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SINGAPORE – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hoped to avoid a lawsuit when he decided to send a letter to The Online Citizen (TOC) editor Terry Xu through his press secretary rather than his lawyers, he told the High Court on Monday ( November 30). .
Testifying on the first day of a week-long hearing for his defamation lawsuit against Xu, he rejected a suggestion by defense attorney Lim Tean that he was trying to intimidate Xu into removing an article and a Facebook post using his status. office. .
Prime Minister Lee said he had exercised “exceptional tolerance” in issuing the letter, as he would have sent a formal demand letter in any other case.
“He would have demanded damages, apologies, compromises … but he hoped to avoid another big outbreak and regurgitation and repetition of all the problems that had made Singapore so unhappy in 2017,” said Prime Minister Lee.
He was referring to the issues related to the dispute between him and his brothers, Mr. Lee Hsien Yang and Dr. Lee Wei Ling, over the family’s property at 38 Oxley Road.
Said Prime Minister Lee: “I thought if I did it this way, maybe TOC and Mr. Xu would get the message and be prepared, in the national interest, to do the right thing and apologize to me, remove the post and close the post. issue. Unfortunately, it was not. “
The case involves a TOC article published in August last year, which referenced a Facebook post by Dr. Lee, in which she claimed that PM Lee had cheated on her late father, Founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. , leading him to believe that 38 Oxley Road had been published by the Government.
On September 1 last year, Prime Minister Lee’s press secretary sent a letter to Mr. Xu asking him to remove the article and issue a “full and unconditional apology.” PM Lee initiated legal proceedings after Mr. Xu refused to do so.
On Monday, Xu’s lawyer, Lim Tean, pointed out that Prime Minister Lee had not previously sent such a letter through his office as prime minister, and suggested that he was trying to intimidate Xu.
“Not at all. If my attorney acted on my behalf, I think it would be even more intimidating,” replied PM Lee.
Mr. Lim also noted that PM Lee had published the letter to the mainstream media almost immediately after it was sent to Mr. Xu and therefore “did not give (Mr. Xu) the opportunity to reply. “.
But this didn’t stop Mr. Xu from replying, PM Lee replied.
“Mr. Terry Xu had published his article, it was gaining many looks. It had 100,000 visits, mainly in those two months, August and September. It was important for me to tell the world that it was not true and had asked for it,” said PM Lee.
Mr. Lim said, “I suggest, Mr. Lee, that your actions indicate a man who was willing to bully.”
To this, PM Lee responded, “I do not solve these problems by bullying people. I solve them by consulting a lawyer and exercising my legal rights. Bullying gets you nowhere. If you bully someone without justification and they go to court, you will have a black eye. “
Mr. Lim asked Prime Minister Lee if he agreed that by sending the letter through his office, the Prime Minister was telling Mr. Xu “I am coming for you as the Prime Minister of this country.”
Disagreeing, Prime Minister Lee said: “I am saying that you have defamed me as Prime Minister. I am the Prime Minister and I have been defamed … and I want to be noticed.”
Impossible for the brothers to profit from the demolition of 38 Oxley Road
Mr. Lim also asked Prime Minister Lee whether he anticipated a conflict between him and his brothers over what to do with the 38 Oxley Road house.
He told the court that it was his client’s argument that despite PM Lee’s public statements about his position, the Prime Minister did not actually want the house demolished and had reasons of his own.
Prime Minister Lee said that while it was Mr. Lee Kuan Yew’s personal preference that the house be demolished, his father had also recognized the possibility that the government could act to prevent this and therefore made arrangements to preserve family privacy.
He added that even if “leaving aside the possibility that we may not agree,” it would have been difficult for him and his brothers to oppose public pressure to preserve the house.
On top of that, Prime Minister Lee said it was also his position that it would be untenable if the three brothers were to benefit financially from any decision to demolish and rebuild the property. He said that he had suggested to his brothers that any proceeds from such a decision should be donated to an appropriate charity.
Later, Mr. Lim asked if PM Lee had foreseen a disagreement with his brothers on whether to demolish the house.
PM Lee replied, “I didn’t foresee that possibility; I said I put it aside. Please don’t paraphrase me incorrectly.”
He added that he was “not conscious” in his mind at the time, but could not have ruled out such a conflict.
Mr. Lim said: “Until today, your brothers insist on tearing down (the house), but we heard from you that, in addition to what the government could do, you had doubts, you had doubts.”
Prime Minister Lee responded that he had doubts about whether the demolition would be possible, as there was public pressure and the question of what the government might decide to do.
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