her lie in Parliament "to the grave".

Dissociation is a mental condition where a person disconnects from their thoughts and feelings, thus affecting their daily functioning.

Speaking to the COP on Dec 22 last year, Khan said it was "extremely out of line" for the WP leaders to portray her as emotionally and mentally unstable.

"To use it (mental health) to discredit someone sets back our movement to work on mental health," she added.

That same day, Dr Christopher Cheok, who is acting chief of the department of forensic psychiatry at the Institute of Mental Health, told the COP that Khan was assessed to be of "sound mind", "mentally fit" and "present" to make the statements that she had in Parliament and before the committee between Aug 3 and Dec 3 last year.

In its summary, the committee recommended that a fine of $25,000 be imposed on Khan for her first lie on Aug 3 and another $10,000 for repeating it on Oct 4.

It also recommended Singh be referred to the Attorney-General for further investigations over his conduct, with a possibility of criminal charges.

WP vice-chairman Faisal Manap was also referred to the Attorney-General for his refusal to answer questions by the committee.

kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com