SINGAPORE, Dec 7 — The Workers’ Party (WP) has refuted claims that party leaders told former Member of Parliament (MP) Yaw Shin Leong to remain silent about the allegations of his extramarital affair in 2012.
Leon Perera, WP’s media chair, said in a press statement today that former secretary-general Low Thia Khiang and party chairman Sylvia Lim “categorically state that they did not advise Yaw to stay silent”.
“In fact, he was summoned to appear before the Workers’ Party central executive committee to account for the matter, but chose not to do so.”
Yesterday, Yaw — under the alias of Amos Rao — wrote on his Facebook page that Low and Lim advised him to remain silent when allegations of his affair with a married woman surfaced.
Yaw’s post came days after the party’s current secretary-general Pritam Singh said at a press conference that the former MP was dismissed from WP because he did not hold himself accountable to the party and the public after allegations of the affair emerged.
Singh was responding to a question from a reporter about the parallels between Yaw’s dismissal and former member Raeesah Khan’s resignation in November.
Yaw was elected MP for Hougang in the 2011 General Election.
In January 2012, allegations of his affair with a married woman emerged.
Yaw told the media then that he would not be commenting on the rumours.
On February 15 that year, the party announced Yaw’s expulsion. This triggered a by-election in the single-member constituency that saw WP member Png Eng Huat taking over Yaw’s post as Hougang MP.
Yaw said in his Facebook post yesterday that he was “not entertaining any media queries and will leave (the matter) as it is”. — TODAY
