Silky‑Smooth Silence: Sylvia Lim’s Labored Leadership
Picture this: the Committee of Privileges slams the table, the MPs stare, and Sylvia Lim – the Workers’ Party chairman – wobbles around a very sticky truth‑bottle. The subject? Raeesah Khan’s alleged fib about a parliamentary lie that began on August 8. Lim, an experienced politician, decided to hand the whole thing over to “Pritam Singh,” the party chief, because, as she told the committee, he knows Raeesah better than anyone else.
Why the “Pritam Singh First” Plan?
According to Lim, “he knows her best” and had been helping her in Eunos’ Meet‑the‑People talks for about a year before the general election. She believed his closer relationship would let him shepherd the issue — the lie — in the proper direction. She added that “historically, she was helping him… and he had some communication, on and off, with her family.” So the strategy was simple: Leave it to Pritam.
The Rotten Pumpkin of a Meeting
On August 8, when Raeesah first confesses her deceit in Parliament, Lim was all ears. But she’s clear that she didn’t discuss the next steps with everyone – Pritam, Faisal Manap, or anyone else. (She assures the committee she didn’t talk about whether the lie would be clarified in September’s parliamentary sitting — a session Raeesah missed because of shingles.)
At the Hearing: “No ‘Fathom’ Mode”
During a three‑hour-plus sit‑down, Lim admitted she could’t even fathom that Pritam might give Raeesah a choice to keep lying instead of telling the truth. Hence, she didn’t clarify what the party leaders had (or had not) agreed upon between August 8 and October 12.
- Notes Revealed: Lim handed the committee a copy of her own notes from the WP disciplinary panel interview on November 29. They showed Pritam asking Raeesah if she remembered a pre‑Parliament meeting and letting her decide whether to be honest or not.
- The “Can’t Lie” Moment: Pritam supposedly asked, “Cannot lie, right?” – an answer that Raeesah presumably gave with a guilty limp.
Did Pritam Push for Truth?
During his own testimony, Pritam said he told Raeesah that she must take ownership if Parliament needed to know the truth; but he remained silent about actually raising the issue himself. He claimed he kept an “eye on the matter” by reminding all MPs on October 1 to substantiate their words in the House.
Parliamentary Red Tape and Raeesah’s Lament
Lim also told the committee that on October 12 she let Raeesah know she didn’t have to respond to the police’s October 7 interview request. The reasoning was that Raeesah would be clarifying her story in Parliament first. Reminding her that her sexual‑assault ordeal required family support before anything could be done.
Meanwhile, Raeesah insisted that party leaders told her to keep the lie alive until “the grave.” Pritam laughed it off as “a complete, utter fabrication.” Lim sided with him, agreeing that no concrete steps were taken after the August 8 discussion to force Raeesah to publicize the truth.
What’s Left? The Soot‑Covered Canvas
Lim confesses, “I had my reasons for leaving the matter for Pritam to follow up on, so I did not myself speak to her on these matters, to confirm what had been done or not done.” She admits she never asked Raeesah how to address her August 3 lie, nor did she check whether the victim’s family had already handled the sexual‑assault revelation.
It’s a tangled mess, kinda like a soap‑opera plot: a lie, a confession, a double‑entangled strategy of “let Pritam handle it,” and no clarity on when the truth will finally ring out. All the while, the committee watches, waiting for revelations that might bring a sense of justice or at least a tidy wrap‑up for the Workers’ Party’s internal drama.
Source: The Straits Times (original publication requires permission)
