MEMBER FOR ANSON'S ALLEGATIONS ABOUT

Mr Jeyaretnam: Mr Speaker, Sir, I have sought your leave to make a short statement about the matter on which I was referred to the Committee of Privileges yesterday. The Minister for Home Affairs then asked whether I had the address of this man who had complained to my friend about him being arrested, and I said I did not have it or I was not able to furnish it. But this morning the man who gave me this information and from whom I had a signed statement has sent me the address of this man. He told me earlier that he did not know the new address to which the man had moved. The address now is: Lim Poh Huat. He lives at Block 100, 567-D (I suppose he has given the old numbering), Aljunied Crescent, Singapore. I do not know what the postal code number is. That is the address, and if the Minister would like to send the Police to look for this man, they will find him there.

The Minister for Home Affairs and the Second Minister for Law (Prof. S. Jayakumar): Mr Speaker, Sir, may I ask a question of the Member for Anson? Will he also give me a copy of the signed statement which he said was the sole basis on which he raised the complaint in the House?

Mr Jeyaretnam: Mr Speaker, Sir, certainly. I told the Minister yesterday that if he wished to interview the man who gave me the statement (and it is in a signed statement as well, but he spoke to me orally first), he is very welcome to do so. I have told the man and he is ready to be interviewed by the Minister or by anybody.

Prof. Jayakumar: So that I will be absolutely sure, Mr Speaker, Sir, that no statement is going to be fabricated after this meeting, may I know the name of the person who had given him the signed statement?

Mr Jeyaretnam: I do not understand about statements may be fabricated, but I will let that pass. It is all the insinuations that come from this Minister in particular, and generally from the Government Benches. The man's name is Mr P. Senivaratne. I think that's how you spell it. And as I have told the Minister, I know this man. He is a member of my church and he is a man whose integrity I respect.

Prof. Jayakumar: Is he the gentleman who is a journalist by the name of Percy Seneviratne?

Mr Jeyaretnam: Yes.

Prof. Jayakumar: Ah, Members will no doubt make the connection. This is the journalist who writes (a) glowing accounts of a Member of Parliament in a foreign press; and (b) writes damaging and embarrassing articles about Singapore.