A public protest will be held on this coming Saturday (15 June) to call for an independent investigation into the allegations of abuse of power by Dr Lee Weiling and Mr Hsien Yang against their brother, Lee Hsien Loong, who is the current Prime Minister of Singapore.
Various allegations and scattered evidence were produced by the two siblings on their Facebook page since 14 June, causing international attention to focus on Singapore over the dispute between the Lee family, the family of late Lee Kuan Yew whom many attribute the success of the city state to.
On 3 and 4 July this year, a Parliamentary debate session was held to “scrutinise” the allegations made against PM Lee by his two siblings, that he abused his position as the Prime Minister for his personal agenda over the issue of the property at 38 Oxley Road. At the end of the debate, PM Lee closed the case by ruling that no evidence was provided of his allegation and the allegations made against him were baseless.
In the event page of the protest, it wrote,
“The main shocker of the whole Oxley saga must be how the Prime Minister uses his parliamentary power to convene a 2-day Parliamentary ministerial address to attack his siblings’ accusations with regard to the demolition of the house. Both the accusers were not present at the seating to defend their cause. It is a strange setting which disturb many arm-chair critics and Singaporeans alike.
The two younger siblings acted more like a weighty whistleblower though they kept emphasizing that they are more concerned with the PM abiding by their late father’s wish to demolish the house. It is the allegation on the PM’s abuse of power that probably shook the whole country more than the issue of the house itself.
Singaporeans who watched the 2-day Parliamentary sessions must now be alarmed by the total control of power by the PAP aka Lee Family – stuff that the two younger siblings have warned Singaporeans about. At the end of the 2-day session, the PM himself declared that Parliament has found him and the government to be above reproach and innocent of all his siblings’ accusations especially the one on abuse of power!
Talk about ownself check ownself…”
When asked about the reasons and objective of holding the protest, Gilbert Goh who is the main organiser of the event said, “We are brought to attention that there is a possible abuse of power when the PM and possibly his wife went about trying to stop the will and the demolition of the house. This is a very grave allegation coming from a very weighty source which warrants the setting up of a neutral special committee to look into the matter.”
Permit to hold the event has been granted by the National Park.
Veteran lawyer and former NSP Secretary-General, Lim Tean who will be speaking at the event said that his speech will be about how the lack of Freedom will always lead to an abuse of power.
“I advocate for a free society, a free press, and a free speech. This recent exposure of abuse of power is the inevitable conclusion from the fact that Singapore and Singaporeans are not a free society nor a free people. We must claim our freedom for ourselves today and for our future generations to come. The alternative is a Singapore that will slowly but surely nosedive into further economic uncertainty and shaky global standing.”
Khan Osman Sulaiman, an activist and member of the Reform Party, said that he is taking part as a speaker because he believes that the parliament is not the place to decide if abuse of power did happen. That is for the court to decide and when proper investigation is done. “In any democracy, a COI would have been convened and an independent investigation is done. Instead, PM’s move to bring the matter to parliament shows how our justice system and processes has malfunctioned. No investigation took place on the Prime Minister, and the PM is able to solely decide how he wants the allegations to be settled. Via parliament.”
The event will be held at Hong Lim Park on 15 July, 4 pm to 7 pm. For more information and updates, visit the Facebook event page here. The Online Citizen will be doing a livestream of the protest event on that day.
PM Lee says no to independent investigation
During the Parliamentary debate, Workers’ Party and a few PAP MPs had proposed to convene a Parliamentary Select Committee to look into the allegations of PM Lee while Nominated Members of Parliament had asked for a Commission of Inquiry to perform the same task.
In response to such calls for independent investigation, PM Lee said in Parliament:
“But what is the basis for this? There are no specifics to the headline charge of abuse of power. What specifically did I do that was wrong? What was wrong with that, whatever that may be? Who was involved? When did it happen?
After two days of debate, nobody has stood behind these allegations or offered any evidence, not even opposition MPs. The Workers’ Party MPs say that they are not in a position to judge. Indeed Mr Low criticises my siblings for making “vague allegations … based on scattered evidence centred on family displeasure”. If MPs believe that something is wrong, it is MPs’ job to pursue the facts and make these allegations in their own name. Decide whether something seems to be wrong and if you think something is wrong, even if you are not fully sure, then come to this House, confront the Government, ask for explanations and answers. If having heard the Government, you are not satisfied, then by all means demand a Select Committee or a Commission of Inquiry (COI) but do not just repeat allegations and attribute them to others, or ask for a Select Committee or COI because accusations are around – don’t know what but therefore we must have a COI to find out what.
The accusers may not be in Parliament but that should not stop MPs from talking to them to get their story, nor would it stop the accusers from getting in touch with MPs, including opposition MPs, to tell their story so that the MPs can raise it on their behalf in Parliament. That is, in fact, how the MP system is meant to work. Those are the MP’s duties. That is one reason why Parliamentary Privilege exists. So that MPs who have heard troubling allegations or news, can make these allegations and raise the matters in the House even if they are not completely proven and may be defamatory, without fear of being sued for defamation. That is how Parliaments are supposed to function.
But none of this has happened over the last two days. No one says there is evidence of abuse of power. Even the Opposition is not accusing the Government of abuse of power. So it is not a case of oneself defend oneself. Why do we need in these circumstances, a Select Committee or COI, and drag this out for months? It would be another Korean drama full scale serial. Should we set up Select Committees to investigate every unsubstantiated allegation, every wild rumour? It is as Mr Low Thia Khiang says, “vague allegations,…based on scattered evidence centred on family displeasure”, as a basis for ordering a Select Committee or COI? That’s not a basis. But if there is evidence of wrongdoing that emerges or alleged evidence of wrongdoing which emerges, then I and the Government will consider what further steps to take. We can have a Select Committee, we can have a Commission of Inquiry, I may decide to sue for defamation or take some other legal action, but until then let’s get back to more important things that we should be working on.”