honestly.” The debate continued into the following day, with Heng demanding that Lim apologise to the House "as an honourable MP should" for her statements, and Shanmugam posting on Facebook with an edited video charging that Lim had "made serious, baseless insinuations". Speaking at the start of the Parliamentary sitting on 6 March 2018, Leader of the House and Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu demanded that Lim apologise to the House by 8 March 2018 and to withdraw her "allegation" that the Government had floated “test balloons” on the need to raise the GST. Fu had said Lim "cannot contend that her suspicion remains reasonable and honestly held" when clarification has been given to her by ministers in Parliament and elsewhere. Lim was not present in the chamber when Fu made her statement. Lim responded to the issue in Parliament on 8 March 2018. In her 6-minute statement, Lim said she could accept her suspicion “may not have been correct”, but strongly rejected the government's accusation that her suspicion on the timing of the GST hike had no basis, and set out in detail a chronology of events including news reports and data published by economists which led to her to believe the GST might be raised in 2018. According to States Times Review, over 20 news reports of impending GST hike have been published by government-owned news media companies during the period of three months prior to Budget 2018 while the government ministries themselves maintained totally silent on the issue, thereby forming the basis of test balloons used in Lim's analogy. Lim reiterated that the public was worried about the impending GST hike, and she was not accusing the government of dishonesty. Lim therefore stated plainly that she was not going to offer any apology and will not retract any of her statements as she believed she was doing her “constitutional role” as an elected MP to “convey ground concerns, reactions and confusion". In an ensuing robust exchange, Fu expressed “disappointment” and condemned Lim for her “low standards, lack of integrity … dishonourable and deplorable conduct” and threatened to refer the matter to the Committee of Privileges should Lim repeat statements of such a nature. Lim rose again to respond strongly against Fu's charges by quoting a part of Prime Minister Lee's closing speech during the 38 Oxley Road saga, "If MPs believe that something is