Singapore slams 'smear campaign' from ex-PM Lee Hsien Loong's brother

By Niluksi Koswanage

 

Singapore’s government ramped up criticism of Lee Hsien Yang, who was recently granted asylum in the UK, accusing him of seeking to tarnish the city-state with an “international smear campaign.”

 

The younger brother of former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had told the Associated Press in an interview there had been a rise of serious financial crimes, corruption and repression in Singapore, claims refuted by the the government. It also questioned the credibility of Hsien Yang for allegedly misleading his father — Singapore’s first leader Lee Kuan Yew — over the execution of his will. 

 

“LHY — a major beneficiary of the Singapore system — knows all these facts.” the government said in a statement Thursday, referring to Hsien Yang. “But having been found by the Court and 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 escalating war of words between the city’s government and Hsien Yang stems from a bitter, yearslong family feud over whether to demolish their family home. With a national vote in Singapore due late next year and Hsien Yang slamming the government in interviews with the international media and in social media posts, the dispute may well become a significant election issue. 

 

The falling-out between the brothers resurfaced last month after the death of their sister Lee Wei Ling who was living at the colonial-era house at 38 Oxley Rd. near Singapore’s glitzy shopping district. Hsien Yang didn’t return to the city-state for his sister’s funeral and has sought permission from the authorities to demolish the house. 

 

The government has temporarily blocked the demolition of the property as it weighs whether to preserve it.  

 

Last week, Hsien Yang said he had become a “political refugee” as he and his late sister “feared the abuse of the organs of the Singapore state against us.” The UK approved the former Singapore Telecommunications CEO’s asylum request in August and he is permitted to remain in the country for five years, according to a letter from the Home Office shared by Hsien Yang.

 

He has lived in self-imposed exile in Europe since June 2022 following a police investigation against him and his wife over the handling of the last will of his father. In its latest rebuttal, the Singapore government said Hsien Yang and his wife are both free to return. 

 

“LHY is not a victim of persecution,” the government said. “He and his wife remain citizens.”