Workers’ Party’s Pritam Singh has faced his fair share of tough questions, and that he did once more as a guest on CNA series The Assembly. In the latest ep, the Leader of the Opposition faced a panel of neurodivergent interviewers who didn’t hold back when it came to asking him some really candid, unscripted questions. 

While he spoke about his personal journey as a politician and the party’s recent controversies, Pritam was also met with this question about his former colleagues: “What really happened in the room when you confronted Nicole and Leon with their video about their affair?”

Workers’ Party politicians Nicole Seah and Leon Perera, who were both married, were found to have had an extramarital affair when a video of them holding hands surfaced. Subsequently, they resigned from both the party and their political positions in July 2023. 

Pritam said: “This is a difficult question for me to answer, because both of them right now have gone on with their lives. And I’m sure [it] was a difficult time for their family members too.”

He added: “For both of them, they have made significant contributions to the Workers’ Party, and I prefer to remember them for that.”

Pritam was then asked if he felt “betrayed or threatened in any way” when the former members lied to him when he confronted them about the rumours of their affair in late 2020. 

At the time, both Nicole and Leon denied the allegations, and Pritam accepted their denials. 

He calmly replied: “I think on reflection, I would say no. At that point, of course, you wish you knew what was the truth, but I wouldn’t say I felt betrayed because some of the things that had happened with them, it’s quite a private matter.”

He then added: “There’s a part of me that feels [it’s a private matter], but you know, in politics, there are very few private matters. Everything tends to come in the open, and some things that come in the open are not so simple to deal with."

Photos: CNA

Catch The Assembly 2 on mewatch or watch the full interview below.