No by-election for Faishal's seat, confirms Desmond Lee; Seah vows team will work "doubly hard"
PAP chairman Desmond Lee confirmed no by-election will follow Faishal Ibrahim's resignation from Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC. Speaker Seah Kian Peng, addressing residents at Kembangan, said the team's four remaining MPs would work doubly hard to serve constituents.
- Desmond Lee confirms no by-election; cites precedent from earlier GRC vacancies.
- Seah Kian Peng says remaining four MPs will work "doubly hard" for Kembangan residents.
- Party still deciding how to strengthen team's Malay-Muslim representation.
Education Minister and People's Action Party (PAP) chairman Desmond Lee confirmed on 20 July that no by-election would be held following Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim's resignation as Member of Parliament (MP) for Marine Parade-Braddell Heights Group Representation Constituency (GRC).
Speaking to reporters, Lee said the key consideration was whether residents' needs continued to be adequately met, rather than whether the vacated seat needed to be filled through an election. He cited earlier instances in which Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) faced similar vacancies without a by-election being called.
Lee's position is consistent with a 2019 Court of Appeal ruling, Wong Souk Yee v Attorney-General, which held that Article 49(1) of the Constitution does not require a by-election when a single seat in a GRC falls vacant.
The court found that a by-election is only required once every seat held by a GRC's team has been vacated, a position reinforced by Section 24(2A) of the Parliamentary Elections Act, which expressly bars a by-election writ for a GRC "unless all the Members for that constituency have vacated their seats".
The case arose after former PAP Member of Parliament Halimah Yacob resigned from Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC in 2017 to contest the presidency, which she won by a walkover after being the only candidate to qualify, without a by-election being called for her vacated GRC seat.
Lee's reference to earlier cases points to a wider pattern. Halimah Yacob's 2017 resignation from Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC is one instance; Raeesah Khan's resignation from Sengkang GRC in November 2021 and Tharman Shanmugaratnam's resignation from Jurong GRC in June 2023 to contest the presidency are two more Lee's remarks appear to reference directly. S Iswaran's resignation from West Coast GRC in January 2024, amid corruption charges, is a further case. Each held their GRC's designated Malay or Indian minority seat at the time of resignation, and none was followed by a by-election.
Lee said the GRC's four remaining MPs would "step up, step forward, put in extra effort" to ensure Kembangan residents were taken care of, across all communities and backgrounds. He said the party would announce further arrangements in due course to strengthen the team.
Asked whether the team would be well positioned to represent the Malay-Muslim community in Parliament, Lee said all MPs served all communities, including the Malay-Muslim community, but that additional arrangements were being worked out to ensure the team remained well positioned to do so.
A reporter asked whether an arrangement similar to that following Halimah Yacob's resignation might be considered again, when Zaqy Mohamad moved over as grassroots adviser from the neighbouring Chua Chu Kang GRC. Lee said there were "many possibilities" being actively worked on, without confirming specifics.
Asked by a Straits Times reporter about the nature of Faishal's communications with the woman involved, Lee said the essential facts were as outlined in the Prime Minister's Office statement: that the interactions were mostly online, with a few physical engagements at public events, and that Faishal had recognised he should have exercised better judgement and drawn clearer boundaries.
Lee said the matter had come to the Prime Minister's Office's attention about a month earlier, after which Prime Minister Lawrence Wong asked for it to be looked into immediately.
On whether Faishal would have been allowed to remain an MP had he not offered to resign, Lee did not answer directly, saying the PAP's code of conduct was communicated annually to all MPs and office-holders, and that Faishal's acknowledgement that his conduct had fallen short, followed by his decision to resign, was the correct course of action.
Lee acknowledged the Malay-Muslim community would have particular concerns, given the Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs portfolio addressed their specific issues, but said the government's commitment to the community remained firm, and that it would support Acting Minister Zaqy Mohamad in representing their concerns.
Asked about safeguards for MPs communicating with residents through WhatsApp and social media, Lee said the existing code of conduct applied equally to online and offline interactions.
Team to work "doubly hard", says Seah Kian Peng
Separately, Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng addressed reporters at Faishal's scheduled Meet-the-People session (MPS) in Kembangan, alongside fellow Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC MPs Goh Pei Ming and Diana Pang. Tin Pei Ling was overseas and unable to attend.
Seah, who said he had known Faishal for over 20 years and considered him a close friend, said he had spoken to Faishal over the weekend, during which Faishal apologised to residents, volunteers and his fellow MPs.
He said the team had met with Faishal's grassroots leaders and volunteers before the press conference, and gave an assurance that commitments made to residents across the GRC, including Kembangan, would not change.
"We will step up, we will step forward and we will work doubly hard," Seah said, adding that the team's Meet-the-People session would proceed as normal that evening, with at least one MP present at all times going forward.
Seah said the team would discuss additional resources and support from PAP headquarters, following Lee's earlier remarks that further arrangements would be made to strengthen the team.
Asked whether Faishal's absence would be felt strongly in Geylang Serai, given its significance to the Malay-Muslim community, Seah said the area belonged to all of Singapore, and that Zaqy Mohamad would outline further plans, working with a team of Malay MPs, on addressing the needs of the Malay-Muslim ground.
Asked whether the party was considering options such as moving an MP over from a neighbouring GRC, or appointing a non-MP to take on related responsibilities, Seah said there were "various options" under discussion with party headquarters, and that a decision would be shared once finalised.
He said community initiatives already planned for Kembangan would continue unchanged, with several to be announced in the coming months, while the division of specific responsibilities among the remaining MPs would be worked out over the following days.
Seah said feedback from grassroots leaders had raised no unusual concerns beyond questions about continuity of support, and that volunteers had reaffirmed their commitment to the team.
On current arrangements, Seah said three of the remaining MPs held Meet-the-People sessions on Mondays, with Goh Pei Ming and Diana Pang holding theirs on Tuesdays, an arrangement the team hoped to formalise further in the coming weeks.
Background to the resignation
Faishal's resignation followed a letter of resignation sent to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on 20 July, in which Faishal cited a "lapse of judgment" in his handling of interactions with a woman who is a member of the public. He said there had been no physical relationship between them, and that he had not intended for the interactions to develop into one, but that he had failed to establish clearer boundaries at an earlier stage.
Faishal said that on reflection, he recognised his conduct had "fell short of the standards expected of me and was not consistent with the responsibilities entrusted to me". He resigned as a political office-holder, as MP for Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, and as a member of the PAP, saying he had decided to step away from politics to focus on his family.
In a statement issued the same day, PM Wong said most of the interactions between Faishal and the woman took place through online messages, with the pair also meeting on the sidelines of public events. He said the matter first came to his office's attention around a month earlier, after it received an email from the woman concerning her interactions with the minister.
PM Wong said he asked for the matter to be looked into immediately, and that both Faishal and the woman were spoken to separately as part of that process. Both parties subsequently made allegations of harassment against each other, and the matter was referred to the police.
Following investigation, and in consultation with the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC), authorities assessed that no criminal offence had been committed by either party, and that no criminal action would be taken.
PM Wong said a separate question remained as to whether Faishal's conduct had met the standards expected of a political office-holder and MP. "Upon reflecting on the matter, Associate Professor Faishal accepted that his conduct fell short of these standards, and tendered his resignation," he said.
In his letter accepting the resignation, also dated 20 July, PM Wong said he was saddened Faishal was leaving politics under these circumstances, but appreciated his acknowledgement that his conduct had fallen short and his decision to take responsibility for it. He credited Faishal, 58, with significant contributions over 20 years of public service, including his role over the past year as Acting Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs.
Faishal had also served as Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and sat on the PAP's central executive committee. Zaqy Mohamad, previously Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment and for Defence, was appointed Acting Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs with immediate effect.
