Former WP MP Yaw Shin Leong disputes Pritam Singh's account of his sacking

[SINGAPORE] Former Workers' Party MP Yaw Shin Leong has disputed party chief Pritam Singh's account of his 2012 departure from the party in a Facebook post on Monday (Dec 6).

Yaw, who said Singh's account was "not true", was responding to Singh's remarks about the events of 2012, following a question from a reporter at a press conference called last Thursday following former Sengkang MP Raeesah Khan's resignation from the party.

Singh had said that 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 it was unreasonable conduct and this was not acceptable. And so, the party took the decision to fire him, to sack him."

Yaw, who was facing allegations of extramarital affairs that year, 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 Yaw's post.

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The post on Facebook was made under the name Amos Rao. ST had reported in 2017 that Yaw was working in a private education college in Myanmar and went by the name Amos Rao.

In his post, 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.

Yaw, upon his expulsion from the party in 2012, also 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".

Yaw said: "I am okay with this narrative, but I am not okay with what Pritam said, for I did account myself."

Yaw's comments came as the WP leaders' statements last Thursday contradicted that of Khan, who said during a hearing before 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 Khan for lying in Parliament, and on Friday released a special report after hearing oral evidence from her and two WP members.

THE STRAITS TIMES