Office of Clerk of Parliament Explained Why They Released Special Report on Raeesah Khan

By
Shawn Ambrose
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When the Worker’s Party (WP) responded to the many allegations levelled at them by former member and MP Raeesah Khan, we expected them to rebut the claims.

Instead, they said they’d respond at a more appropriate time, given that the Committee of Privileges’ (COP) investigations into the matter are still ongoing.

But what caught the eye was another paragraph in the response:

“We note the release of the interim report by the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges without having taken the evidence of Workers’ Party leaders against whom serious allegations have been made,” it said.

The party was clearly questioning why the COP released a special report on its investigations into Khan’s untruth in Parliament without first hearing their side of the story.

Well, now they have an answer.

Office of Clerk of Parliament Explained Why They Released Special Report on Raeesah Khan

Speaking to The Straits Times, the Office of the Clerk of Parliament said it had released the interim report to keep Parliament informed of the progress of its investigations.

It cited Standing Order 105 (2), which states: 

“A Select Committee shall have leave to make a special report relating to
the powers, functions and proceedings of the Committee on any matters which it may
think fit to bring to the notice of Parliament.”

It also noted that special reports have been made in the past.

However, when asked why the COP decided to release the special report before it heard testimony from WP’s leaders, it simply said that it will keep Parliament updated about its investigations “in a timely manner when appropriate” and release a final report in time.

Since committee meetings are private, any details about potential witnesses “will therefore remain fluid”, it added.

It said that the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act grants the committee the authority to summon any person to give evidence before them at any point before its final report.

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WP Chief Reiterates Willingness to Give Evidence

In its Facebook response, the WP reiterated that its chief, Pritam Singh, is prepared to give evidence before the COP.

It noted that this was made clear during the party’s press conference on 2 Dec, a day before Khan and two other WP members were summoned to give evidence before the committee.

It was a parliamentary anecdote on 3 Aug that got Khan into trouble. She claimed she had accompanied a sexual assault victim to a police station and that she had come out crying due to some troubling comments the officer had made about her dressing and drinking. But this was not the case.

The next month, in another parliamentary sitting, Khan repeated the lie when asked to provide more details by other MPs, including Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam.

During WP’s press conference, Singh said when that Khan had lied for a second time in Parliament, it was despite his advice to come clean.

Khan, on the other hand, claimed that when the party chief visited her home on 3 Oct, he said there would be no judgement by him if she continued with the lie.

Netizens who have rushed to judgement are either criticising the party leaders for their actions or questioning the credibility of Khan.

Perhaps the best thing to do would be to wait until we hear both sides of the story, or at least until the COP has released its final report.

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]