Lee Hsien Yang turning ‘personal vendetta’ into international smear campaign: Singapore government

SINGAPORE: Mr Lee Hsien Yang is turning a “personal vendetta” into an international smear campaign “against his father, his family and his country”, said the Singapore government on Thursday (Oct 31) after the son of the country’s founding prime minister gave another media interview – the second in slightly over a week – criticising it.

In an interview with The Associated Press (AP), he made a range of claims including saying that Singapore has become much more repressive. 

The article published earlier on Thursday – titled Singapore’s affluent veneer hides repression and corruption, says son of its modern-day founder – also quoted him as saying that corruption has worsened in the decade since the death of his father and founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. 

In response to media queries from AP, the Singapore government said that Mr Lee Hsien Yang was a “major beneficiary of the Singapore system”. 

But having been found by the court and a Disciplinary Tribunal 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 Singapore government said in its response that AP should consider the facts and conclusions from the Disciplinary Tribunal when assessing the credibility of the claims made by Mr Lee Hsien Yang.

First, the tribunal found that he and his wife Mrs Lee Suet Fern presented “an elaborate edifice of lies” on the execution of Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s last will.

Both the Disciplinary Tribunal and later the Court of Three Judges, the highest disciplinary body dealing with lawyers’ misconduct, found Mr Lee Hsien Yang and his wife misled Mr Lee Kuan Yew in the execution of his last will.

They were also found to have lied under oath. 

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

“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 said. 

SINGAPORE’S FIRM STANCE AGAINST CORRUPTION

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

“All the examples of alleged corruption that Lee Hsien Yang cites have been thoroughly addressed, either through the courts or in parliament,” said the government. 

“Singapore has always acted firmly and decisively against those who break our laws. Recently, a former minister was sentenced to a year in prison for accepting gifts. If he had been a minister elsewhere he would not have been charged for accepting such gifts, let alone sentenced to a year in prison,” said the government, referring to former transport minister S Iswaran. 

“Just as Mr Lee Kuan Yew acted when he was prime minister, neither Mr Lee Hsien Loong nor his successor Mr Lawrence Wong prevented their former colleague from being investigated, prosecuted and convicted.”

The government said that Singapore takes a firm stance against corruption and other serious financial crimes. 

“This was the case when Mr Lee Kuan Yew was in Cabinet. And it has remained so even after his passing in 2015, as evidenced by global rankings.”

Singapore was ranked seventh in the 2015 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index when Mr Lee Kuan Yew was alive, and third in the 2015 World Justice Project’s index for the absence of corruption in its legal and law enforcement systems.

As of 2023, eight years after Mr Lee’s passing, Singapore was ranked fifth and third on these indices respectively, said the government. 

“Singapore was also ranked as the least corrupt country in the 2024 Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Report on Perceptions of Corruption in Asia, the US and Australia, a position Singapore has held since 1995.

“Our system is consistent with the international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force. In 2024, we ranked fourth in the Global Financial Centres Index 2024, after New York, London, and Hong Kong.”

“NOT BASED ON PRINCIPLES”

Another example of how Mr Lee Hsien Yang has turned his personal vendetta into an international smear campaign is an allegation he made in his asylum application, said the government. 

“Tellingly, he seems to have alleged in his asylum application in the UK that one reason why he and his family are being persecuted by the Singapore government is to prevent his son, Li Shengwu, from being prime minister. That he would go so far as to allege this – though his son has repeatedly said he has no such ambition – shows his campaign against Singapore is not based on principles.”

Mr Lee Hsien Yang said on Oct 22 that he was now a political refugee in the United Kingdom after seeking asylum protection in 2022. Citing the Singapore government’s “attacks” against him, he said he sought asylum protection “as a last resort”.

Mr Lee and his wife have been out of Singapore since 2022 after deciding not to attend a scheduled police interview over potential offences of giving false evidence in judicial proceedings regarding the will of his father.

The government statement also referenced a recent interview Mr Lee Hsien Yang gave to The Guardian, a UK-based newspaper. 

He claimed that Singapore retains repressive measures that originated when his father Mr 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 that Singapore is the only Southeast Asian country that has held regular elections, without fail and without ever suspending its Constitution or imposing martial law once, in its post-independence history. 

“Singaporeans are free to vote for whichever party they think can better serve Singapore and Singaporeans. About 40 per cent of Singaporeans vote for opposition parties,” said the government, adding that there are now more opposition MPs in parliament than ever before in the history of independent Singapore.

The government added that Mr Lee himself freely participated in politics. 

“He joined an opposition party before the 2020 General Election; considered contesting only to back off at the last minute; and 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.”