Pritam Singh raises his hand eight times before being allowed to respond to Minister S Iswaran’s replies

Leader of the Opposition (LO) Pritam Singh struggled to get the attention of the Deputy Speaker in Parliament on Monday (10 May), as he wanted to respond to the replies made by Minister for Communication and Information S Iswaran on the issue of the Government’s funding to Singapore Press Holdings’ (SPH) not-for-profit media entity.

Failing to get called the first time Mr Iswaran made his response to his earlier questions, Mr Singh continued to hold his hand up after each Member of Parliament (MP) had finished their questions.

Only after his eight attempt that he was finally noticed by the Deputy Speaker to be given the chance to speak.

Netizens’ reactions towards the seemingly “biased and partial” scene

Commenting under TOC’s Facebook post of the scene at Parliament, netizens called out the Deputy Speaker for his “selective visual attention” given that Mr Singh’s hand “was raised high enough for all to see”.

Many commenters labelled the incident as “unprofessional”, “inequitable”, and an “unfair act”.

One of them even asserted that it was “obviously biased and partial”.