When under the threat of breaching the Parliament (Privileges, Immunity, and Powers) Act, one does not simply stick their head in the sand like an ostrich or continue insisting that they were correct.
Well, not in Singapore anyway.
On Tuesday evening (8 Mar), Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Leong Mun Wai apologised for the Facebook post and comments he made which accused Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin of not allowing him to ask his questions.
Mr Leong Complied with Mr Zaqy’s Requests
And true to his apology, Mr Leong took down the post and comments, as per the request/demand of Deputy Leader of the House Zaqy Mohamad.
At the end of the Parliament session, Mr Leong gave a personal explanation as to why he had posted those comments on Facebook.
During his speech, Mr Leong stressed that he wanted to ask the Minister of Manpower a “very important point” regarding the displacement of Singaporean Professionals, Managers and Executives (PMEs).
He said that that it wasn’t his intent to impugn the Speaker or the Parliamentary processes.
Rather, he was just trying to highlight that some amount of flexibility and discretion in the Standing Orders will have beneficial long-term effects in how the debates are carried out in the Parliament.
Then, in accordance with Mr Zaqy Mohamad’s speech which rebuked him earlier the same session, Mr Leong repeats the following paragraphs, in verbatim:
“I sincerely and unreservedly apologise to the Speaker in this House for my Facebook comments of 12:52pm and 12:53pm on 7 March, 2022, and the video I posted at 6:55pm on 7 March, 2022, and the statements therein which impugn the Speaker and the processes of Parliament without any basis.
“I have taken the posts down at 5:30 today, I withdraw what I said in them and undertake not to repeat such words and actions again. I acknowledge that I had not set up all the facts in my posts, and thus gave a misleading impression.”
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Mr Zaqy Mohamad’s Ending Response
After the apology was given, Mr Zaqy asserted that the Parliament has developed a set of procedures and practices to guide MPs on how to debate on important issues in “an effective and efficient measure”.
The Deputy Leader of the House also mentioned that in other jurisdictions, there are examples where procedural rules are utilised to prevent or frustrate the government of the day from carrying out its proper functions.
For such examples, look no further than the countries where shoes are thrown, long and even longer speeches are made like the politicians were gunning for the Guinness World Record, or various issues were slipped in between the Working Order to prevent the government from debating on the pertinent issues of the country.
Mr Zaqy explains, “It would be completely contrary to our interests for this to occur in this House. The rules have been designed and fine tuned over the years and have worked in ensuring that important issues to us are brought up before the House and robustly debated, or allowing business to be completed with undue delay.”
He added that more than 600 “cuts”—one of the ways for MPs to raise their concerns about a ministry’s plans and programmes—were filed at the 2022 Committee of Supply budget debates.
Just having to address all these “cuts” would mean that the Parliament would be debating for more than 50 hours.
For the same reasons, Mr Zaqy concludes that it isn’t reasonable for anyone to say that the Budget wasn’t extensively debated. Aside from the Parliament Chamber, he reminds the MPs that there are always other avenues for MPs to raise their queries in the subsequent sittings.
“I therefore hope that members would bear this in mind and remember that we are all representatives of this House, and we should resist any attempt to lower the standing or dignity of this House.”
In more coarse Singlish terms: mai siah suay lah—don’t be a disgrace to the House.
He added that all MPs have a role to play in ensuring that the debate topics are properly scrutinised and carried out smoothly.
It should also be done in a manner which ensures that Parliament is presented as a “trusted and respected institution” in the eyes of the public.
Taking to Facebook and ranting one’s misgivings definitely isn’t one of the ways to insure that.
Lastly, Mr Zaqy said that he accepted Mr Leong’s apology.
For NCMP Leong Mun Wai, it seems like he’s free from any consequences that his actions might have brought upon him.
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