'Defeated and betrayed' by the people I look up to: Raeesah Khan on second day of Pritam Singh's trial

SINGAPORE: Former Workers' Party (WP) member Raeesah Khan said she had felt "very defeated and betrayed" after party leaders grilled her on her conduct as a Member of Parliament (MP) during disciplinary panel sessions.

Testifying on the second day of WP secretary-general Pritam Singh's trial on Tuesday (Oct 15), Ms Khan said that the panel made her feel like the people she trusted the most had "turned around" and used the disciplinary panel to criticise her, and to "almost pretend" that they had not been guiding her on the false anecdote she gave in parliament. 

The disciplinary panel's proceedings led Ms Khan, former Sengkang MP, to think that they would ask her to resign, she testified. 

The prosecution was resuming its examination-in-chief of Ms Khan, which began on Monday. Deputy Public Prosecutor Sivakumar Ramasamy had taken Ms Khan through a timeline of events in chronological order, starting from the day she recounted the false anecdote in parliament on Aug 3, 2021. 

Ms Khan had lied about accompanying a rape victim to a police station, where a police officer allegedly made comments about the woman's attire and consumption of alcohol.

She repeated the lie when asked to clarify its details during a subsequent sitting on Oct 4, 2021. 

Her account triggered a series of discussions, questions and clarifications, finally resulting in Ms Khan coming clean, and the matter being referred to a Committee of Privileges (COP) inquiry. 

Singh, 48, was also called before the COP. He is accused of making two lies before the COP on Dec 10 and Dec 15, 2021:

• At the conclusion of his meeting with Ms Khan and WP members Ms Sylvia Lim and Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap on Aug 8, 2021, Singh wanted Ms Khan to clarify at some point in parliament that what she had said about accompanying a rape victim to a police station was untrue; and
• When Singh spoke to Ms Khan on Oct 3, 2021, he wanted to convey to Ms Khan that if the issue came up in parliament the next day, she had to clarify that her story about accompanying the rape victim was a lie

FIRST DISCIPLINARY PANEL SESSION 

On Tuesday, Mr Sivakumar picked up the prosecution's line of questioning on events that happened after Nov 1, 2021, which was when Ms Khan revealed her untruth in parliament.

On Nov 2, 2021, Ms Khan received a message and email from WP chair Sylvia Lim about a disciplinary panel convened to look into her conduct. 

The email, read out by Mr Sivakumar, stated that the panel would comprise Singh, Ms Lim and WP vice-chair Faisal, and requested Ms Khan to provide further explanation about her support group and her account on Nov 1, 2021. 

Ms Khan said she had been "very surprised" with the formality of the email, especially since the party leaders had been guiding her "from the beginning".

Ms Khan met the party leaders on Nov 8, 2021 and Nov 29, 2021 for the disciplinary panel sessions at the party headquarters. 

During the first session, Ms Khan testified that she did not remember the party leaders asking her much about the anecdote, instead focusing their questions on her personality and conduct as MP for Sengkang GRC. 

Elaborating, Ms Khan said: "A big point of contention during the meeting was that I didn't submit enough parliamentary questions. I wasn’t as present in parliament."

Ms Khan remembered being surprised as she was new and had been on maternity leave for three months. 

"I thought that I was making good progress with my performance in parliament and it had never been brought up before then. And there were also questions about whether I was present on the ground which I was also very surprised to hear. 

"I did all my estate walks, I went to every single Meet-the-People sessions (MPS) unless ... something really really important came up," she testified, adding that she had rushed from parliament to MPS before returning to parliament at some point. 

"So these little things that I thought I was doing well in - that no one had feedback on - were suddenly brought up in the panel.

"I was so shocked that that was the route that the panel was taking. I mean, I was so surprised I was actually kind of dumbfounded that I didn’t know how to respond."

During the session, Singh also mentioned Ms Khan's "lack of discipline and punctuality", according to Ms Lim's notes of the meeting. 

"He said that I was on borrowed time if the central executive committee (CEC) allows me to continue ... I guess he thought that I was going to fail," said Ms Khan. 

Mr Singh had also pointed out that Ms Khan was not "vocal enough" in meetings. 

"My response to that was, I mean I was the youngest one there by quite a few years and I was - it was my first time in that kind of environment and I was freshly elected.

"I tried my best to observe and to learn as much as I could from the people that I really looked up to in this environment."

Ms Khan also spoke about her self-doubt. 

"I kind of felt like I think anybody at my age at that point in time who would be elected, and would have such a big responsibility, would also feel like maybe they don’t belong or they don't deserve it."

She then shared her good relationship with Compassvale residents, and spoke positively of the volunteer team she had with the panel. 

"I would meet them regularly at MPS, we would also meet regularly just walking around the estate, house visits and I also built a really strong welfare team and I was really proud of the work we were doing distributing groceries, checking in on residents."

The meeting ended with the party leaders asking Ms Khan if continuing as an MP was the right route. 

Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan then intervened to ask if Ms Khan was aware Ms Lim had taken notes. 

Ms Khan said that she thought Ms Lim had been taking informal notes and the gravity of the meeting had not struck her at that time.

"I didn't know how substantial the meeting was because from my understanding with what had happened, leading up to my personal statement (is) that they would support me, they would have my back and so it was like quite a shock that, you know, they were sitting there on kind of a stage and saying all these," said Ms Khan. 

"It kind of felt like (they were) confronting things and so I didn’t even register that she was really taking notes or that these notes would become like official in a way."

Ms Khan later discussed the first session's panel proceedings in a group chat with then WP cadres Loh Pei Ying and Yudhishthra Nathan. She suggested that Mr Singh might want her to resign if she did not have the support of her immediate teammates. 

In response, Mr Nathan allegedly sent the message: "And he gets off scot free? Because right now, people don't know that he knew it was a lie."

In his messages, Mr Nathan suggested that Ms Khan might still appear before the COP, and that she could damage Singh's reputation if she revealed the truth. 

Ms Khan replied that she "wouldn't do that", which she clarified in court to mean that she wanted to protect the party leaders as she "revered" them.

On Nov 22, 2021, Ms Khan requested to meet the disciplinary panel a second time, telling Singh via messages that she had not been prepared for the things the leaders had to say. 

In response, Mr Singh said: "'Not prepared for the things you had to say' is unfortunately not becoming of an MP Raeesah, because you can’t make statements and then change your perspective or wish to add something new. The disciplinary panel was a formal meeting, please email us."

When asked for her reaction to this email, Ms Khan said she was "really upset". 

"I didn't understand where that came from ... because leading up to the DP meeting itself, there wasn’t, I wasn’t told that my entire career as an MP was being reviewed or my personal conduct was being reviewed so I wasn’t prepared for that.

"And then to be confronted with that at the actual meeting and then going home kind of feeling like I did myself a disservice and then sharing those thoughts with Pritam and then having him kind of like throw it back at me was it was upsetting."

Mr Singh later followed up with another message to Ms Khan, allegedly telling her "I hope you can see that it is precisely your character and behaviour that is under review here ... in view of your conduct in parliament and your decision to stick to the anecdote on Oct 4".

Ms Khan forwarded screenshots of the messages to Ms Loh and Mr Nathan, saying she was shocked by his reply, especially when Singh had allegedly told her earlier he would not judge her for continuing the anecdote.

SECOND DISCIPLINARY PANEL MEETING

The second panel session was on Nov 29, 2021, with the same party leaders in attendance. 

Ms Khan testified that in this meeting, she shared the successes she had in Compassvale, her efforts on the ground, and her personal struggles. 

However, Ms Khan testified that the party leaders had not appeared to be "really listening", leading her to think that they had already made up their mind for her to resign. 

This time, the other party leaders had appeared to be writing notes, according to Ms Khan, with Judge Tan then asking if other notes were available. 

The prosecution then referred to Singh's notes where he indicated "disassociation" in relation to Ms Khan's original draft of her anecdote. 

Ms Khan said that this had been brought up as she spoke about her struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder. 

She was then asked by the panel about the anecdote, and whether the need to tell the truth had occurred to her before the October parliament session. 

According to Ms Khan, Singh also asked where Ms Khan placed the party in decision making, and she replied "first", adding that if the party had asked her to resign, she would. 

Mr Sivakumar then asked Ms Khan if Singh had said it was her call to tell the truth in parliament, and if he had told her she could not lie on Oct 3, 2021, when the two met. 

Ms Khan replied "no" to both questions. 

When asked for her feeling on the second panel session, Ms Khan said: "I felt very defeated and betrayed that the people that I look up to the most, and trusted the most kind of turned around and used the disciplinary panel to criticise me, and to almost pretend that they had not been guiding me from that meeting at Pritam’s house on Aug 8."

She felt that the party would "definitely" ask her to resign. 

Ms Khan resigned from WP and as an MP on Nov 30, 2021. 

On how she came to that decision, she testified: "I think I reflected on the fact that I didn't have the support of my leaders and it felt like I didn't have the support of my Sengkang team. 

"I mean some members of the Sengkang team were more supportive than others but it felt like I had lost the support of the party leadership." 

The prosecution wrapped up its examination-in-chief of Ms Khan at 10.54am. Court was then adjourned for a break, with the defence to start its cross-examination of Ms Khan after.