{"id":9112,"date":"2025-11-05T17:58:34","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T09:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=9112"},"modified":"2025-11-05T17:58:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T09:58:34","slug":"kenneth-tiong-apologises-to-chee-hong-tat-over-stupid-question-comment-in-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=9112","title":{"rendered":"Kenneth Tiong apologises to Chee Hong Tat over \u2018stupid question\u2019 comment in Parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/live-singapore-parliament-nov-2025?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\"><b>Follow our live coverage here<\/b><\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE &#8211; Workers\u2019 Party MP Kenneth Tiong apologised to National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat on Nov 5 for calling his question \u201cstupid\u201d in Parliament. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng said he was disappointed in Mr Tiong\u2019s conduct, and reminded all MPs to maintain dignity and decorum. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mr Tiong (Aljunied GRC) then apologised, with Mr Chee accepting his apology.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The MP had made his comment during an exchange with the minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/politics\/spore-police-were-already-probing-prince-groups-chen-zhi-before-us-indictment-chee-hong-tat?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">about family offices and sanctioned entities<\/p>\n<p><\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Asked by Mr Chee to clarify if the WP\u2019s position was that Singapore should take a zero-risk approach to preventing bad actors from accessing its financial system, Mr Tiong said there was a pattern of ministers and political office-holders asking rhetorical questions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mr Seah interjected to tell him to respond to the question.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mr Tiong then said: \u201cThe answer is no, and I don\u2019t think it is the minister\u2019s point of view that you should, in fact, have a zero-risk approach, because it\u2019s impossible. So he\u2019s asking a stupid question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mr Chee replied: \u201cI think it is not quite appropriate for Mr Tiong to use the word \u2018stupid\u2019 when we are having a discussion in this House.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He asked Mr Tiong to withdraw his comment and apologise.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"&#039;He\u2019s asking a stupid question\u2019: Kenneth Tiong withdraws comment, apologises to Chee Hong Tat\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z59wFVn9CSQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mr Tiong withdrew the comment, but added: \u201cI will maintain that that question is not a meaningful question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Responding, Mr Chee said: \u201cI am disappointed that Mr Tiong chose to conduct this discussion in this manner. I only wanted to clarify the position so that I can give him a considered response.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mr Chee then brought up how Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh had previously said the WP would be a responsible opposition party, and said he hoped Mr Tiong would \u201cbear that in mind in our future discourse\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He went on to address Mr Tiong\u2019s question on Singapore\u2019s approach.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">After Mr Chee had answered several other questions relating to the topic, Mr Seah rose to chide Mr Tiong over his conduct. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The Speaker read out a standing order that states it is out of order to use offensive and insulting language about MPs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Addressing Mr Tiong, Mr Seah said: \u201cI consider what you had said just now to be quite insulting and is beneath the dignity of this House to use such language.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cYou have withdrawn that comment, which is obviously correct. I would have expected an apology, but I accept that you did not. You just withdrew that comment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mr Tiong then tried to speak, but was stopped by Mr Seah who reminded MPs: \u201cWe want to maintain dignity and decorum in this House, and the use of such language about a fellow Member of Parliament is not par for the course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mr Tiong began to apologise while seated, to which Mr Seah said: \u201cKindly stand up, when you speak.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The WP MP then stood up to apologise. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Accepting his apology, Mr Chee said: \u201cI hope that we can, in future, have such discussions in a civilised and polite manner, respectful manner.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"tags-test-id\">\n<p><button data-testid=\"button-test-id\" class=\"layer-one border-default border interactive-button text-primary disabled:layer-disabled hover:disabled:layer-disabled default\" aria-label=\"button for Singapore Parliament\"><span class=\"font-button-md-semibold\">Singapore Parliament<\/span><\/button><button data-testid=\"button-test-id\" class=\"layer-one border-default border interactive-button text-primary disabled:layer-disabled hover:disabled:layer-disabled default\" aria-label=\"button for Chee Hong Tat\"><span class=\"font-button-md-semibold\">Chee Hong Tat<\/span><\/button><button data-testid=\"button-test-id\" class=\"layer-one border-default border interactive-button text-primary disabled:layer-disabled hover:disabled:layer-disabled default\" aria-label=\"button for Seah Kian Peng\"><span class=\"font-button-md-semibold\">Seah Kian Peng<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/politics\/kenneth-tiong-apologises-to-chee-hong-tat-over-stupid-question-comment-in-parliament\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Follow our live coverage here SINGAPORE &#8211; Workers\u2019 Party MP Kenneth Tiong apologised to National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat on Nov 5 for calling&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}