No further action needed on WP's Sylvia Lim, Faisal Manap's COP conduct, given time bar: Leader of the House
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/sylvia-lim-faisal-manap-workers-party-indranee-rajah-parliament-6236801?cid=internal_sharetool_androidphone_07072026_cna
The Channel NewsAsia (CNA) article details a ministerial statement delivered in Parliament by Leader of the House Indranee Rajah regarding Workers’ Party (WP) chairwoman Sylvia Lim and vice-chair Faisal Manap.
### The Core Decision: No Further Action
Parliament **will not take further action or impose parliamentary sanctions** against Sylvia Lim and Faisal Manap regarding their conduct and evidence given during the 2021 Committee of Privileges (COP) inquiry into former MP Raeesah Khan’s lies.
The decision is due to a structural **"time bar"** (limitation period):
* The conduct in question occurred during the **14th Parliament**.
* Following the 2025 General Election, Singapore entered the **15th Parliament**.
* Indranee Rajah explained that, as a matter of parliamentary principle and law, a new Parliament cannot penalize members for contempt or dishonourable conduct committed during a previous parliamentary term that has since dissolved.
### The Context: Contradicting the Court's Findings
Despite taking no further action, Indranee Rajah's statement explicitly highlighted that the findings from the judiciary contradicted the evidence provided by Lim and Faisal Manap during the initial COP inquiry.
* **The Core Inconsistency:** During the COP inquiry, all three senior WP leaders (Pritam Singh, Sylvia Lim, and Faisal Manap) denied that Raeesah Khan was told to suppress her lies or "take it to the grave" during a meeting on August 8, 2021.
* **The Court’s Ruling:** In the criminal trial against WP chief Pritam Singh (whose convictions for lying to the COP were upheld by the High Court in December 2025), the court conclusively found that Khan’s untruths *were* discussed at that meeting, and that Pritam Singh had lied about telling her to take it to the grave.
* **The Implication:** Indranee noted that because the court firmly established what happened at that meeting, it logically follows that the evidence Lim and Faisal gave to the COP was untruthful. Under normal circumstances, intentionally giving false evidence to a parliamentary committee constitutes a serious contempt of Parliament and "dishonourable conduct."
### Background Timeline
* **Early 2022:** The COP concluded that Pritam Singh, Sylvia Lim, and Faisal Manap had lied under oath. Singh and Faisal were referred to the Public Prosecutor, while decisions on parliamentary sanctions for all three were deferred until legal proceedings concluded.
* **December 2025:** The High Court rejected Pritam Singh’s appeal, solidifying his conviction for lying to the COP.
* **January 2026:** Parliament passed a motion declaring Pritam Singh unsuitable to continue as the Leader of the Opposition, and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong subsequently removed him from the post. During that debate, Indranee noted that the court's judgment carried serious implications for Lim and Faisal that would be addressed separately.
* **June 2026:** At a Workers' Party cadre conference, Pritam Singh was retained as Secretary-General, while Sylvia Lim was re-elected as Party Chair, and Faisal Manap was returned to the Central Executive Committee.
* **July 2026:** This ministerial statement serves as the final parliamentary "determination" on Lim and Faisal's cases, officially closing the matter without further penalties due to the transition into the 15th Parliament.