Singaporean PM’s sister takes aim at government for ‘muzzling the public media’ with new law
Proposed new law against contempt of court has been criticised as an attempt to curb freedom of speech
The younger sister of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has criticised a proposed new law against contempt of court as an attempt to curb freedom of speech.
“The bill is an attempt to muzzle public discussion in any format, as long as the judgment has not been settled and that could include personal discussion between close friends even in private digital format,” Lee Wei Ling wrote on her Facebook page on Monday.
How bad can it get if this law is passed? I think it will be much worse than now
“If that does not lead to limiting freedom of speech, I wonder how much more power the government would need to further limit freedom of speech and freedom of thought, when under the current laws, they don’t hesitate to muzzle the public media.
“How bad can it get if this law is passed? I think it will be much worse than now.”
Lee, 61, a senior adviser at the National Neuroscience Institute, is the second of the three children of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding father who died in 2015.
She observed that the bill has led to widespread concern among Singaporeans, with a group submitting a petition against it in Parliament on Monday.
In another Facebook post Sunday, she said she was “amazed that there has not been more vocal protest by more Singaporeans”.