Seah Kian Peng on Leong Mun Wai’s complaint against Murali Pillai on rent control statement

In Parliament on Monday (Sep 18), Speaker Seah Kian Peng dealt with a complaint filed by NCMP Leong Mun Wai against MP Murali Pillai over his comments during the debate on the Bill on lease agreements for retail premises on Aug 3. Mr Murali had said Mr Leong had advocated “some form of rent control”. Mr Leong had alleged that Mr Murali imputed improper motives to him as he had not made any such statement. Mr Seah said he had perused the relevant statements and found that the statement did not suggest or impute any improper motive on the part of Mr Leong. He said rent control is a legitimate policy tool that can be implemented by any government. He added that there were exchanges between Mr Leong and Mr Murali in the House where both explained and clarified the context of their speeches. Mr Seah said looking at them in context and totality, Mr Murali did not impute any improper motives. Both had differing views of what each meant when they referred to rent control but “that is the nature of Parliamentary exchanges and debates”, he said. Mr Seah said there was no breach of privilege and the matter is now closed.