WP MP Faisal Manap: Party leaders did not tell Raeesah Khan to take her Aug 3 lie 'to the grave'

SINGAPORE - Workers' Party vice-chairman Faisal Manap told the Committee of Privileges it would be hard to explain rationally why he and other party leaders had not reacted sooner to deal with former Sengkang GRC MP Raeesah Khan's lying to Parliament.

But he disputed her account that he, party chief Pritam Singh and party chairman Sylvia Lim had "agreed the best thing to do" is to take the lie she told in Parliament on Aug 3 "to the grave".

According to a special report released by the committee on Saturday (Dec 11), Faisal said Khan was lying about this part of a text message that she had sent to two other WP members, but he could not explain why she would do so.

In his testimony on Thursday (Dec 9), he told the committee that neither he, Singh nor Lim — all of whom are MPs for Aljunied GRC — had reacted or discussed what to do when Khan confessed to them on Aug 8 that she had lied in Parliament, as they had been overwhelmed after hearing about her sexual assault.

Their main concern was for her well-being, he added.

When asked by the committee, Faisal said he understood that it would be hard to understand why the three WP leaders did not react to Khan's confession that she had told an untruth in Parliament.

The report said he accepted that it was bad to lie to Parliament, and agreed it was equally wrong to allow a lie to carry on in Parliament.

"He also agreed that if one knew of a true fact which would correct a deception on Parliament, keeping quiet would also be a problem, and could possibly amount to an offence," said the report.

The report said Faisal also agreed that it would have been logical for him to have asked questions about Khan's intention to clarify the lie after he became aware of it. But he said he had left it to Singh to handle the matter because he trusted the Leader of the Opposition, having worked with him for over 10 years as a fellow MP.

He believed that Mr Singh had the information to make the judgment call on the matter, and trusted Khan to do the right thing, the report said.

Faisal also said that the timing of when to have Khan correct the record in Parliament would depend on Singh's judgment.

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The report said Faisal did not communicate further with Khan, Singh or Lim on the lie Khan had told after the Aug 8 meeting, till Oct 29. He was neither involved in nor aware of any discussions that the others might have had amongst themselves on the issue during this time.

The special report is the second one released by the Committee of Privileges, after it presented an initial report to Parliament on Dec 3.

That report, published on Parliament's website along with video footage of the committee's hearings, was based on testimonies from Khan, her former secretarial assistant Loh Pei Ying, her former legislative assistant Lim Hang Ling and party member Yudhishthra Nathan.

Khan had told the committee that WP chief Pritam Singh, party chair Sylvia Lim and party vice-chair Faisal Manap had known early on about her lie in Parliament on Aug 3 about having accompanied a rape victim to make a police report.

She also said party leaders had advised her to stick to the lie.

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In her Aug 3 speech, Khan said she had accompanied a 25-year-old rape victim to a police station to make a report, and that the officer who interviewed the victim had made inappropriate comments about the victim's dressing and the fact that she had been drinking. But Ms Khan never accompanied the victim to a police station.

She later admitted that the victim had shared the account in a support group for women, which Khan herself was in, and said she did not have the victim's consent to share the story.

Khan subsequently resigned from the WP on Nov 30 and stepped down as an MP.

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The WP had said it will respond to the allegations against its leaders in the first special report at an appropriate forum and juncture.

The committee also heard from Singh on Friday, and said it will also speak to Lim as well as Sengkang GRC MP Jamus Lim.

Meanwhile, it met on Saturday to discuss the second special report, and is scheduled to meet again on Sunday.

READ ALSO: WP leaders told Raeesah Khan to stick to the lie she had told Parliament: Committee of Privileges report