from msn.com:
WP Sylvia Lim slams ‘oppressive’ experience at COP hearing, citing toilet incident
SINGAPORE — The Workers’ Party (WP) chairman Sylvia Lim has criticised the “oppressive” treatment that she received when she was scheduled to give evidence at the recent Committee of Privileges (COP) hearings into the lies made by ex-Member of Parliament Raeesah Khan.
Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday (15 February), Lim called for guidelines to safeguard the dignity of such parliamentary hearings.
“When I needed to visit the bathroom, I was accompanied by security. When I requested to use the disabled toilet to have more space, permission was sought. Doesn’t all this border on oppressive? Our courts of law do not subject witnesses to such treatment,” Lim said.
Lim was speaking during a parliamentary debate on two motions relating to the COP’s recommendations to fine Raeesah $35,000 for lying to the House multiple times and abusing her parliamentary privilege; and for Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh and WP vice-chairman Faisal Manap to be referred to the public prosecutor for possible criminal charges. The motions were passed in Parliament on Tuesday night.
She noted that Faisal was questioned for about six hours in a single day while the questioning of Singh lasted for nine hours in a single day.
While her questioning was less than three hours, Lim said she waited for two days in a guarded room and was denied the use of any communication device.
On Wednesday, the Office of the Clerk of Parliament responded to Lim's comments in a statement. “At no time was permission needed for witnesses to use the toilet and they could make their own way there whenever they wanted,” the statement said.
Lim had asked a Parliament officer for her to use the nearest handicapped toilet to freshen up with more space and privacy, the statement added.
“Before showing Ms Lim the way, the officer had verbally informed a supervisor on their movement in case the COP called upon Ms Lim while she was at the toilet. It was unfortunate that Ms Lim had misunderstood the officer’s routine status update.”
The statement also referred to Lim’s comments that she was prevented from using any communication device while waiting to give her evidence. “To protect them against perceptions of undue influence, all witnesses were advised not to have communication devices and other electronic equipment with them until they have completed their testimonies.”
'Baffled' by COP's conclusion
On the COP hearings, Lim said the evidence she gave was “not inconsistent and not damaging” to Singh.
Lim said that the COP had used her handwritten note tendered by her to the COP as evidence against Singh, to support its finding that he had given Raeesah a free choice to continue the lie she had told in August.
Lim disagreed, saying that her own evidence was “consistent with his evidence that he was telling her (Raeesah), she had to tell the truth”.
Citing an extract, Lim said, “We see that when Mr Singh says to her ‘Can’t lie, right?’, Ms Khan does not contradict him – she says ‘Yes’, which is an acceptance that she cannot lie.”
Lim said she was “baffled” by the COP’s conclusion that she had recognised that Singh had acted contrary to an MP’s duty to tell the truth. She repeated in Parliament a paragraph of her evidence that she gave to the COP, “You see, it never crossed my mind and I cannot fathom this possibility that Pritam would have given her the option to choose between telling the truth or continuing the lie. That never crossed my mind and I do not believe it to be true.”
The COP did not quote this paragraph accurately when it stated that Lim was clear that a choice to tell the truth cannot be given to MPs, she told the House.
In addition, Lim read out four other paragraphs that she said were “curiously excluded” from a footnote of the COP, which formed the COP Chairman’s clarifications on the same topic. “If included and properly understood, I submit that my evidence does not support the COP’s conclusions,” Lim said.
In her speech, Lim also spoke about the composition of the COP and the processes involved during its hearings.
She said the COP was overwhelmingly dominated by the ruling People's Action Party members. Finding this “unsatisfactory”, Lim noted that the COP only had one out of its eight members from the opposition WP.
“If the Committee’s total strength is to remain at eight members in all, then three members should be from opposition parties. This is likely to result in a less one-sided hearing and fuller consideration of relevant evidence.”
Lim also questioned the absence of external lawyers from the COP hearings. She cited the example of a COP hearing in 1986, when Parliament allowed questioning conducted by a law officer of the Legal Service.
"It would seem to me that such a process is better. It would enable the Committee to sit back and concentrate on evaluating the evidence dispassionately, rather than have Committee members actively positing a certain case theory and trying to break witnesses down," Lim said.