No further action was necessary by Singapore’s parliament against Workers’ Party (WP) politicians Sylvia Lim and Faisal Manap over their lying under oath, as the case fell outside a legal time bar, Leader of the House Indranee Rajah said on Tuesday.
“Had the timelines been different, I would have proposed a different course of action,” she told parliament while delivering a ministerial statement on a “determination” of the Committee of Privileges’ (COP) findings on Lim and Faisal.
Lim is a sitting member of parliament for Aljunied GRC. Faisal lost his seat after contesting Tampines GRC instead of Aljunied in the 2025 general election.
“This outcome has happened because even though this house was entitled to act on the committee’s findings in 2021, it decided to give Lim and Faisal the benefit of the doubt for the time being,” Indranee said.
She stressed that the time bar provisions of the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act (PPIPA) must be observed. This was even though the COP’s findings were “effectively confirmed” by the High Court’s judgment that WP chief Pritam Singh lied to the same committee, she added.
Knowingly giving false evidence to a parliamentary committee was dishonourable conduct and a serious contempt of parliament, dealt with under the PPIPA, Indranee said.