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Everything About the Exchange Between WP MP Raeesah Khan & Home Affairs’ Desmond Tan in Parliament

2021-08-04 , 10:24 am

If a victim of sexual assault goes into a police station to make a report, you’d expect the officer to immediately ask questions about the location, time, and other pertinent details of the assault.

Everything else would be irrelevant, right?

Well, not always, as this anecdote from Worker’s Party’s (WP) Raeesah Khan will show you.

WP MP Raeesah Khan Brings Up Problematic Police Handling in Rape Case

In Parliament yesterday (3 Aug), Ms Raeesah recounted a troubling incident which she witnessed three years ago.

She said she had accompanied a 25-year-old rape survivor to make a police report, but that the woman came out of the police station crying.

“The police officer had allegedly made comments about her dressing, and the fact that she was drinking,” Ms Raeesah said.

Since cases of sexual assault need to be handled delicately, the WP MP suggested deploying counsellors at police stations and training more officers to handle such cases.

This will not only equip officers with the necessary skills to handle such cases, but will encourage more victims of sexual assault to come forward, she said.

Home Affairs’ Desmond Tan Responds

In response, Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Tan asked Ms Raeesah to provide more details so the authorities can investigated the matter, adding that any questions of police mishandling cases are taken seriously.

Ms Raeesah replied that she didn’t want to bring up the anecdote again, as it occurred three years ago and would “retraumatise” the woman.

“But I have to say that these anecdotes are not isolated,” she added.

The Sengkang GRC MP said that she’s not been able to contact the woman she accompanied, and that she would report such incidents to the Home Affairs Ministry if they happened again in the future.

She added that she would need consent from the victim to revisit the case, as it could otherwise lead to “revictimisation”.

Ms Raeesah recounted the woman’s experience in the hope that it would spark a conversation on how sexual survivors are treated when they make reports.

However, she maintained that she did not intend to criticize the police, saying that they are “part of the solution, not the problem.”

Leader of the House Reminds MPs to Exercise Parliamentary Privilege Responsibly

After the exchange between Ms Raeesah and Mr Tan, Leader of the House Indranee Rajah then took to the podium to remind all MPs to exercise their parliamentary privilege responsibly.

“I just wanted to remind members of the House that when assertions and allegations are made, members must be prepared to substantiate them,” she said.

She added that supporting such allegations are particularly important when made against an organisation that cannot defend itself.

Earlier, Mr Tan advised the WP MP to file a parliamentary question if she had specific inquiries to make, and Ms Raeesah agreed.

Victim Blaming

Often described as a “second wave of trauma”, victim blaming occurs when a victim of a crime or an accident is held responsible in some way for the crimes that have been committed against them.

One 2010 study found that more blame appears to be assigned to victims of sexual violence such as rape.

Those who blame the victims in such cases often point out the fact they they’ve been drinking or dressing in a certain way, among other things.

This assigns blame to the victim, and absolves the perpetrator of some culpability.

Hopefully, Ms Raeesah’s anecdote starts an open dialogue on how we can better respond to reports of victims of sexual assault; not just public servants, but society too.