SINGAPORE: The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Wednesday (Jan 21) evening agreed with the Workers’ Party (WP) that the leader of the main opposition party in parliament would be the natural choice to serve as Leader of the Opposition.
However, this was an “exceptional situation”, said the PMO, given that the former Leader of the Opposition, WP chief Pritam Singh, had been “criminally convicted by the courts of lying to parliament, and parliament has resolved that his conviction and conduct render him unsuitable to continue in the role”.
“In other jurisdictions, members convicted of crimes involving dishonesty or lying under oath would ordinarily have resigned. This has not happened here,” the PMO said in a statement after the WP announced that it would reject Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s invitation to nominate a new Leader of the Opposition.
The PMO said that the government had accepted the decision, and that the position would therefore remain vacant “until such time that the WP is ready to nominate someone to take on this responsibility”.
In its statement, the PMO also said that Singapore places “a high premium on honesty and integrity” in its political system and “on respect for the rule of law”.
“Members of Parliament, especially those in leadership positions, must exemplify these values and uphold the integrity of our system,” it said.