In August 2021, Raeesah Khan, then a Member of Parliament (MP) for Sengkang Group Representation Constituency (GRC), falsely alleged that a police officer inappropriately commented about a rape victim she had been accompanying to make a police report. Claiming confidentiality concerns, she did not reveal additional details when prompted to do so by government ministers and the police.
That November, Raeesah would admit to having fabricated the account and resign from both Parliament and the Workers' Party (WP). Further investigations implicated the WP leadership in the case; vice-chairperson Faisal Manap was formally warned by the police and leader Pritam Singh was fined S$7,000 on each of two counts of lying to Parliament. Owing to his conviction, Singh was removed in January 2026 by Prime MinisterLawrence Wong as the Leader of the Opposition after Leader of the HouseIndranee Rajah proposed a successful motion to declare him unsuitable for the position.
Background
On 3 August 2021, Raeesah made an allegation against the Singapore Police Force (SPF) during a parliamentary debate on empowering women. She alleged that, in 2018, a police officer made inappropriate comments about the attire and alcohol consumption of a 25-year-old rape victim, whom she had accompanied to make a police report, and gave recommendations to increase sensitivity in investigations. Desmond Tan, Minister of State for Home Affairs, subsequently called the allegations "serious" and "[needing] investigation". When asked for details, Raeesah declined, saying that she did not wish to re-traumatise the victim and that her claim was not an isolated case. She also agreed to file a parliamentary question about questions related to the issue and claimed to have been unsuccessful in contacting the victim after the incident happened, adding that she would communicate directly with the Ministry of Home Affairs in a similar future situation.[1]
On 4 October, K. Shanmugam, Minister for Law and Home Affairs, stated that the police had found no cases that fit Raeesah's description after checking its records and asked her to provide more details about the allegation. In response, Raeesah reaffirmed her statement while declining to reveal any further details—including the police station they went to—claiming confidentiality concerns.[2] On 20 October, the police said that an "extensive" search had not managed to identify the case in question and that she had not responded to their requests to provide more details about the case.[3]
On 1 November, Raeesah admitted that she had lied on three occasions about the alleged incident in Parliament. She had not accompanied the victim to make a police report, and had heard about the incident from a support group for women victims of sexual assault. She also did not have the victim's consent to share the incident in Parliament.[4] Attempting to defend herself, Raeesah claimed that she had been sexually assaulted at 18 while studying abroad.[4] Indranee, the Leader of the House, raised an official complaint against her for breaching parliamentary privilege and asked for the matter to be referred to the Committee of Privileges (COP).[4]
The following day, the WP approved the formation of a separate disciplinary panel to investigate Raeesah's conduct, comprising Singh, Faisal, and party chairperson Sylvia Lim.[5]
Resignation
On 30 November 2021, Raeesah resigned from Parliament and the WP following the probe over her admission of lying.[6] She also posted her letter of resignation, addressed to Speaker of ParliamentTan Chuan-Jin, on her social media accounts. Despite the resignation, the COP announced that it would continue its investigation.[7]
Two days later, Singh announced at a press conference that, despite having known about the allegation's falsehood the week after her speech, the WP leadership allowed Raeesah to "clarify" herself in Parliament. A shingles episode made the original decision to do so in September unlikely; she repeated the allegation instead upon returning to Parliament in October. He claimed that, before Raeesah's resignation, the leadership had voted overwhelmingly to ask her to resign, and that she would have been otherwise expelled. Instead, she informed him that she would resign, shortly before the central executive committee (CEC) was due to meet on the matter.[8] He also said that she had been instructed to substantiate the allegation readily.[9]
The remaining MPs for Sengkang GRC did not resign to facilitate a by-election; the Compassvale division, which Raeesah had represented, was physically divided among them for the purposes of parliamentary representation.[10] Faisal, the party's vice-chairperson and an incumbent MP for Aljunied GRC, was also made an advisor to the Sengkang MPs, which Singh claimed addressed concerns on the lack of a minority MP for Sengkang GRC.[11][a] The party stated that, while "not [deterred] from fielding young and progressive candidates in future elections", it would "review how candidates [were] selected for elections as well as vetting of speeches".[9]
Aftermath
After investigations, the COP recommended on 10 February 2022 that Raeesah be fined $35,000 and that Singh and Faisal be referred to the Public Prosecutor.[13] The recommendations were accepted at a parliamentary debate on 15 February.[14] On 29 April, the case was referred to the SPF to allow them to interview further related witnesses.[15]
On 19 March 2024, the SPF and Attorney-General's Chambers announced that Faisal would not receive charges for his refusal to answer questions asked by the COP. He was instead formally advised to "familiarise himself with the conduct expected of Members of Parliament under the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act" and to refrain from any possible violations of it.[11] On the same day, Singh was taken to court, where he pleaded not guilty to two counts of lying to a parliamentary committee and claimed trial.[16]
On 17 February 2025, Singh was fined $14,000 ($7,000 on each of both charges he received); he indicated that he would appeal the decision. The judge accepted Raeesah's testimony that Singh "told her to take her lie to the grave" and said that he had wilfully lied to the COP.[17] The High Court dismissed his appeal on 4 December.[18] On 3 January 2026, the WP CEC ordered the establishment of an internal disciplinary panel on Singh's conviction for lying to Parliament.[19] It was announced on 20 January that the panel comprised He Ting Ru and Jamus Lim, two of the incumbent MPs for Sengkang GRC, and Png Eng Huat, a former MP for Hougang Single Member Constituency (SMC).[20]
Removal of Pritam Singh as Leader of the Opposition
On 9 January 2026, Indranee filed a motion to declare Singh unsuitable as the Leader of the Opposition. The motion stated that his continuation would "undermine the standing of parliament and public confidence in the integrity of Singapore's political system" and that his conduct was "dishonourable and unbecoming of a Member of Parliament";[21] he disputed both statements during the debate and said that his "conscience [would] always be clear".[22] On 14 January, all PAP and Nominated MPs (NMPs) voted for the motion and all WP MPs, other than absent non-constituency MP (NCMP) Eileen Chong, voted against it;[23] as a result, Singh was removed the next day by Prime MinisterLawrence Wong, who invited the WP to nominate another of its elected MPs to the role.[24] After deliberation, the WP rejected the offer to nominate a new Leader of the Opposition through its website on 21 January, claiming that the leader of the largest opposition party in Parliament was themself the leader of the opposition.[25] In response, the Prime Minister's Office announced on the same day that it had accepted the rejection and that the position would remain vacant until the party was "ready to nominate someone to take on the responsibility".[26]
Notes
↑Every team in a GRC is legally required to contain at least one minority (i.e. non-Chinese) candidate, either Malay or Indian/other (other being not Chinese, Malay or Indian). The mandatory minority category in a GRC is determined by the President. The number of GRCs requiring Malay candidates at a general election must be three-fifths of the total number of GRCs, or, if that is fractional, the next highest whole number.[12]
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