Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Leong Mun Wai has amended his Facebook (FB) post published on Monday (20 Mar) in light of the heated exchange that he had with the Minister for Home Affairs and Law, K Shanmugam, in Parliament on Wednesday.
The 20 March FB post by the Progress Singapore Party member had called into question the alleged double standard of the Government by disclosing the police investigation against Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Mrs Lee Suet Fern by Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean and Mr Shanmugam’s characterisation of the couple as having “absconded”.
The FB post then led Mr Leong being called back to the Parliament—in the midst of the mourning of his mother who passed away last Friday—for a sitting on Wednesday where Mr Shanmugam grilled Mr Leong over the points highlighted in his 20 March FB post.
Mr Shanmugam questioned Mr Leong’s posting of the Facebook post, made after the parliament sitting on Monday, saying that he had repeatedly breached parliamentary procedures.
He cited three examples and accused Mr Leong of violating Section 31(g) of the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act, which prohibits the publication of any statement that “falsely or scandalously” defames a member of the House.
Mr Shanmugam asked Mr Leong to delete his Facebook post, accept that he had misrepresented his position, and apologize.
He also asked Mr Leong to either substantiate or withdraw a statement he made in Parliament on Monday that the people involved in the Keppel Offshore & Marine (KOM) corruption case were “actually guilty.”
In the course of the exchange, Mr Leong objected to Mr Shanmugam’s questioning and refused to withdraw his statements, prompting Mr Shanmugam to state at the end of the session that “next steps” will be considered over the NCMP’s behaviour of “abusing parliamentary privilege” and breaching parliamentary rules.
Admits wrong in suggesting Keppel executives were all guilty
Mr Leong made an explanation post yesterday on why he had made the Facebook post on Monday, saying that his 20 March FB post was intended to raise certain points that were weighing on his mind after he had deliberated on Mr Shanmugam’s response to his Parliamentary Question earlier that day.
“As I confirmed in Parliament, it was not my intent to cast aspersions on the Ministers nor act in an unparliamentary manner. The points were raised solely in the public interest.”
He said that he decided to withdraw those statements by deleting them from the Facebook post which he made on Monday evening which he thinks should address the concerns raised.
Mr Leong, however, said that he will not be deleting the entire Facebook post because he considers other points mentioned as valid and were not objected by members of the House and that it would be a disproportionate response to delete the entire post.
He later amended the post on Friday to acknowledge that he was wrong to suggest the six former Keppel executives were all guilty and that their names need not be disclosed because they were not charged.
