In the ever-evolving world of social media, privacy breaches and hacking incidents have become all too common. The latest individual to fall victim to such a cyberattack is none other than Leon Perera, a former Workers’ Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC).
Hacker(s) accessed his account
On September 11, Perera posted on his Facebook page, stating that his profile had been compromised. This was the first time he had posted anything since the scandal surrounding his extramarital affair with fellow former-WP member Nicole Seah unfolded back in July 2023.
Perera, a prominent figure in Singaporean politics, had remained silent for months, making his sudden return to social media all the more intriguing.
He said that more than 2 years’ worth of his old posts on Facebook have been deleted by the hackers and he is working with Meta, who owns Facebook, to address the issue.
His last post was dated 6 July before the hacking incident and the emergence of the extra-marital affair scandal.
Leon Perera’s statement on his hacking
Just a quick note from Leon, in case some are wondering about this, to say that this page has been hacked and while I have some access, the hackers seem to be deleting the old posts on this page one by one and thus far over two years of posts have been deleted. I’m working with the team at Meta to try to address the issue.
Recap on scandal
A video emerged previously emerged online by Facebook user Victoria Wang, showing an “inappropriate exchange” between Workers’ Party senior members Leon Perera and Nicole Seah.
The two were seen in the video having dinner with what appeared to be glasses of red wine, with Perera appearing to be holding on to Seah’s right hand and stroking it gently before Seah leaned in closer to say something inaudible to him.
The Worker’s Party then held a press conference on 19 July, helmed by WP chief Pritam Singh and Sylvia Lim, addressing the extra-marital affair between WP member Nicole Seah and MP for Aljunied Leon Perera following the emergence of a video on 17 July suggesting an “inappropriate exchange” between the latter two.
Both Seah and Perera are married to other people and have two children of their own.
Singh said that he was made aware of the allegations sometime between late 2020 and early 2021 by Perera’s driver via Whatsapp, that both Seah and Perera had been meeting each other at restaurants and hotels very often, holding hands and hugging each other.
Singh said that at the time, there was no evidence or corroborating information to support the driver’s allegations and that he didn’t know Perera’s driver personally.
Initially denied the allegations
He then questioned Perera about the allegations and asked him if there was anything going on between him and Seah, Perera then denied the allegations, telling Singh that he was in the midst of an ongoing dispute with his driver and was about to terminate his services, and was seeking legal advice against his driver for the allegations.
The driver also shared the same information with other Central Executive Committee (CEC) members of the party over the next few months, with the party members seeking to verify the allegations with Perera, who once again denied the allegations.
The CEC then approached Seah about the allegations by the driver and she also denied the allegations of anything going on with Perera.
Eventually confessed to the affair
When the now-viral video of both Seah and Perera first emerged on 17 July, Singh said that it was the first time they saw it and he immediately got in touch with Perera and arranged a meeting with him in the afternoon, where he admitted to having an affair with Seah after the General Elections 2020.
Singh also arranged a separate meeting on the same afternoon with Seah where she also admitted to having an affair with Perera, but claimed that it had “stopped some time ago”.
Singh added that Perera told him that he should have been more “forthcoming” when approached by the WP members about the allegations.
Resignations
Both Seah and Perera have since resigned from the Workers’ Party, with Perera also resigning from his position as MP of Aljunied GRC.
Singh added that on 18 July, he received a letter of resignation from Seah; as well as Perera’s letter of resignation from the WP and informing the acting speaker of parliament that he was also resigning from his seat in Parliament.
He also added that Perera’s conduct and not being truthful when the party leadership asked him about the allegations were “unacceptable”, and that had he not offered his resignation, Singh would have recommended for Perera to be expelled from the party.
Singh added that from the moment the WP was made aware of the video, they moved as quickly as they could to get to the bottom of the matter and put things right.