Singaporeans and the mainstream media were quick to blame the Workers’ Party for encouraging Raeesah Khan to continue with her lies. But in reality, she has herself (and her English) to blame for the whole saga.
It all started because she did not understand Pritam Singh’s instruction. A day before her lie, Pritam Singh read through her draft speech. He circled the part about her accompanying a sexual assault victim to the police station and wrote: “Substantiate?“
Raeesah Khan admitted during the Committee of Privileges hearing that she did not understand what he meant by “substantiate” so she did not respond to him. If only she had better understanding of English, she could have stopped herself from lying in Parliament.
The whole saga happened because she was bad at English and equally bad at reading the situation. Could she be a mole?
Raeesah Khan is trouble. It is enough that she got herself in deep shit. We cannot let her single-handedly drag the whole party down with her.
