ATTACK ON THE PRESS BY THE MEMBER FOR POTONG PASIR

Dr Yeo Ning Hong: Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, as Standing Orders would only permit me to make a statement in the morning, I will make it this morning even though the Member for Potong Pasir is yet again slow in taking up his seat and is not here.

Sir, yesterday, I rose to tender a transcript of the Member's speech given on Monday to provide him with the exact words which he asked for on Monday.

Mr Chiam See Tong entered the Chamber and took his seat.

Dr Yeo Ning Hong: Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, with your permission, I would like to start again.

Mr Deputy Speaker: All right.

Dr Yeo Ning Hong: Sir, yesterday, I rose to tender a transcript of the speech given by the Member for Potong Pasir on Monday in order to give him the exact words that he asked for, which he said he would repeat outside the House. I rise again this morning to give the Member the opportunity to respond.

Mr Chiam See Tong (Potong Pasir): I have to make it very clear that I have no intention whatsoever to defame anyone, including local journalists. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have made a mistake in citing a local senior journalist in this House on 23rd March and I would now like to apologize to him.

Some hon. Members: Hear, hear!

Dr Yeo Ning Hong: Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am happy to note that in rising to protect the interest of all Singaporeans against MPs who make scurrilous remarks about them, I have managed to get the Member for Potong Pasir to withdraw his statement and to apologize to the journalist concerned.

Sir, this is important. The purpose of it all is not to challenge any individual Member of Parliament but to protect the interest of the public. On this particular occasion, it is a journalist. On another occasion, it can be an engineer, an accountant, a hawker, a bus driver, anybody, anybody who crosses the path of MPs. They should not be attacked in this House where the member of the public is unable to defend himself.

Sir, I would also like to bring to the attention of the House the fact that the Member, in his speech on Monday, has also misled the House. The Member told us that the article that he took offence with was headlined, "PAP will win". According to a newspaper report in the Straits Times this morning, an article with such a headline did not exist. The headline was "PAP is confident of win in Anson today". This is totally different from what the Member for Potong Pasir told us the other day.