The youngest son of Singapore's late founding father has declared that he is now a political refugee in the United Kingdom, marking the latest development in the high-profile feud within the city-state's most prominent family.
Lee Hsien Yang said on Tuesday that the UK government granted him asylum because of what he described as “persecution” in his country.
Lee and his sister Lee Wei Ling, who died on October 9, have been estranged for years from influential older brother Lee Hsien Loong, who was prime minister for two decades until May this year. The split centered on disagreements over the fate of her father's home following his death in 2015.
The frayed relationship has played out publicly: The younger Lee, 67, aligned himself with an opposition party during the 2020 election and last year said he was considering running for Singapore's presidency, a largely ceremonial post.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Lee Hsien Yang said he applied for asylum in 2022 “as a last resort”, which the UK granted him in August.
“The Singapore government's attacks on me are common knowledge. “They prosecuted my son, initiated disciplinary proceedings against my wife and launched a false police investigation that has dragged on for years,” he wrote, adding that as a result he was unable to return home to attend his sister's funeral.
“Based on these facts, the United Kingdom has determined that I face a well-founded risk of persecution and that I cannot safely return to Singapore.”
The Singapore government said the claim of persecution was baseless and unfounded, ChannelNewsAsia reported.
There was no immediate comment from the UK government.
'Look closer'
The Guardian on Tuesday published an interview with Lee Hsien Yang in which he harshly criticized the Singapore government and alleged that it facilitated money laundering.
“There is a need for the world to look closer, to see Singapore's role as that key facilitator for the arms trade, dirty money, drug money and cryptocurrencies,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
The Singapore government said in a statement that the allegations in the Guardian report were unfounded. The city-state has a “robust system to deter and combat money laundering and other illicit financial flows, which is consistent with international standards,” he said.
Lee Hsien Yang and his sister, Lee Wei Ling, have accused their elder brother of abusing his power to prevent them from demolishing the family home according to the wishes of their father, who died in 2015 after ruling Singapore for more than three decades.
Lee Hsien Loong thought it should be up to the government to decide what to do with it, including whether to preserve it as a heritage landmark.
Lee's father remains in the cabinet as chief minister, a role also held by his father, who from 1959 to 1990 oversaw the city-state's rapid rise from a British colonial backwater to an international commercial and financial center.