Saying that the "court of public opinion can be a bigger court than any court in the world", while he is waiting for the court to rule on his appeal is not the only controversial thing that the Workers' Party leader said during his first national interview on CNA's Assembly.
Responding to the same question about the Raeesah Khan lying scandal he also said the following:
"...ultimately you answer to your conscience first. [...] if there was something my conscience was not in agreement with, I don't think I will be sitting here today."
Really? He doesn't think he could have done anything better? That he could have behaved in a different way?
Now, I'm not talking about the subject of lying under oath, which the court is going to settle soon. Perhaps Pritam Singh does think he did nothing wrong, that the COP merely misunderstood him and he's fighting to clear his name now. OK, fine.
But what about his conduct that is not a part of the criminal investigation?
Would the Workers' Party members really, honestly say that their secretary-general couldn't have been more responsible in the handling of the whole affair?
Let's remember that even Low Thia Khiang admitted in court that he was surprised that the leadership had not addressed the problem head-on before reaching out to him for advice on how to handle it after more than two months.
Your actions don't have to be illegal to be immoral or incompetent.
While Pritam may not have told Raeesah to lie, and the court is about to decide if he lied to COP, there's no denying that he is co-responsible for the whole thing getting out of hand.
He did not address the problem immediately when it arose in August of 2021, he did not clarify it over subsequent two months and, with the best will in the world, telling someone it's their "call" is not a clear instruction to admit the truth, even if that was his real intent.
Whether or not Pritam is guilty of a crime I don't believe that even he thinks his conscience is crystal clear.
He had control over how the situation played out and he objectively could have acted in a much better way to contain it before it blew up in his face, tarnishing the image of his party – leading which is his responsibility.
Featured image: Youtube / CNA
