[This is a response to the Prime Minister's statement over the Hawker centre cleaning issue here: http://therealsingapore.com/content/statement-prime-ministers-office-aljunied-hougang-punggol-east-town-council-hawker-centre]
Response to PMO Statement dated 12 July 2013
1. I refer to para 8 of the statement where it was stated, “Mr Singh plagiarised an article from the Internet, passing it off word for word as his own speech.” I ask for your forbearance as I put this sentence into context, something that the PMO statement did not do.
2. I sought the blogger’s (Groundnotes) permission to use his post on the proposal for an Ombudsman for Singapore for a “cut” during the Supply Debate in March 2012. This fact is corroborated by the blogger (Groundnotes) himself: http://groundnotes.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/i-note-that-the/.
3. However, I did not caveat my Supply Debate cut on the Ombudsman to say that my speech was an abridged version of Groundnotes’ blogpost on the Ombudsman and more importantly, that I had secured Groudnotes’ permission to do so before delivering it. I should have done so to avoid any prospect of doubt or for aspersions to be cast over the matter. Even though the 2011 Supply Debate was my first experience of a Supply debate and took place about five months after I was sworn into parliament, I should have expected any oversight to be politically exploited for all it was worth. While my conscience has always been clear on the matter, I leave the public to judge why the PAP officially raised this issue some 16 months after it took place, that too in the context of a completely separate matter.
4. I continue to look forward to serving the people of Singapore, improving our lives, and to make my little contribution in bringing checks and balances to our parliamentary democracy through the Workers’ Party. That critical mission remains until a robust and broadly representative multi-party democracy takes root in Singapore.
PRITAM SINGH
WORKER'S PARTY MP