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SINGAPORE – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in court on Tuesday (December 1) that he did not have complete leeway to override the position of his cabinet ministers not to demolish his late father’s house at 38 Oxley Road.
Prime Minister Lee, who testified on the second day of the hearing about his defamation lawsuit against The Online Citizen (TOC) editor Terry Xu, also said that his father, Lee Kuan Yew, understood his son’s considerations and limitations. as head of government and rejected a repeated accusation by Lim Tean, the defendant’s lawyer, said that he “made the decisions” when it came to managing the family property.
Prime Minister Lee is suing Mr. Xu over a TOC article, published in August last year, that pointed to his sister Lee Wei Ling’s claims that his brother had misled his father into believing that 38 Oxley Road had been published by the government.
During his cross-examination of Prime Minister Lee, Lim asked why he could not overrule the cabinet ministers, who at a July 2011 meeting had expressed, against Lee Kuan Yew’s wishes, their opposition to bringing down the Oxley house.
“As prime minister, I have to put family considerations aside,” Prime Minister Lee said. “It is my duty, I took an oath to do so.” To override the ministers based on his father’s wishes would be to go against that oath and do wrong on the part of Singapore, he added.
Prime Minister Lee said that after the cabinet meeting, he gave his father his honest assessment of what the government would do with the house after his death.
“I told him that I had met with the Cabinet and listened to the opinions of the ministers. I told him that if I was chairing the Cabinet meeting, since these were the opinions of the ministers and the public, I thought it would be very difficult for me. to override them and tear down the house.
“I added that I would have to agree that the house had to be published to stand and if I was not the prime minister or not chairing the meeting, the house was more likely to be published. Mr. Lee got it.”
Mr. Lim then referred to an email sent by Dr. Lee Wei Ling to her father, in which she wrote, “Having lived here for so many years, I have adjusted myself and my room to the most efficient state. You have the decisions. I am delighted to be staying at Oxley. “
“His father replies later that night … ‘I can’t make the decisions. Loong as PM has the last word,'” Lim told PM Lee. “Your father was stating the obvious, wasn’t he? You command … Aren’t they your ministers, isn’t your Cabinet as you would like us to believe?”
“This is a shorthand,” replied PM Lee. “I am the prime minister. I have an opinion. If I say that my father would like to see the house demolished, the ministers will consider it. It is not possible for me to go against the ministers, as I explained to my father and as my father acknowledged.” .
Pressing the issue, Lim pulled out another email from the founding prime minister, which read: “Even if I tear it down while I’m alive, the prime minister can label it a heritage site and stop the demolition.”
This showed that Mr. Lee Kuan Yew was talking, at all times, that his son was the decision maker, Lim said. “The reality of the matter is that you, as prime minister, as the most politically powerful person in this country, had the last word, didn’t you?”
PM Lee agreed that his father had said that in the email, but added, “I had explained to him what he would have to do if I was the one making the decisions. In other words, he really had no leeway.” . “
Lee Kuan Yew understood the cabinet positions and son: prime minister
Later, Mr. Lim told Prime Minister Lee that his father was not happy with the views expressed at the July 2011 cabinet meeting.
“I have no information on that, but that is what my sister has written in some of her statements,” said PM Lee.
“But you were present at the meeting. Could you have seen your father’s reaction?” said Mr. Lim.
“I didn’t feel that,” replied PM Lee. “I figured he was disappointed that they couldn’t get them to agree with him, but I mean in cabinet, ministers don’t agree with each other, that’s how we do business.”
“It would be fair to describe that he was distraught, right?” Mr. Lim continued.
“I have no evidence of that,” said PM Lee.
Mr. Lim then said: “I suggest to you that after the cabinet meeting of July 21, 2011, your father was distraught because, as prime minister of this country from 1959 to 1990, he knew that no cabinet of his would have opposed him. on such a problem and you knew that no cabinet of yours would have opposed you if you had said you wanted demolition. That’s correct, isn’t it? “
“That’s wrong,” said PM Lee.
“Did he know you were the one in charge?” said Mr. Lim.
“These are political statements, not questions,” Prime Minister Lee said.
Judge Audrey Lim reprimanded Mr. Lim at this time, saying, “If you want to ask a question, it must be in the form of a question. You are making a lot of statements.”
Prime Minister Lee later reiterated that his father understood where the cabinet ministers and his son were. “When he wrote to the cabinet in December 2011, he said that the ministers had unanimously expressed their opinion that the house should not be demolished,” said Prime Minister Lee. “He did not say that the prime minister has told the ministers that he will not demolish the house.”
“I’m suggesting to you that your father knew you were boss and didn’t support you,” Lim said. “It was convenient for you to say that it was pressure from others.”
“I totally reject it and have explained why,” Prime Minister Lee said.
“Are your brothers right when they say that you wanted to keep the house to inherit the credibility of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew?” Said Mr. Lim, changing tactics.
“That’s nonsense,” said PM Lee.
“The prime minister who lives at 38 Oxley Road would remind the public of his father, wouldn’t he?” Mr. Lim affirmed.
“Maybe for the better, maybe for the worse,” said Prime Minister Lee, to which Mr. Lim asked, “Are you saying that Singaporeans had a terrible impression of your father?”
“No,” said PM Lee. “Singaporeans know me. I have been in politics since 1984, 36 years. I have been prime minister for 16 years and if I still depend on living in a particular house to exude a magical aura and awe and impress the population, I think I am in a very sad state and Singapore would be in a very sad state. “
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