Tan Chuan-Jin said the recording of the session had been circulating, and he had to listen to it as he did not recall the occasion. - GOV.SG
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin has apologised to Workers’ Party MP Jamus Lim for using “unparliamentary language” that was caught on a hot mic during a Parliament sitting in April.
Tan said in a Facebook post on Tuesday morning that the recording of the session had been circulating, and he had to listen to it as he “did not recall the occasion”.
Tan is heard muttering “****ing populist” on the microphone during the first day of debate on the President’s Address on April 17, after Associate Professor Lim finished a speech of about 20 minutes on doing more to help the lower-income groups here. The opposition politician suggested in his speech the establishment of an official poverty line.
“When I listen to speeches made, like everyone, I do form views on them. What was said were my private thoughts which I had muttered to myself and not to anyone,” said Tan on Facebook.
“However I should not have expressed them aloud or in unparliamentary language, and I apologise for that. I have also spoken to (Prof Lim)... to make that apology as well; which he has kindly accepted.”
Prof Lim commented on Tan’s post at about noon, saying Tan had called him and that he has accepted the apology.
On Monday night, a YouTube video of the five-hour-long Parliament sitting was uploaded on social media platform Reddit.
It was titled “SG Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin insults Jamus Lim: ‘****ing Populist’”.
In September 2021, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan apologised to Progress Singapore Party Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai for calling him “illiterate” and questioning his educational credentials in Parliament.
Dr Balakrishnan’s comments were heard in the background when Leong was engaged with several ministers in a parliamentary debate.
