Singapore’s PM Lee ‘will testify in court’ if defamation suit against The Online Citizen editor goes to trial

Lee Hsien Loong is suing Terry Xu for a report that repeats allegations made by his siblings over a family home previously owned by their father, Lee Kuan Yew

The suit has caused a stir amid talk of looming elections, but analysts say the case should not be seen as a proxy battle between Lee and his siblings

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Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is suing an editor over a report containing ‘false’ allegations against him. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 8:56pm, 11 Sep 2019Updated: 5:54pm, 18 Dec 2019

A defamation suit by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong against the chief editor of an independent news site has caused a stir in the Lion City amid talk of looming elections and the leader indicating he is prepared to testify in court if the case goes to trial.

PM Lee is suing Terry Xu of The Online Citizen over an article that allegedly contained “false and baseless” statements surrounding a family house previously owned by his late father and Singapore’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew.

The article repeated several allegations in 2017 made by Lee’s siblings, Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Wei Ling, who have been embroiled in a feud with their brother over the status of the family home.

The article by the Online Citizen was also shared to their Facebook account. Photo: Facebook

Lee’s press secretary Chang Li Lin had earlier said PM Lee’s restraint in suing his siblings should not be misinterpreted by others as “free licence” to repeat and spread false and defamatory allegations against him.

On Tuesday, she said that the prime minister was prepared to testify in court if the case went to trial and his siblings “can decide, together with (Xu), whether they too will testify, and repeat the allegations in court”.