Singapore’s under-fire opposition chief Pritam Singh has denied claims by a parliamentary committee that he perjured himself during a probe into a lying scandal involving his ex-colleague Raeesah Khan, saying the allegation was suggestive of “political partisanship”. Speaking in parliament, the leader of the Workers’ Party said he planned to exonerate himself before the courts and accused the committee of failing to consider key pieces of evidence that he had submitted to it. But participating in the ensuing debate, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong criticised Singh for seeking to create a “smokescreen” and gain public sympathy, and warned that the saga could bring disrepute to the legislature if the alleged transgressions were not dealt with. “If we let flagrant, egregious transgressions pass, it will erode trust in our leaders, respect for parliament, and support for our whole political system,” Lee said. The 70-year-old leader added that the lack of contrition by Singh and two other Workers’ Party members - chairperson Sylvia Lim and vice-chairman Muhamad Faisal Manap - indicated a “lack of shame”. “Whether from a Western or Eastern view, if lack of shame becomes the public norm, our political system will break down, progressively and irreversibly,” Lee said. Across the island state, the saga has been a major talking point since the committee’s findings were released last week, and observers have said Singh’s fate could determine whether the opposition could gain a further foothold in politics after making major inroads in 2020’s polls. The Committee of Privileges, made up largely of members of Lee’s long-ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), had last Thursday recommended that Singh was to be referred to public prosecutors for lying during its probe into former MP Raeesah’s repeated lies between last August and October. Alongside Singh, the committee also recommended a criminal probe into Faisal, also for alleged perjury during his testimony before it. If we let flagrant, egregious transgressions pass, it will erode trust in our leaders Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong The fact-finding body said that Raeesah, 29, who quit as a Workers’ Party MP at the height of the saga last November, was to be fined S$35,000 (US$26,000). Following four hours of debate on Tuesday, the 104-seat legislature endorsed the committee’s recommendations through a voice vote, with the Workers’ Party MPs expressing dissent. The findings – in particular those concerning Singh – have stunned the country. “I reject this finding completely. At no time did I instruct Miss Khan to hide the truth,” Singh said in the debate. ‘Serious offence’ Earlier, Indranee Rajah, a government minister and the PAP’s leader of the legislature, told lawmakers that the committee’s findings were “sound and balanced given the circumstances”. The minister said the committee chose to refer Singh and Faisal to the public prosecutor – instead of having parliament punish them – because the offence of lying under oath was serious. The committee had found all three Workers’ Party members probably had perjured themselves, but Faisal and Lim’s actions were “subsidiary” and not as “egregious” as Singh’s, Indranee said. Singh, in his speech, limited commentary on the committee’s findings, saying he was doing so as he intended to clear his name through the criminal justice system. He had no opposition to the matter being referred to the public prosecutor, he said. However, he said it appeared as if the committee had not considered text messages and other pieces of evidence that he, Lim and Faisal had submitted to it after being summoned to do so. “When seen as a whole the [Committee of Privileges’] processes and the report before parliament leave many questions, gaps and omissions, and by extension suggest political partisanship,” Singh said. How it started The saga began last August when Raeesah told lawmakers debating gender equality about her experience accompanying a victim of sexual assault to the police station. In her remarks, Raeesah, a women’s rights activist, accused the police of handling the matter insensitively. She was later pressed for details of the visit so the police officer’s conduct could be investigated but Raeesah demurred, saying she did not want to again traumatise the victim and also wasn’t able to contact her. Can Singapore’s opposition Workers’ Party ride out lying lawmaker scandal? She repeated her story in October, but on November 1 admitted that it was not true. In her confession, she said she had taken the anecdote from a women’s support group she had attended, and did not have the victim’s consent to share the account publicly. Raeesah said she herself had been sexually assaulted at the age of 18 while studying overseas, which is why she had attended the group session. She quit the party on November 30, just before an internal party meeting convened to decide her fate. A troubled party The Workers’ Party, Singapore’s second-oldest party after the PAP, has weathered multiple controversies since 2011, when it stunned the country by winning one of the country’s group representation constituencies (GRC). Prior to that result no other opposition party had won a GRC, which were introduced by the PAP in 1988 to ensure minority representation in the legislature. The ruling party’s critics have long claimed the measure inhibits the growth of the country’s opposition. The party’s setbacks since the 2011 victory include the sudden resignation of one of its MPs in 2012 following an infidelity scandal, and a still-pending court case involving the mismanagement of over S$30 million of municipal funds. Singapore opposition chief may face prosecution over lying scandal The party saw its vote share slide in the 2015 election, but held on to its sole GRC with 51 per cent of ballots cast. In the 2020 election – the first with Singh at the helm – the party won 10 seats, holding Aljunied GRC and winning another GRC, Sengkang. The result during the Covid-19 era polls coincided with a slide in the PAP’s vote share and marked the first time since the 1960s that there had been a double-digit number of opposition MPs. Following the vote, Prime Minister Lee named Singh as the country’s first formal leader of the opposition. In his sharply worded speech, the prime minister suggested the conduct of the incumbent opposition chief paled in contrast with that of the former long-time Workers’ Party chief Low Thia Khiang, who he described as a “ formidable opponent but a patriotic Singaporean” who “set a different tone for the Workers’ Party”. Low led the Workers’ Party for 17 years from 2001 until Singh succeeded him in 2018. He served as an MP for 29 years. He said he chose to offer Singh the title of leader of the opposition as that was the way a “responsible government can help a credible, responsible opposition to emerge”. Low “must be saddened that, instead, this is what his successor has done,” said Lee.