Analysis: What do Pritam Singh's charges mean for him and the ...

SINGAPORE: The criminal charges laid on Workers’ Party (WP) secretary-general Pritam Singh on Tuesday (Mar 19) are a blow to the opposition party ahead of the next election, which must be called by November 2025, political analysts said.

The case is “a setback that you would rather not have to deal with, because now time and resources will have to be invested in preparing the defence”, said Associate Professor Eugene Tan of the Singapore Management University (SMU).

“But given that things have come to where they are, I think we can expect the Workers’ Party – as they have indicated – that they will take it in their stride, and they will not let this matter be a distraction for them.”

Singh was charged with two counts of giving false answers to a parliamentary committee convened to look into the conduct of Raeesah Khan, who lied in parliament about a rape case that she claimed was mishandled by police.

He is accused of lying to the Committee of Privileges in December 2021 in his testimony on two exchanges he had with Ms Khan on Aug 8, 2021 and Oct 3, 2021 about her lie in parliament.

Singh pleaded not guilty. The punishment for each charge is up to three years in jail and a fine of up to S$7,000 (US$5,200).

Under laws passed in May 2022, a person is disqualified from standing for election to become an MP, while a sitting MP will lose their seat, if they are jailed for at least one year or fined at least S$10,000. The disqualification lasts for five years.

In Singh’s case, the prosecution intends to ask the court to impose a fine. His fate as an MP if he is found guilty depends on how the Constitution is read, law experts told CNA earlier.

In a statement after his court appearance, Singh said he would continue with all his parliamentary and town council duties – as MP for Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) – “until the legal process comes to a complete close”.

If Singh is found guilty before the next GE, this will affect his credibility and there will minimally be “reputational damage” to the WP, which will have to show it is as “scrupulous” as the ruling People’s Action Party, said Assoc Prof Tan.

But a guilty verdict is unlikely to change the minds of staunch opposition supporters, and will likely only affect the considerations of voters not affiliated with any political party, he said.

If the case is still ongoing by the time the GE is called, independent political analyst Dr Felix Tan said it would be used as “a bargaining chip to entice Singaporeans to not vote for the WP but to vote for the PAP because they are more reliable”.

However, Dr Gillian Koh, senior research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), pointed out that the WP contested the 2015 and 2020 elections with the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council case “hanging over them”.

The WP teams fielded to Aljunied GRC, including Singh, were still re-elected, she noted.

“They put themselves forward as being unfazed by these threats and challenges, and therefore try to convey how courageous and committed they are to serving the people,” she said.

Political observers told CNA that at this stage, the charges would not affect Singh's ability to act as Leader of the Opposition and WP secretary-general.

Most analysts were of the view that he still commands the party’s support.

SMU's Assoc Prof Tan said the WP would be “determined to close ranks" behind Singh, and they would not want the case to get in the way of serving their constituents.

IPS' Dr Koh said that supporters would feel that the case "reinforces his standing and role as a leading opposition politician in Singapore", while others would question his actions in the matter involving Ms Khan.

“It will be up to Mr Singh to decide if he wants to step aside as it is very unlikely that any (younger leaders) would want to push him out,” she said.

“He has a strong standing among their supporters in WP-held constituencies, and the WP leaders would want to hang on to that political capital and build on it.”

The only challenge Singh might face would be if there is “a preponderance of opinion” in the WP or among influential former members that “he defends himself so robustly as to embarrass Ms Khan badly or is unfair to her when disputing her countervailing set of facts” at the Committee of Privileges.

“We can only tell when Mr Singh is before the court,” said Dr Koh.

She added that she did not foresee Singh stepping down voluntarily from parliament if he is found guilty, as long as the penalties do not cross the threshold for disqualifying him as an MP.

If Singh does step down as secretary-general, or is forced to, Dr Koh pointed to younger leaders in the party stepping up to the plate.

Dr Tan raised the possibility of retired WP chief Low Thia Kiang returning to politics to temporarily fill in as secretary-general.

In his statement, Singh also said: “When I first entered politics some years ago now, I was under no illusion as to the challenges that lay ahead in building a more balanced and democratic political system in Singapore.”

Asked about these comments, independent analyst Dr Tan said: “In Singapore politics over the many, many years, there has always been a situation where opposition party members are being put to a corner and tested within the political system to prove (themselves) as a reliable, honest, perhaps clean political party that can maybe (be) a substitute for the PAP in the long run.

“I think what he’s saying is that no matter what, as long as he comes from the opposition political party, there will always be these certain constraints on the opposition party members and of course, challenges to their influence.”

IPS’ Dr Koh said Singh was “trying to remind voters that there is need for the opposition and convince Singaporean voters that it is par for the course that the governing party will do what it can to hamper them”.

“He is trying to elevate his and his party’s role to say that whatever the obstacles and the price they have to pay, they are still committed to ensuring the higher goal of making democracy real in Singapore.

“This works except when we remind ourselves that integrity is central to the political value system in Singapore, and that it is what the broader set of Singapore voters expect of members of both the governing and opposition parties.”

She added that “further expansion of the WP would depend very much on reinforcing their political outreach at the ground level, campaigning on the message that there have to be alternative voices in parliament, and denying the PAP a clean sweep, which means supporting the political underdog – a perception which Mr Singh knows these developments could serve to reinforce”.