Singapore government's supporters seem to be skeptical as to whether the fallout from the Khan affair is going to hurt the Workers' Party in the long run - and I agree, that many of its followers will remain unfazed, seeing its troubles as bullying by the PAP (what will only reinforce their belief in how "oppressive" it is).
Since political preferences are often driven by emotions not reason, some people simply can do no wrong in the eyes of their fans - even if facts prove the contrary.Nevertheless, not all voters are blind zealots and it's quite clear that - even if you want to be really, really kind to Pritam - he has, at the very least, made a string of very bad errors that do not befit a party leader.
Many cheered him on as he dodged questions that Edwin Tong peppered him with during the hearing in December - but what it also showed is that both before the COP and in conversations he had with Raeesah he was, at best, ambiguous and, at worst, manipulative, concerned chiefly with avoiding any personal responsibility.
The sheer fact that he could not give a straight answer as to why the party hadn't acted to clarify the lie for 2 months or why he didn't simply tell his MP: "Raeesah, tomorrow just tell the truth" on Oct. 3 must be troubling even to his staunchest supporters.
After all - WP does not have any legislative or executive responsibility in the country (save for its Town Councils). The thing that has for long defined its role in Singaporean politics was being a check on the government. As the, seemingly, well-intentioned people its leaders occupied the moral high ground, often acting as defenders of the underprivileged and, much like the legendary Robin Hood, they like propose taking more from the rich to give away to the poor.
But how can they now be seen as capable of checking the government when they can't even deal with lies in their own ranks?How can they represent the working class when they fielded an inexperienced 20-something from a millionaire family and, when she lied in the parliament, displayed a great deal of reluctance to clarify her false tale, which had for months tarnished SPF's good name?
What was it about "ownself check ownself", that - oh the irony - Pritam himself came up with?
In its statement following the COP report, Workers' Party tried to spin the results of the inquiry as politically motivated. But doesn't that reek of hypocrisy?
If they consider themselves necessary to check the government, then who is supposed to check them? Shouldn't this supervision go both ways?If WP wants to have a say on PAP's behavior, shouldn't the PAP, similarly, judge what Workers' Party MPs are doing?
Now, just think what would have happened if WP was in charge. Would the COP inquiry ever be launched? Who would be in a position to question Raeesah Khan's story or demand a panel to be convened to investigate the matter? Would WP MPs support it, given their current response to the affair?
Or is Pritam saying that WP should be a check on the PAP but when PAP MPs are investigating the lies told by the Workers' Party members in the parliament, it suddenly becomes political persecution?
WP and Pritam himself have for long played holier-than-thou, promising transparency, honesty, integrity - and yet when a serious lie came from within their ranks they not only failed to take necessary action but are unable to explain why, while circumstantial evidence suggests that they may have been hoping it would never be necessary.
And it doesn't really matter whether Pritam gets fined and loses his seat and leadership of the party. Even if he survives in politics, all that he ever promised will never be trustworthy again. It's not a stain that can be washed away.
