Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) was accused by his younger sister of abusing his power and of forming a political dynasty, just one year after the death of their father, Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀), in a rare public spat.
“I am deeply saddened by my sister Dr Lee Wei Ling’s [李瑋玲] claim that I have abused my power to commemorate the one-year anniversary of Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s passing in order to establish a dynasty. The accusations are completely untrue,” the prime minister said on Facebook on Sunday evening.
The prime minister’s office declined further comment yesterday.
The post by the prime minister’s sister came after she had expressed her disapproval over public activities by the government last month marking the first anniversary of the death of Singapore’s founding prime minister.
In a Facebook post which has since been removed, she said: “HL has no qualms about abusing his power to hv [sic] a commemoration just one year after LKY died” and that “if the power that be wants to establish a dynasty, LKY’s daughter will not allow LKY’s name to be sullied by a dishonourable son.”
Lee Wei Ling has regularly published columns expressing her personal views about Singapore and her father in the Straits Times newspaper in past years.
Lee Hsien Loong and his People’s Action Party (PAP), which has ruled the city-state since its independence in 1965, won a convincing general election victory last year, months after the founding prime minister died in March of that year.
“The idea that I should wish to establish a dynasty makes even less sense. Meritocracy is a fundamental value of our society, and neither I, the PAP, nor the Singapore public would tolerate any such attempt,” he said.
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