WP to form disciplinary panel to determine if Pritam Singh breached party constitution

[SINGAPORE] The Workers’ Party (WP) leadership has directed that a disciplinary panel be formed to determine if party chief Pritam Singh contravened the party’s constitution following his conviction in court.

In a statement on Saturday (Jan 3), the WP said its central executive committee (CEC) had met the day before to discuss matters arising from the Dec 4 High Court judgment which upheld Singh’s conviction on two counts of lying to a parliamentary committee.

The Jan 2 meeting also addressed a recent request for a special cadre members’ conference.

The opposition party had said in a statement on Dec 28 that a request to hold the special conference was submitted and that party chairwoman Sylvia Lim had acknowledged the request.

WP said in its latest statement that the CEC – comprising 19 members, including its 12 elected MPs – also concluded that it was appropriate to call the special cadre members’ conference after the disciplinary panel has completed its work, considering the need for due process.

Said WP: “To prevent undue delay, the CEC has set a timeline that the disciplinary process be concluded within three months.

“The notice of the special cadre members’ conference will be issued within two weeks after the conclusion of the disciplinary process.”

According to the party’s Constitution, a special cadre members’ conference can be called at any time by the party’s chair, the CEC, or 10 per cent of the cadre membership or at least 20 cadre members, whichever is higher.

Party sources had confirmed to The Straits Times that more than 20 cadres had signed and submitted a letter calling for a special conference to be held in February.

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Past estimates of the number of WP cadres have been reported as at about 100. Only cadre members, who are appointed by the CEC, can be present at cadre members’ conferences and vote at these conferences.

This comes ahead of a January discussion in Parliament on the appropriate response to Singh’s conviction.

Leader of the House Indranee Rajah had said that Singh’s conviction has implications for party leaders Lim and Faisal Manap. This will be part of the upcoming discussions in Parliament, which will convene on Jan 12.

Now that Singh’s court case has concluded and he has been found guilty of lying, these matters will be raised for discussion, Indranee said in a statement on Dec 22.

On Dec 4, the High Court upheld Singh’s Feb 17 conviction on two counts of lying to the Committee of Privileges (COP), which included a S$14,000 fine.

The COP had in February 2022 released a report that said the “appropriate sanctions” for Singh, Lim and Manap for their roles in former WP MP Raeesah Khan’s untruths to the House and to the COP would be deferred until the end of investigations or criminal proceedings against Singh.

Singh’s trial began in October 2024, and he was later found by the courts to have lied to the COP on two key issues: Whether he had told Khan to take her lie to the grave, and what he meant when he told Khan that he would not judge her.

WP said on Dec 17 that it had started the party’s “internal processes” in the light of the Dec 4 High Court judgment. THE STRAITS TIMES