Low unaware that WP leaders had known of Raeesah's lie since 2021

Former Workers’ Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang revealed in court that it was in August 2023 when he found out WP’s leaders had known about Ms Raeesah Khan’s untruth since Aug 8, 2021.

Asked how he reacted to this belated realisation, the 68-year-old party veteran told the court on Oct 23 that he wondered why the party leaders – his successor Pritam Singh, WP chair Sylvia Lim, and vice-chair Faisal Manap – had taken so long to reveal the matter.

Mr Low was testifying at the trial of Singh, who is contesting two charges over allegedly lying to a parliamentary committee that he had, on Aug 8 and Oct 3, 2021, wanted Ms Khan to clarify her untruth in Parliament.

Ms Khan is the former Sengkang GRC MP who told Parliament on Aug 3, 2021, about how she had accompanied a sexual assault victim to a police station, where the victim was treated insensitively.

She repeated the claim before the House on Oct 4 the same year, before admitting to her lie on Nov 1, 2021.

Mr Low, who remains a member of WP’s central executive committee, told the court he met Singh and Ms Lim at his house on Oct 11, 2021, where they broke the news to him that Ms Khan had lied in Parliament.

He recounted that Ms Lim said she was considering holding a press conference for Ms Khan to apologise, and that they planned to expel her from the party.

Mr Low said he told them that just holding a press conference or issuing a statement would not work.

“Because Raeesah Khan lied in Parliament, the correct forum is Parliament, and she should apologise and clarify in Parliament,” he said of his advice.

The prosecution followed up by asking if Mr Low had asked Ms Lim who else had known about Ms Khan’s lie at that time.

Mr Low said he asked if the Government knew, and Ms Lim’s response then was that the Government did not know and that it was not easy for it to know, as there are many police stations in Singapore.

Asked what he said to Ms Lim in return, Mr Low remembered conveying it is “not the point whether or not the Government can find out” and his opinion that Ms Khan should apologise if she had told a lie.

Ms Lim appeared to be anxious during this conversation, Mr Low added. 

He said he did not notice Singh’s demeanour during this conversation. 

Mr Low also could not remember how Ms Lim and Singh responded to his advice for Ms Khan to apologise and make a clarification in Parliament.

They said they would talk to Ms Khan and ask her to apologise, he added.

Asked by the prosecution if Singh or Ms Lim informed him during the meeting that they had already told Ms Khan to clarify her untruth in Parliament, Mr Low said no.

He said he was not told about Ms Khan being sexually assaulted, or whether Singh and Ms Lim had told Ms Khan to speak to her parents about the sexual assault.

When Ms Khan admitted to her lie, she had said her untrue anecdote was in fact shared by a survivor in a women’s support group, which she attended as she had been sexually assaulted herself in the past.

Mr Low was also asked if Singh and Ms Lim had told him about Singh going to Ms Khan’s house on Oct 3, 2021, to get her to clarify the untruth in Parliament the next day.

Mr Low said no. He did not know that this meeting took place, he added.

As for his impression of when Singh and Ms Lim knew about Ms Khan’s lie based on their interactions on Oct 11, 2021, Mr Low said: “I don’t have any impression when they found out. They broke the news to me, so this is a problem and I participate in the discussion.” 

When pressed on this, Mr Low said he did not have any impression as he didn’t follow Parliament closely. 

Asked if Ms Singh and Ms Lim had told him when they found out about Ms Khan’s lie, Mr Low said no. It also did not occur to him to find out, he added.

On whether there was any discussion on what the next steps would be, he said no.

The court heard Ms Lim met Mr Low again at his house on Oct 18 that year to convey that Ms Khan had agreed to apologise in Parliament.

He told her “we would want to look at her draft apology”, as he did not want the apology to end up with another lie.

The court later heard that Mr Low was not aware that Singh, Ms Lim and Mr Faisal had known about Ms Khan’s untruth since August 2021 when he messaged Singh after her apology in Parliament to suggest convening a disciplinary panel (DP) within WP to look into the matter.

Mr Low said he had suggested that the panel should consist of Singh, Ms Lim and Mr Faisal, as they are the party leaders.

That was how the DP comprising the three leaders, announced in a media statement by the party on Nov 2, 2021, came about.

This DP sat to hear representations from Ms Khan and other party members in November 2021, including ex-WP cadres Loh Pei Ying and Yudhishthra Nathan’s grouses when it came to their attention that the leaders had wanted Ms Khan to resign from the party.

Asked if he had either read the report by the Committee of Privileges (COP) or followed the COP proceedings, Mr Low said he read the newspaper reports on them, but did not go into the details.

The defence only had one question for Mr Low during cross-examination – whether he agreed that a lie on record in Parliament would have to be clarified in Parliament.

To this, Mr Low said: “Yes, I think so.”

After both defence and prosecution indicated they had no further questions, Mr Low remarked “That’s all?” before leaving the stand.

In all, he took less than 45 minutes to give his testimony before a packed courtroom, including a 15-minute break.

Singh and Mr Low were spotted sharing a brief exchange at the court lobby after the hearing was adjourned. There, Mr Low wished Singh good luck after the WP chief apologised for not having many questions for him.

The hearing will resume at 11.30am on Oct 24, after Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan granted an application for Singh to attend his daughter’s graduation.

A police investigation officer is lined up as the prosecution’s next and final witness on this last day of the first tranche of hearings. The trial’s second tranche will start on Nov 5.