Last Saturday (29 June) was Pink Dot’s 11th Rally. Hong Lim Park was painted pink as the local LGBTQ+ community gathered for the annual Pink Dot SG event to highlight the challenges and discrimination the community faces in Singapore. The theme this year was a strong call to repeal Section 377A of the Penal Code which criminalises sex between men.
Following the rally, ST published a report on Saturday which noted that PM Lee Hsien Loong’s brother Lee Hsien Yang attended the rally with his family – his wife Lee Suet Fern, son Li Huanwu and his son’s husband Heng Yirui. Mr Li and Mr Heng just recently tied the knot in South Africa.
ST wrote:
“PM Lee’s brother, Mr Lee Hsien Yang, was also in the crowd. He said he was attending Pink Dot for the first time and was with his wife, Mrs Lee Suet Fern, his son, Mr Li Huanwu, and Mr Li’s husband Heng Yirui.
The gay couple got married in a small ceremony in South Africa attended by their families in May. Mr Lee Hsien Yang said he decided to attend to show his support for Mr Li and his husband.”
Here are screenshots of the original article:
Here’s the screenshot of that section mentioning the Lee family:
Curiously, about an hour later that same report was edited to omit the mention of Mr Lee Hsien Yang and his family’s presence at Pink Dot.
Looking at the report as it is now, you can clearly see that the entire section mentioning Mr Lee’s family and the photo of the four of them wearing Pink at the rally was removed entirely from the report. Everything written after that including quotes from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore was deleted as well.
We also note that ST hasn’t published any other reports on the Pink Dot rally, so it’s unlikely that the mention of Mr Lee’s family attending the event was merely shifted to a different article.
This isn’t the first time that a story relating to Mr Lee Hsien Yang and his family has been censored. As mentioned above, Mr Li Huanwu got married in May this year. However, ST did not carry that news despite it being a rather newsworthy story regarding a member of one of the most visible families in Singapore.
