Leaders urge Lee Kuan Yew’s children to end public bickering as more accusations fly
The family row shows no sign of abating as Singapore watches on, saddened but riveted on Father’s Day
But the social media squabble between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Lee Kuan Yew’s eldest child, and the two younger children, Lee Wei Ling and Lee Hsien Yang, is showing no sign of abating five days since the scandal exploded in the public domain.
Political observers say the premier’s next move – he returned from a vacation in Australia on Saturday – will provide some indication on how the dispute will be resolved. Early on Sunday, Lee Hsien Yang fired a fresh Facebook volley, aimed this time at his brother’s cabinet ministers.
Lee Kuan Yew’s immediate successor Goh Chok Tong – prime minister from 1990 to 2004 – on Saturday night said the public acrimony “is not the family legacy which their father would have wanted to leave behind”.
Goh, who now holds the position of emeritus senior minister, added that Singaporeans “can urge them to settle their dispute amicably in private or through closed-door arbitration”.