Former WP MP Yaw Shin Leong disputes Pritam Singh's account of his sacking
SINGAPORE - Former Workers' Party (WP) MP Yaw Shin Leong has disputed party chief Pritam Singh's account of his departure from the party in a Facebook post on Monday (Dec 6).
At a press conference last Thursday triggered by former Sengkang MP Raeesah Khan's resignation from the party, Mr Singh had commented on the 2012 expulsion of Mr Yaw, in response to a question from a reporter.
Mr Singh had said that Mr Yaw "did not account himself to the party after the allegations were made" and did not address the media or the party.
"The party was willing to give him some space to get himself organised, but this just went on and it went on, to a point where this was just unreasonable conduct. This was not acceptable. And so, the party took the decision to fire him, to sack him."
Mr Yaw said on Monday that this account was "not true".
He said: "Even before the allegations have surfaced, I accounted the situation candidly to WP (then) secretary-general Low Thia Khiang.
"When the allegations surfaced, I immediately accounted to both WP (then) secretary-general Low Thia Khiang and chairman Sylvia Lim. And I was advised to stay silent."
The Straits Times has contacted WP for its comments on Mr Yaw's post.
The post on Facebook was made under the name Amos Rao. ST had reported in 2017 that Mr Yaw was working in a private education college in Myanmar and went by the name Amos Rao.
In his post, Mr Yaw said he had placed "party first before self", and that he kept silent and resigned from the party's central executive committee (CEC) to minimise the fallout over rumours of his personal indiscretions.
Mr Yaw was expelled from the party in 2012 following allegations of extramarital affairs, which also meant that he vacated his seat as then Hougang MP.
He said: "My intention was to give WP CEC a blank cheque to paint the narrative required. To facilitate the process, I travelled out of Singapore voluntarily."
He noted that on Feb 14, 2012, he was expelled from the party for "breaking the faith, trust & expectations of the party and people".
Mr Yaw said: "I am okay with this narrative, but I am not okay with what Pritam said, for I did account myself."
Mr Yaw's comments came as the WP leaders' statements last Thursday contradicted that of Ms Khan, who said during a hearing in front of the Committee of Privileges that party leaders had told her to continue the lie she had told in Parliament on Aug 3.
The committee is looking into a complaint against Ms Khan for lying in Parliament, and on Friday released a special report after hearing oral evidence from Ms Khan and two WP members.
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