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Workers’ Party (WP) Member of Parliament Raeesah Khan’s recent move to speak about the worrying manner in which survivors of sexual assault have been treated by the police from a systemic standpoint was unfortunately met with rebuke by two ministers in Parliament.
In raising those concerns, Ms Khan relayed her experience of accompanying a survivor in her interview with the police whereby the police officer, in that case, made comments about the survivor’s attire and drinking.
More police officers, thus, need to be trained to handle such cases more sensitively, she said. She added that counsellors should also be deployed at police stations, which will boost the authorities’ capacity to handle such cases and give survivors more confidence to file reports.
Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Desmond Tan sought clarification from Ms Raeesah later regarding the specific incident.
“We take any form of questions raised about how the police have handled or mishandled this case very seriously, and it should be investigated,” he said.
Ms Raeesah clarified that her reference had no intention to cast aspersions on the police.
“The police is part of the solution, not the problem. I raised the example because it was my experience with the survivor,” she remarked, adding that she does not want to bring up the specific case again as she does not want to retraumatise the survivor.
The reason behind raising the issue, Ms Khan said, is to note that such cases are not isolated and that it is an issue that needs to be addressed on an institutional level.
Mr Tan then said that Ms Khan should file a parliamentary question on the specific issue if she wishes to discuss it.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Indranee Rajah then interjected to remind Members of the House to use their parliamentary privilege in a responsible manner.
“I just wanted to remind members of the House that when assertions and allegations are made, members must be prepared to substantiate them,” said Ms Indranee in her capacity as Leader of the House.
This is particularly crucial when a claim is made against a body that is not in a position to defend itself, she said.
https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/20...s-against-lee-hsien-yang-in-oxley-road-debate