SINGAPORE: Singapore’s opposition leader was fined on Monday for lying to parliament while helping a fellow party member cover up a false witness account, but narrowly avoided being barred from contesting upcoming national elections.
Pritam Singh, 48, secretary-general of the Workers’ Party, was found guilty on two counts of lying to a parliamentary committee probing a fellow MP.
The conviction comes as the Southeast Asian nation’s struggling political opposition is seeking to challenge the overwhelming dominance of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) in elections expected within months.
The PAP has ruled the wealthy city-state since 1959.
District court judge Luke Tan said that contrary to what Singh told the committee, he had not done enough to get rookie MP Raeesah Khan to admit to her lie in parliament.
The judge also gave credence to Khan’s testimony that Singh had told her during a meeting to “take the lie to the grave.”
Singh, who said he would appeal the court’s decision, was fined S$7,000 ($5,200) for each charge.
“It’s not going to be an easy election... we’ll have to fight hard, and that’s what we will do,” Singh told reporters outside the court.
“The path of choosing opposition politics is not for the faint hearted.”
Under the constitution, a person fined a minimum of Sg$10,000 or jailed for at least one year, is disqualified from running for election or holding a parliamentary seat for five years.
“He will not be disqualified as the threshold of $10,000 fine per charge is not crossed. You can’t stack up the fines,” Eugene Tan, who teaches constitutional law at Singapore Management University, said.
The Elections Department later confirmed this via a statement on Facebook.
Khan, who resigned from the legislature following the scandal, had admitted to making up a story she told in parliament about a female rape victim she accompanied to make a police report.
The former MP confessed that she lied when telling parliament in 2021 that a police officer supposedly made “insensitive comments” about the way the alleged victim was dressed and that she had drunk alcohol.
But Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam had said there was no record in the police files of such an incident and Khan eventually admitted to lying.
Singh was then accused of lying to the parliamentary committee investigating Khan.
He allegedly told the committee that he was not aware that Khan had made up the story about the rape victim, in an apparent attempt to downplay his responsibility as party leader, court documents said.
But the judge tore through Singh’s credibility as a witness.
In the 2020 general elections, the PAP won 83 of the 93 seats at stake to retain its dominance.
The main opposition Workers’ Party captured 10 seats – four more than previously held – in its strongest performance since independence in 1965.
Its leaders have said they hope to further increase the party’s numbers in parliament in the upcoming elections, which will be new premier Lawrence Wong’s first major political test.

Amorgós: For three weeks Dionysia Kobaiou has been dealing with “the anxiety and stress” of her students on the Greek island of Amorgos which has felt thousands of earthquakes.
She has been teaching remotely since Greek authorities shut down all schools on Amorgos, its more famous neighbor Santorini and other nearby islands until at least until February 21.
Some children ask her whether they should hide under a bed when they feel a tremor.
“It’s like during the Covid-19 pandemic,” Kobiaou told AFP.
But in 2020-21 “we could stay home and protect ourselves (from the virus) whereas now, at any moment, we don’t know what might happen,” she added.
Seismic swarm
Between January 26 and February 14, more than 19,200 quakes were recorded off the islands in the Cyclades archipelago, according to the University of Athens (EKPA) seismology laboratory.
Amorgos and three other islands are in a state of emergency until March 11.
On Monday, another 5.1-magnitude undersea quake was recorded off Amorgos.
The seismic swarm has caused no casualties or significant damage, and the tremors have lessened in intensity and frequency in recent days. But they still mystify scientists.
On the rocky island, over nine hours by ferry from Piraeus in the winter, the 1,900 permanent residents have mainly stayed on Amorgos “except for a few due to professional or health reasons,” stated Mayor Lefteris Karaiskos. Thousands have fled Santorini.
The island’s cafes and the taverns are closed for winter and, between the whitewashed domed chapels, only frogs and kittens give a glimpse of life in the sleepy alleys.
Many of the quakes have been too weak to be felt, but nerves were put to the test by one 5.3-magnitude tremor on February 10, that was felt as far as Athens.
That evening, Sotiris was in his kitchen.
“We rushed outside because we were scared!” recounted the man, who chose not to reveal his last name, as he hauled construction materials in his wheelbarrow.
“But you know, in Greece, we’re used to earthquakes,” he added.
The tremors have hit the island “continuously,” according to Poppi Prasinou as she set up vegetables in front of her mini-market.
Exhausted
“People are starting to get tired,” noted the mother of two, while expressing “relief” that the tremors have decreased in intensity.
As part of the state of emergency, rescue reinforcements have been dispatched from the mainland.
At the port of Katapola, seated with their thick morning coffee, the elders remembered a 1956 earthquake, measuring between 7.5 and 7.7, followed by a tsunami with 20-meter-high waves. Amorgos was devastated.
“There was no information or anything like that at the time,” recalled 83-year-old Vaggelis Mendrinos. “We were terrified (...) We don’t want to see that again!“
From the cliffs, a group of firefighters watched the islet of Anydros. Most epicenters are being recorded just off the uninhabited rocklet.
Amorgos is surrounded by six faults, and seismologists are installing new sensors to better understand the phenomenon.
In the countryside, the sheep bleat as usual, although shepherds say their herds are more nervous from constantly feeling the ground shaking.
At the Chozoviotissa Monastery, built into the rock on a cliffside, only the noise made by the quakes slightly disturbs the two monks and a volunteer who live in near seclusion during winter.
“If we have to leave, this is the best place to leave quickly for heaven,” said the volunteer Constantin Papakonstantinou with a smile, pointing to the open Aegean Sea below the monastery.
Another, less spiritual concern is beginning to emerge in the islands that see an annual summer invasion of tourists.
Amorgos hosts 100,000 tourists each year, according to its mayor. “Don’t scare people away; otherwise, they won’t come this summer!” one resident told AFP.