Barraged by allegations, Lee vows transparency
In a rare scene of political theater in Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong apologizes to the public for his family's feud
By Kirsten Han| Singapore, June 20, 2017 10:45 AM (UTC+8)
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong apologized to the nation on Monday evening as a family feud with his younger siblings continued to play out over social media. The rare public split between members of the country’s first family has captivated Singaporeans while raising hard questions about Lee’s style of governance.
“I deeply regret that this dispute has affected Singapore’s reputation and Singaporeans’ confidence in the government,” a solemn-faced Lee Hsien Loong said in a pre-recorded video. “As your Prime Minister, I apologize to you for this. And as the eldest of the siblings, it grieves me to think of the anguish that this would have caused our parents if they were still alive.”
The dispute between the three children of Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew has dominated political discussion in the city-state ever since Lee Wei Ling and Lee Hsien Yang released a public statement last Wednesday criticizing their premier brother of misusing his position of official power for personal means.
Apart from the three siblings, the feud has since drawn comments from former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam and Cabinet Secretary Tan Kee Yong, not to mention three of Lee Kuan Yew’s grandsons.
While the spat largely revolves around the question of whether to demolish or preserve the much-revered Lee Kuan Yew’s house at 38 Oxley Road, the younger Lee siblings have also made allegations of nepotism, cronyism and subversion of due process – serious charges against a government well-known for its low threshold of tolerance for any suggestion of impropriety.
FILE PHOTO: A commuter passes by a signboard bearing an image of the late first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew in a train station at the central business district in Singapore March 24, 2015. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo
A signboard bearing an image of late prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. Photo: Reuters/Edgar Su
The siblings have claimed that Lee Hsien Loong dishonored their father’s last will by attempting to preserve his former residence through a “secret committee” of ministers; that he has misused his position to obtain a “deed of gift” for the house made out to the National Heritage Board without going through proper channels; that he has installed his personal lawyer as Attorney-General; that his unelected wife, Ho Ching, exercises undue political influence; and that the first couple harbor political ambitions for their son, Li Hongyi.
Lee Hsien Yang, Lee Hsien Loong’s younger brother, has also raised concerns that he is being monitored and threatened by state agents to the degree that he has decided to leave the country in apparent self-exile.
Although many of these allegations have yet to be proven, the fact that they are coming from within Singapore’s most powerful family has drawn significant public attention and thus given them more weight.
Observers note that the Lee siblings are in a unique position to make such claims without attracting defamation suits from the famously litigious first family, though it is possible they could in future face such charges.
Lee Hsien Loong, along with his father, previously sued and won damages from the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune for mere suggestions of “dynastic politics” in Singapore.
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