News

Leong Mun Wai “In Trouble” Again Over Video Posted on Facebook

Boon Hun

2023-07-06 , 11:45 am

What were you busy with on Monday? Watching another hopeful Presidential Election candidate collect his forms?

Well, you may have missed out on a fiery “debate” in parliament.

The main protagonists? Deputy Speaker Christopher de Souza and PSP Leong Mun Wai.

@kaypohsingaporean There Leong Mun Wai goes again! #sgtrending #sgnews🇸🇬 ♬ Oops!…I Did It Again – Britney Spears

Here’s a TL; DR:

On Monday (3 July), parliament convened to hear the ministerial statements on the Ridout Road Saga
Ridout Road Saga: K. Shanmugam & Vivian Balakrishnan Explain Why They Rent the Colonial Houses
K. Shanmugam Responds to Allegations That His Son & Livspace Are Involved in the Ridout Road Saga
Members were given time to ask questions and seek clarifications during the session
Mr Leong presumedly wasn’t happy with the time given and asks the Deputy Speaker not to end the session so early
Deputy speaker says it’s not up to members when the session ends and begins
The session eventually ended at 6:22pm, almost 45 minutes after Leong says the session will not end at 5:45pm

PSP Uploaded Edited Video of “Xia Suay” Moment in Parliament

At around midnight on Tuesday, the Progressive Singapore Party (PSP) uploaded a video of the parliament proceedings on Facebook.

The video was accompanied by the caption: “What some online commenters are calling another ‘sia suay’ (embarrassing) moment. The PSP’s Leong Mun Wai and Hazel Poa are here to do whatever it takes to ensure that the voice of people is heard.”

The video started with clips of Mr Leong asking questions about the Ridout Road colonial houses rental before it ended with Mr Leong asking for more time and being told that this isn’t a “debate”.

PSP Asked to Apologise For Video That Doesn’t Show The Entire Picture

On 5 July 2023, Leader of the House Indranee Rajah sought an apology from PSP Secretary-General Leong Mun Wai and asked for the video to be taken down.

The video is an excerpt from parliament proceedings, she pointed out, and gave a misleading impression that Mr Leong wasn’t allowed to ask questions during the session.

The Ridout Road Rental Saga was discussed in parliament for six hours, she pointed out.

Two hours were spent on ministerial statements, and another three hours 48 minutes was given for clarifications.

Mr Leong himself asked 11 questions during the parliament session, and the Deputy Speaker has given him multiple opportunities to do so.

MPs are supposed to uphold conduct both within and outside of parliament under the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act, she reminded.

PSP Leong Mun Wai’s Response

In response to her statement, Mr Leong said that he may have been a bit too “excited” at that time.

He also said that the “xia suay” expression was picked up from members of the public using it to describe him (Mr Leong).

“My communications department, specifically, is using a past example about people calling me ‘sia suay’, so this (phrase) is… referring to another instance that some people online may think that it is ‘sia suay’.”

It was not directed at the deputy speaker.

He pointed out that Singapore is still a country where people can practise freedom of expression.

In response to that, Ms Indranee said that the freedom of expression does not extend to “falsehoods, scandalously defaming somebody or misrepresenting situations or facts or misrepresenting what happened in Parliament”.

She gave him until Thursday to remove the Facebook post and respond to her request for an apology.

Amended Facebook Post

At the time of writing, a version of the video is still online on PSP’s Facebook page.

However, the post has been amended to clarify that it does not represent the entirety of what happened in Parliament.

A link to the full parliamentary session was also provided.