Rahayu Mahzam plans legal action over ‘untrue’ post
Minister of State for Digital Development and Information and Health Rahayu Mahzam said on Oct 18 that she is seeking legal advice, and intends to take action following an online post that she said “appears to be defamatory” about her role in the committee that investigated former Sengkang GRC MP Raeesah Khan for lying in Parliament.
Hours earlier, academic Donald Low had made a Facebook post commenting on evidence put before the State Courts in the ongoing trial of Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh for lying to a parliamentary committee.
The court had heard that former WP cadre Loh Pei Ying had lied about why she had redacted a text message in documents submitted to the Committee of Privileges (COP) in 2021.
Mr Low said it “looks like the COP got it wrong” in its case against Singh, as its case is built on two witnesses, including Ms Loh, “who have turned out to be not credible”.
“One has now admitted to tampering with evidence – apparently with the knowledge of a PAP MP,” said Mr Low, a senior lecturer at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s Institute for Public Policy. He added in his post that the MP is Ms Rahayu, who was a member of the COP.
Ms Rahayu, an MP for Jurong GRC, said Mr Low had made a serious allegation against her in relation to the COP proceedings, and that she intends to take legal action.
“The allegation is wholly untrue and appears to be defamatory. I am seeking legal advice and intend to take action,” she wrote on Facebook.
On Oct 17, Ms Loh had, under questioning from Singh’s lawyer, admitted to redacting a message from another WP cadre, Mr Yudhishthra Nathan, in her submissions to the COP because “it does not look good on him”.
Mr Nathan had, on Oct 12, 2021, suggested that Ms Khan should continue to maintain her lie, having already lied to Parliament on Aug 3 and Oct 4 that year.
The redacted message read: “In the first place, I think we should just not give too many details. At most apologise for not having the facts about her age accurate.”
At one point, Ms Loh mentioned that the redaction process was verified by a senior parliamentary staff member and Ms Rahayu.
“They read every single message before I redacted it,” said Ms Loh.
When asked later if Ms Rahayu knew what Ms Loh was redacting and had agreed to the redaction, Ms Loh said “this redaction was mine”, but Ms Rahayu would have seen the message.
Singh, who is Leader of the Opposition, is fighting two charges over his alleged lies to the COP. He is alleged to have lied to the committee about advising Ms Khan to come clean about an untrue anecdote to Parliament involving a sexual assault victim.
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