‘There wasn’t even any physical interaction’: Ex-NMP Calvin Cheng says Faishal Ibrahim shouldn’t resign
Former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Calvin Cheng said Acting Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Faishal Ibrahim should not have resigned from political office.
Commenting on the resignation, which broke on July 20, Cheng wrote in a Facebook post: “There wasn’t even any physical interaction, much less an affair.”
The post has since garnered over 200 comments.
In a separate post, Cheng also questioned whether a by-election should be called, noting that Faishal was the minority candidate in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC and that the GRC system was introduced to ensure minority representation.
‘There wasn’t even any physical interaction’: Cheng
Explaining why he believes Faishal should not have resigned, Cheng described him as a “great guy, the friendliest, most amiable person you can ever meet.”
He added that one has to “balance losing a good minister or MP, with small failings that all human beings have.”
“To err is human. To forgive, divine,” Cheng wrote.
In a separate post, he also pointed out that the GRC system was meant to “guarantee minority representation”. With Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC having lost its minority MP, he questioned whether a by-election should be called.
According to The Straits Times, Parliament has had five vacant seats arising from separate incidents since November 2021, when former Workers’ Party MP Raeesah Khan resigned after lying in Parliament.
In July 2023, Tharman Shanmugaratnam stepped down as a Jurong GRC MP to contest the presential election. About a week later, Tan Chuan-Jin and Cheng Li Hui resigned over their affair, followed days later by Leon Perera, who resigned after a video surfaced of him with then WP member Nicole Seah.
Faishal Ibrahim resigns over online messages with female member of public
On July 20, it was announced that Faishal, 58, had resigned from political office over a “lapse of judgment” in the way he handled his interactions with a woman who is a member of the public.
According to a statement by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, most of their interactions took place through online messages and they also met on the sidelines of public events.
In his letter of resignation to PM Wong, Faishal wrote that there was no physical relationship between him and the woman, and that he had not intended for the interactions to develop into one.
“On reflection, I recognise that my conduct fell short of the standards expected of me and was not consistent with the responsibilities entrusted to me,” he said.
Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment and Defence Zaqy Mohamad will take over as Acting Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs.
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