S'pore govt slams Lee Hsien Yang for 'international smear campaign' against S'pore

The Singapore government has responded to Lee Hsien Yang's criticism of Singapore in a media interview this week, saying that he had a "personal vendetta" and turned it into "an international smear campaign against his father, his family and his country".

Lee, who has been granted political refugee status in the U.K., made claims in an interview with Associated Press News (AP News) about increasing repression and corruption in Singapore over the past decade since the death of his father, founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

The article, published on Oct. 31, also included Lee's view that he faced a "campaign of persecution to silence him".

Assess the credibility of LHY's claims: S'pore govt

In a response to AP on the same day, the Singapore government noted that Lee Hsien Yang is "a major beneficiary of the Singapore system".

But having been found by a disciplinary tribunal and the Court of Three Judges to have misled his father, he has "decided to turn his personal vendetta into an international smear campaign against his father, his family and his country", the government said.

It suggested that in assessing the credibility of Lee's claims, the media outlet should consider conclusions reached by a disciplinary tribunal and the Court of Three Judges regarding Lee and his wife Lee Suet Fern's handling of Lee Kuan Yew's last will.

The tribunal and court found Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Suet Fern guilty of misleading his father Lee Kuan Yew in the execution of his last will.

They were also found to have lied under oath, with the tribunal noting that they presented “an elaborate edifice of lies” on the execution of the will.

The findings of the Court of Three Judges and the Disciplinary Tribunal are available online, the government said.

"I trust that you will also make these available to your readers, so that they can judge for themselves the credibility of the claims now made by Lee Hsien Yang," it added in its reply to AP.

LHY's campaign against S'pore 'not based on principles': S'pore govt

The government also noted that in Lee's asylum application to the UK, he appears to have alleged that one reason the Singapore government was persecuting him was to prevent his son, Li Shengwu, from being prime minister.

Noting that Li has "repeatedly said he has no such ambition", the government said this showed that Lee Hsien Yang's campaign against Singapore "is not based on principles".

In support of this, the Singapore government cited a Financial Times article which reported:

"In seeking political asylum in Britain, Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Suet Fern are understood to have successfully argued that their brother Lee Hsien Loong has used the organs of state against their wing of the family to block any chance that their son, Li Shengwu, might enter politics in Singapore and one day rise to the position of prime minister."

The government also referenced a recent interview Lee Hsien Yang had with The Guardian.

In it, Lee claimed that Singapore had repressive measures that started from when Lee Kuan Yew was prime minister.

“However, after being called unfilial by Singaporeans for criticising his father thus, Lee Hsien Yang now asserts instead that Singapore’s laws have become much more politically repressive since Mr Lee Kuan Yew's death,” the government said.

Rejected LHY's accusations of corruption

In his interview, Lee Hsien Yang cited examples of alleged corruption including the billion-dollar money laundering case and the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) corruption scandal.

The Singapore government rejected Lee Hsien Yang's accusations, saying that the examples he cited had been “thoroughly addressed, either through court or in Parliament”.

It cited the case of former transport minister S Iswaran and how he was still prosecuted and imprisoned for accepting gifts, despite being a colleague of both Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

The government went through the examples given by Lee Hsien Yang, such as the billion dollar money laundering case and Keppel Offshore and Marine, listing what action had been taken.

It said that Singapore’s ranking in international anti-corruption indices was high both before and after the death of Lee Kuan Yew, and in some cases improving.

Lee Hsien Yang 'not a victim of persecution': S'pore govt

On Singapore's political situation, the government pointed out that Singapore is the only Southeast Asian country that has regularly held elections, without suspending its constitution or imposing martial law in its post-independence history.

About 40 per cent of Singaporeans vote for opposition parties, the government noted, saying there are now more opposition members of parliament than ever before in independent Singapore.

It noted that Lee himself had freely participated in politics by joining an opposition party during the 2020 elections.

It said Lee "continues to fund and support the opposition from afar".

"Lee Hsien Yang is not a victim of persecution. He and his wife remain citizens. They are and have always been free to return to Singapore," the government said.

Top image from Lee Hsien Yang/Facebook