Leong Mun Wai clarifies podcast remark, denies criticizing Speaker's impartiality

SINGAPORE: Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Leong Mun Wai clarified that his recent remark on a podcast was not intended to imply bias on the part of the Speaker of Parliament towards impartiality.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday (25 June), Mr Leong explained that his comment during the "Yah Lah But" podcast appearance was meant to be light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek.

Former Secretary-General of the Progress Singapore Party, Leong Mun Wai, had guested on the podcast, which was shared on 14 May.

During the podcast, host Haresh commented, "I mean, at least for (the debates) that we were there, whenever the Speaker says, okay, any questions, you're one of the first to put your hands up."

Leong responded with a chuckle, "And one of the last to be called."

The exchange can be viewed here:

In his Facebook post, Leong mentioned that Speaker Seah Kian Peng had alerted him that his remark "may be construed as casting aspersions on his impartiality in calling MPs. ".

In response, Mr Leong clarified that his response to Haresh's earlier comment was intended as a light-hearted remark at the beginning of the podcast to set a relaxed tone.

He emphasized that his comment was not a reflection of the Speaker's impartiality and acknowledged instances where the Speaker had called on him ahead of other members.

Mr Leong's challenging work to fulfil his duty in Parliament

While Mr Leong clarified that his recent remark was not a reflection on the Speaker's impartiality, his role as an NCMP from an alternative party made his duty in the Chamber—scrutinizing the government and voicing concerns of ordinary Singaporeans—more challenging compared to MPs from the ruling People's Action Party (PAP).

For instance, in March, Mr Leong expressed disappointment with Education Minister Chan Chun Sing for not addressing MPs’ Parliamentary Questions (PQs) on Israel-Palestinian content within character and citizenship education (CCE) lessons through a Ministerial Statement.

At the time, Mr Leong demanded that the PQ times be reinstated to 1.5 hours instead of half an hour.

However, Speaker Seah Kian Peng rejected Mr Leong’s request and preferred to maintain the originally allocated time.

Speaker Seah reiterated that the issues regarding the CCE lesson had been extensively discussed during the Ministry of Education’s COS debate on 4 March, despite Mr Leong expressing the importance of the issue which had garnered significant concern from Singaporeans.

Following this, the issue was deferred to the 2 April parliamentary sitting.

In 2023, PSP filed a motion advocating for an "independent and impartial Speaker" following a hot mic incident involving former Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin.

In his speech, Leong Mun Wai proposed that the Speaker should be "non-partisan" or at least not from the core leadership of the PAP Central Executive Committee (CEC).

However, PAP MP Vikram Nair disagreed, suggesting amendments to the PSP's motion. He argued that Speakers do not automatically lack independence in their duties simply because they are members of a party or its leadership.

The Leader of the House, Indranee Rajah, concurred that the Speaker must be independent and impartial but disagreed with Leong's interpretation of "independent" as meaning "non-partisan".