SINGAPORE: Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh said on Wednesday (Jul 19) that the party will regain Singaporeans’ trust by continuing to hold the government to account and serving residents in its wards, in the wake of an extramarital affair that prompted the resignations of two WP members.
Mr Singh was responding to questions at a press conference where he announced that Aljunied Member of Parliament Leon Perera and WP Youth Wing president Nicole Seah had resigned.
Both were in the opposition party’s Central Executive Committee.
Mr Singh told reporters that while the party leadership was alerted to allegations of an affair around 2021, Mr Perera and Ms Seah denied it then.
But after a video surfaced on Monday in which the pair appeared to be behaving intimately at a restaurant, they admitted to an affair and resigned from the party.
The WP chief added that Mr Perera and Ms Seah had an affair after the 2020 General Election, but it had stopped “some time ago”.
Following his explanation, Mr Singh was asked how the WP will move forward from this episode, with one reporter asking how the party will regain the trust and confidence of Singaporeans.
Mr Singh said that the “important forum” for the party to gain the trust of Singaporeans is parliament.
“I think Singaporeans expect the Workers’ Party to hold the government to account to make sure that we don’t have a one-party dominant state … we have to continue to work hard to encourage and persuade good Singaporeans to come forward and be part of a balancing force, which is in Singapore’s interests,” he said.
He added that the party will continue its work on the ground in its town councils – Aljunied-Hougang and Sengkang.