Neither Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong nor his wife Ho Ching “hold anything against” the former’s siblings Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee Wei Ling.
Taking the witness stand, PM Lee testified in court during the first day of the trial of his defamation suit against TOC’s chief editor Terry Xu on Monday (30 November) that the “animosity”, on the other hand, “is evident on one side from my siblings”.
PM Lee’s defamation suit against Mr Xu pertains to an article published on TOC on 15 August last year titled “PM Lee’s wife, Ho Ching weirdly shares article on cutting ties with family members”.
The article contained alleged defamatory statements made by PM Lee’s siblings Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee Wei Ling in relation to the 38 Oxley Road dispute.
Answering questions from Mr Xu’s lawyer Lim Tean during cross-examination, PM Lee said — referencing a section in the article titled “The Lee family feud” — that he does not understand what it was about.
“As I explained in Parliament in 2017, I have detached myself from the cause of the feud. I no longer own — I do not own 38 Oxley Road, which was the issue. I have sold it to my brother and I have recused myself from the Government’s handling of the case completely,” PM Lee explained.
He stressed that he has “nothing to do with any decisions” the Government makes on 38 Oxley Road and that subsequently, there is “really nothing which I can do or not do which can influence” whether the house will be demolished.
PM Lee said that given the above context, he does not understand why there appears to be “continuing animosity” and “repeated statements” on his siblings’ part.
“I have never done any Facebook posts. I have not criticised them publicly. I have said nothing other than what I have put out in my ministerial statements,” he testified.
“I hope against hope that one day matters may be repaired,” said PM Lee.
When questioned by Mr Lim as to whether he had read Mdm Ho’s Facebook post in which the “Here’s why sometimes is it okay to cut page ties with toxic family members” article was linked, PM Lee said that he did not, despite being on Facebook every day.
He testified that he had only read “what TOC made of the post and commented upon it”.
When prompted by Mr Lim as to whether he had really not read either Mdm Ho’s Facebook post or the article attached to the Facebook post, PM Lee said that it was “not necessary”.
To him, he said, it was “quite clear” what TOC’s article was about — and it did not comment on what Mdm Ho had posted.
“My wife’s posting or sharing was just a peg for TOC to hit at me,” said PM Lee.
Mr Lim then asked PM Lee if he agreed that any person who read Mdm Ho’s Facebook post would have inevitably concluded that it was a commentary on the Lees’ family dispute, given the background and context of the said dispute.
PM Lee replied that he disagreed, as he believes that “different people read posts with different perspectives”.
He added that he has “full confidence in her judgment” that the article shared by Mdm Ho “had nothing to do with the TOC post”.
When Mr Lim questioned him as to when he had read the TOC post, PM Lee said he could not remember the date, but that it would have been right before his press secretary Chang Li Lin wrote to TOC asking TOC to remove the article and apologise.
The defence lawyer pointed out that Ms Chang only wrote to TOC on 1 September last year — 15 days after the TOC article was first published.
PM Lee replied that he could not remember, but that it must have been “some time during those 15 days”.
“[It] have would have taken me several days to work out with my press secretary exactly what line to take and where to wrote to TOC about, so probably less than 15 days, but I saw it soon after it was posted,” said PM Lee.
Background of PM Lee Hsien Loong’s defamation suit against TOC chief editor Terry Xu
PM Lee’s defamation suit against Mr Xu pertains to an article published on TOC on 15 August last year titled “PM Lee’s wife, Ho Ching weirdly shares article on cutting ties with family members”.
The article contained alleged defamatory statements made by PM Lee’s siblings Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee Wei Ling in relation to the 38 Oxley Road dispute.
At the heart of the 38 Oxley Road dispute is the house owned by the Lee siblings’ late father and Singapore’s founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and the elder Lee’s wish to have the house demolished instead of being turned into a museum or government relic.
Mr LHY and Dr LWL are joint executors and trustees of Mr LKY’s estate.
In a joint statement released on 14 June 2017, which was shared on their Facebook pages, PM Lee’s two younger siblings claimed, among multiple other allegations, that PM Lee and his wife Ho Ching had defied Mr LKY’s wish to demolish the house.
They also alleged that PM Lee and Mdm Ho were responsible for instilling and perpetuating the Government’s stance to preserve the house at 38 Oxley Road, including PM Lee’s purported move to demonstrate that Mr LKY had changed his mind on having the house demolished.
Mr LHY and Dr LWL also claimed that PM Lee had engaged in abuse of power as Prime Minister to obtain a copy of the Deed of Gift from then-Minister of National Development Lawrence Wong, which was then passed to his personal lawyer Lucien Wong at the time for his own purpose.
The younger Lee siblings also alleged that Mdm Ho wielded significant influence in the Government despite not being a public official.
PM Lee issued a statement the same day to counter the allegations. Despite that, Mr LHY and Dr LWL continued to make claims against PM Lee in subsequent Facebook posts.
Following that, PM Lee announced in June the same year his plans to deliver a ministerial statement in Parliament the next month to address the allegations made by his siblings.
The prime minister delivered his ministerial statement on 3 July 2017, in which he branded the allegations as baseless.
PM Lee also said that he would not be suing Mr LHY and Dr LWL as doing so would further besmirch their parents’ name.
The next day, PM Lee delivered another ministerial statement, in which he said that he would not call for a Select Committee or a Commission of Inquiry to be convened into the 38 Oxley Road dispute and his siblings’ allegations.
Mr LHY and Dr LWL on 4 July — the same day PM Lee made his second ministerial statement on the matter — in a joint statement alleged that PM Lee had improperly misrepresented to LKY that the gazetting of 38 Oxley Road was either “inevitable” or that the house was already gazetted.
Two days later on 6 July, Mr LHY and Dr LWL jointly stated that they would not post any further evidence on the allegations if PM Lee and the Government do not interfere with Mr LKY’s wish — as well as their own — to have the house demolished.
PM Lee responded the same day by saying that he could not concede to his siblings’ demand to withdraw plans to deliver his ministerial statement and to hold the debate in Parliament, as well as disbanding the Ministerial Committee and not responding to their accusations.
Mr LHY and Dr LWL henceforth continued to make posts on matters relating to 38 Oxley Road.
However, PM Lee decided to file a defamation suit against Mr Xu for publishing the article that contained the allegedly defamatory statements made by Mr LHY and Dr LWL in relation to the 38 Oxley Road dispute.
Prior to that, PM Lee’s press secretary Chang Li Lin wrote to Mr Xu, asking the latter to remove the “libellous” article and to publish a “full and unconditional” apology.
PM Lee later began legal proceedings against Mr Xu after the latter had refused the demands made in Ms Chang’s letter.
The trial continues tomorrow on Tuesday (1 December).
