Singapore election: PM’s brother Lee Hsien Yang says PAP focused on elite, blind to citizens’ anger
- Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s estranged brother explains why he joined the opposition Progress Singapore Party, and how the ruling PAP has ‘lost its way’
- He said the Lee family feud was not his motivation to speak out, as he and his sister ‘do not need a political platform to respond to attacks by our brother’
The feud has spilled over into other conflicts involving the younger Lee’s wife and son. Lee Hsien Yang’s wife is in a legal tussle over accusations that she mishandled the will, and his son – an assistant professor of economics at Harvard University – is at risk of being fined for scandalising the judiciary through comments posted on a private Facebook post.
Lee Hsien Loong previously said that his brother is entitled to speak like anybody else, and the public will “assess which ones are worth listening to, which ones make sense”.
In his first full-length media interview, done over email, Lee Hsien Yang explained why he has chosen to speak out now against the system his father helped create; whether he is a voice for the people or has a hidden agenda; and whether there is a chance of the siblings reconciling.
Some voters have commented that you’re railing against the same system of governance and policies and other issues such as elitism that the late Mr Lee had a hand in building and developing?
My father was a product of his time. The world has moved on and so has Singapore. There are elements of what he has put in that may no longer serve the country today. My father was not perfect, but I love my father, and like many, I am grateful for what he has done for Singapore. We need to grow and evolve – as individuals, and as a nation.