SINGAPORE: Mr Lee Hsien Yang is popping a “private vendetta” into a global smear marketing campaign “in opposition to his father, his household and his nation”, mentioned the Singapore authorities on Thursday (Oct 31) after the son of the nation’s founding prime minister gave one other media interview – the second in barely over per week – criticising it.
In an interview with The Related Press (AP), he made a variety of claims together with saying that Singapore has develop into way more repressive.
The article printed earlier on Thursday – titled Singapore’s prosperous veneer hides repression and corruption, says son of its modern-day founder – additionally quoted him as saying that corruption has worsened within the decade because the dying of his father and founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.
In response to media queries from AP, the Singapore authorities mentioned that Mr Lee Hsien Yang was a “main beneficiary of the Singapore system”.
However having been discovered by the court docket and a Disciplinary Tribunal to have misled his father, he has “determined to show his private vendetta into a global smear marketing campaign in opposition to his father, his household and his nation”.
The Singapore authorities mentioned in its response that AP ought to contemplate the information and conclusions from the Disciplinary Tribunal when assessing the credibility of the claims made by Mr Lee Hsien Yang.
First, the tribunal discovered that he and his spouse Mrs Lee Suet Fern offered “an elaborate edifice of lies” on the execution of Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s last will.
Each the Disciplinary Tribunal and later the Courtroom of Three Judges, the very best disciplinary physique coping with attorneys’ misconduct, discovered Mr Lee Hsien Yang and his spouse misled Mr Lee Kuan Yew within the execution of his final will.
They had been additionally discovered to have lied below oath.
The findings of the Courtroom of Three Judges and the Disciplinary Tribunal can be found on-line, mentioned the federal government.
“I belief that additionally, you will make these out there to your readers, in order that they will choose for themselves the credibility of the claims now made by Lee Hsien Yang,” it mentioned.
SINGAPORE’S FIRM STANCE AGAINST CORRUPTION
In his interview, Mr Lee Hsien Yang additionally cited examples of alleged corruption together with the billion-dollar cash laundering case and the 1Malaysia Growth Berhad (1MDB) corruption scandal.
“All of the examples of alleged corruption that Lee Hsien Yang cites have been totally addressed, both by the courts or in parliament,” mentioned the federal government.
“Singapore has all the time acted firmly and decisively in opposition to those that break our legal guidelines. Lately, a former minister was sentenced to a year in prison for accepting gifts. If he had been a minister elsewhere he wouldn’t have been charged for accepting such items, not to mention sentenced to a 12 months in jail,” mentioned the federal government, referring to former transport minister S Iswaran.
“Simply 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 federal government mentioned that Singapore takes a agency stance in opposition to corruption and different critical monetary crimes.
“This was the case when Mr Lee Kuan Yew was in Cupboard. And it has remained so even after his passing in 2015, as evidenced by international rankings.”
Singapore was ranked seventh within the 2015 Transparency Worldwide Corruption Perceptions Index when Mr Lee Kuan Yew was alive, and third within the 2015 World Justice Mission’s index for the absence of corruption in its authorized and regulation enforcement techniques.
As of 2023, eight years after Mr Lee’s passing, Singapore was ranked fifth and third on these indices respectively, mentioned the federal government.
“Singapore was additionally ranked because the least corrupt nation within the 2024 Political and Financial Danger Consultancy Report on Perceptions of Corruption in Asia, the US and Australia, a place Singapore has held since 1995.
“Our system is according to the worldwide requirements set by the Monetary Motion Process Drive. In 2024, we ranked fourth within the International Monetary Centres Index 2024, after New York, London, and Hong Kong.”
“NOT BASED ON PRINCIPLES”
One other instance of how Mr Lee Hsien Yang has turned his private vendetta into a global smear marketing campaign is an allegation he made in his asylum software, mentioned the federal government.
“Tellingly, he appears to have alleged in his asylum software within the UK that one purpose why he and his household are being persecuted by the Singapore authorities is to stop his son, Li Shengwu, from being prime minister. That he would go as far as to allege this – although his son has repeatedly mentioned he has no such ambition – exhibits his marketing campaign in opposition to Singapore is just not primarily based on rules.”
Mr Lee Hsien Yang mentioned on Oct 22 that he was now a political refugee in the UK after in search of asylum safety in 2022. Citing the Singapore authorities’s “assaults” in opposition to him, he mentioned he sought asylum safety “as a final resort”.
Mr Lee and his spouse have been out of Singapore since 2022 after deciding to not attend a scheduled police interview over potential offences of giving false proof in judicial proceedings relating to the need of his father.
The federal government assertion additionally 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.
“Nevertheless, after being referred to as unfilial by Singaporeans for criticising his father thus, Lee Hsien Yang now asserts as a substitute that Singapore’s legal guidelines have develop into way more politically repressive since Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s dying.”
The federal government mentioned that Singapore is the one Southeast Asian nation that has held common elections, with out fail and with out ever suspending its Structure or imposing martial regulation as soon as, in its post-independence historical past.
“Singaporeans are free to vote for whichever celebration they assume can higher serve Singapore and Singaporeans. About 40 per cent of Singaporeans vote for opposition events,” mentioned the federal government, including that there at the moment are extra opposition MPs in parliament than ever earlier than within the historical past of unbiased Singapore.
The federal government added that Mr Lee himself freely participated in politics.
“He joined an opposition celebration earlier than the 2020 Normal Election; thought-about contesting solely to again off on the final minute; and continues to fund and help the opposition from afar.
“Lee Hsien Yang is just not a sufferer of persecution. He and his spouse stay residents. They’re and have all the time been free to return to Singapore.”
