The editor of The Online Citizen (TOC), Terry Xu, has applied for the siblings of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to be brought in as third parties for the defamation suit that PM Lee has filed against him.

Wants Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Wei Ling to bear damages

According to The Straits Times, the application was filed on Sep. 26.

Xu stated that he wanted Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Wei Ling to bear damages should he be found guilty of having defamed PM Lee in an article published on TOC on Aug. 15.

The article in question was titled, "PM Lee's wife, Ho Ching weirdly shares article on cutting ties with family members".

After it was published, the article drew a response from PM Lee's press secretary Chang Li Lin, which stated in a letter that the article repeated “several false allegations against PM Lee” that were previously made by his sister, Lee Wei Ling.

These "false allegations" included PM Lee having "misled" Lee Kuan Yew into “thinking that the 38 Oxley Road property had been gazetted by the Singapore government”, and that it was futile for the elder Lee to “keep his direction to demolish it”.

Xu further wrote in his application that the article simply quoted from comments made in public by PM Lee's siblings between June 14, 2017 and Aug. 15, 2019, and that it also was just recounting the public feud between them.

Article had "no malice"

Separately, in another document filed on Sep. 27, Xu further maintained that the article was simply meant to be ironic and contained "no malice", ST further highlighted.

Rather, Xu explained, the article was simply pointing out the irony in PM Lee's wife, Ho Ching, sharing an article about toxic family members, given her own publicised poor relationship with PM Lee's siblings.

Additionally, it is likely that only PM Lee's siblings have greater knowledge about the allegations, Xu added.

As per Xu: "Other particulars relating to the truth of the allegation lie within the knowledge of LWL and LHY, and the Defendant reserves the right to cross-exam LWL and LHY to provide more information."

Xu will defend himself in court

In an earlier Facebook post on Sep. 10, Xu wrote that he intended to defend himself in court and would ask PM Lee about why he did not take the opportunity to sue his siblings instead.

In response, PM Lee's press secretary stated that his siblings could decide if they wanted to take the stand with the TOC editor, and repeat the allegations for the court to decide.

Top image collage from Lee Hsien Yang FB, Terry Xu FB and via