In a stunning revelation that has sent shockwaves through the international community, Lee Hsien Yang, the son of Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew, has been granted asylum in the United Kingdom after fleeing what he describes as a “campaign of persecution” by the country’s authoritarian regime. The development has cast a harsh spotlight on the dark underbelly of Singapore’s politics and the bitter family feud that has torn apart the nation’s ruling elite.
A Paradise Lost: The Dark Side of Singapore’s Politics
Speaking exclusively to The Guardian, Lee Hsien Yang painted a grim picture of life in Singapore, a country often hailed as an economic miracle and a model of efficient governance. “Despite the very advanced economic prosperity that Singapore has, there’s a dark side to it, that the government is repressive,” he revealed. “What people think, that this is some kind of paradise – it isn’t.”
Under the rule of his brother, Lee Hsien Loong, who served as prime minister for 20 years until May, Lee Hsien Yang claims that the authorities unleashed a series of baseless allegations and legal actions against him, his wife, and his son. The relentless persecution, he said, “escalated to the point where I believe for my own personal safety I should not continue to live in Singapore.”
A Family Feud Turns Political
The roots of the family rift can be traced back to the death of Lee Kuan Yew in 2015. A disagreement over the fate of the patriarch’s home sparked a bitter dispute between the brothers, with Lee Hsien Yang accusing the then-prime minister of using the issue to bolster his own political legitimacy.
“It is clear that the current generation [of leaders] will try very hard to create attachments to Lee Kuan Yew. Lee Kuan Yew is the golden goose of legitimacy.”
– Sudhir Vadaketh, editor of Jom magazine
The feud escalated into a series of legal proceedings against Lee Hsien Yang and his family, which he believes were politically motivated attempts to destroy him. In 2020, he joined an opposition party, a move that put him squarely in the crosshairs of the ruling regime.
A Surveillance State and a Haven for Dirty Money
Lee Hsien Yang also shed light on the pervasive surveillance apparatus that underpins Singapore’s authoritarian system. He claimed to have been among the targets of the country’s “very extensive surveillance system,” a revelation that hints at the depths of political repression in the city-state.
Furthermore, he called attention to Singapore’s role as a key facilitator for illicit financial flows, stating, “People need to look beyond Singapore’s bold, false assertions and see what the reality really is like. There is a need for the world to look more closely, to see Singapore’s role as that key facilitator for arms trades, for dirty money, for drug monies, crypto money.”
A Cry for International Scrutiny
The decision to grant Lee Hsien Yang asylum in the UK is a damning indictment of the state of political freedoms in Singapore. It is a clarion call for the international community to look beyond the country’s gleaming façade and confront the harsh realities of its authoritarian system.
As the world grapples with the implications of this stunning development, one thing is clear: the myth of Singapore as a political paradise has been shattered, and the time has come for a reckoning with the dark side of its success.
