In response to a media enquiry from Guardian on Lee Hsien Yang being granted political asylum in the UK, Ms Andrea Goh, Senior Director, Media Division at the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) said, “Your proposition that Mr Lee Hsien Yang and his family are victims of ‘baseless’ and ‘unfounded’ persecution is itself without basis.”
There are no legal restraints on Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Mrs Lee Suet Fern returning to Singapore. They are and have always been free to return to Singapore, Goh said.
There are no legal restraints to their son, Mr Li Shengwu returning to Singapore either.
Mr Li was ordered to pay a fine for contempt of court in August 2020, which he has paid, Goh said. He is not facing any other Police charges, she added.
The statement by Ms Goh said the offending statement by Mr Li was similar to one that appeared in the International Herald Tribune in 1994, which was also found to have been in contempt of court. Mr Li’s grandfather, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, had emphasised then that such statements must be dealt with firmly.
The statement by Ms Goh also highlights findings from specific court and disciplinary proceedings between 2017 and 2020 which were mentioned by Guardian.
Here are the findings from the proceedings and the relevant reference documents that are highlighted by Andrea Goh:
a. Prior to executing his last will (17 December 2013), the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew executed six wills between 20 August 2011 and 2 November 2012.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew had removed the “demolition clause” regarding his house at 38 Oxley Road from the fifth and sixth drafts of his Will. It was reinserted into the last Will, prepared by Mrs Lee Suet Fern, Mr Lee Hsien Yang’s spouse.
b. Compared with the sixth draft of Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s Will executed on 2 November 2012, the last Will gave Mr Lee Hsien Yang a bigger share of Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s estate.
c. The Court of Three Judges, led by the Chief Justice, found that the couple had cut off the late Lee’s own long-time lawyer in preparing the last Will, and had procured the execution of the last Will with “unseemly haste”, overnight within 16 hours.
d. They found that Mrs Lee Suet Fern had “acted with complete disregard for the interests” of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, and had “blindly followed the directions of her husband, a significant beneficiary under the very Will whose execution she helped to rush through”.
e. Both the court and an earlier Disciplinary Tribunal appointed by the Chief Justice to look into Mrs Lee Suet Fern’s professional conduct, found the couple had lied under oath. The Disciplinary Tribunal found that the couple had presented “an elaborate edifice of lies,” both on oath and in public statements.
Police investigations
In view of the findings of the court and the Disciplinary Tribunal, the police commenced investigations on Lee Hsien Yang and his wife, Lee Suet Fern for potential offences of giving false evidence in judicial proceedings.
The police approached the couple on 9 June 2022. They left Singapore on 15 June, after confirming with the police on 13 June that they would be interviewed on 13 July.
On 13 July, they did not turn up for their interview, and informed the police by email that they will not participate in the investigation.
No one above the law in Singapore
In Singapore, no one is above the law. Anyone, including the offspring of the founding prime minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, can be investigated and brought before the courts.
Singapore’s judiciary is impartial and makes decisions independently. This is why Singaporeans have a high level of trust in the judiciary.
Singapore ranked 5th in the 2023 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, and 3rd in the 2023 World Justice Project index for the absence of corruption in its legal and law enforcement systems.
The UK was ranked 20th and 11th respectively in the two indices. The US ranked 24th and 22nd.
Other allegations in the article include the assertion that the benefits of Singapore’s economic growth are concentrated in the hands of PAP leaders and their allies.
Goh responded that more than 80% of Singaporeans live in public housing, and the vast majority own their homes.
90% of public education costs is subsidised.
According to the 2022 results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Singapore was the top-performing education system in Creative Thinking among 64 participating systems. Singapore students from lower socio-economic status homes out-performed the average student in OECD countries.
In the United Nations’ Human Development Index 2022, Singapore was ranked 1st in ASEAN, and 9th overall out of 193 countries.
Real wages of the 20th percentile worker have risen cumulatively by 30% over the past 10 years, faster than that of the median worker at 22%.14.
