30+ years ago, officers in my unit received an invitation from a certain Col Lee to attend a tea party. Many toadying business people and civil servants were excited as they heard that Col Lee would be leaving the army to head a telco and perhaps later on even join the “white knights”.
I didn’t attend that function. If the former colonel had extended the same invitation today, most of the same toadying people would treat him like the plague. Maybe except for me.
So what’s new?
Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on July 27 2023 sent lawyers’ letters to Mr Lee Hsien Yang for defamation in relation to their rental of black-and-white bungalows at Ridout Road.
In a Facebook post, Mr Shanmugam alleged that Mr Lee, the brother of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, had accused him and Dr Balakrishnan of “acting corruptly and for personal gain by having Singapore Land Authority (SLA) give us preferential treatment by illegally felling trees without approval, and also having SLA pay for renovations to 26 and 31 Ridout Road”.
These allegations are false, said Mr Shanmugam.
“We have asked him to apologise, withdraw his allegations and pay damages, which we will donate to charity. If he does not do so, we will sue him.”
Now compare what Mr Lee Hsien Yang has been accused of saying with what he had actually said.
Below is Mr Lee Hsien Yang’s reply to the threat:
“My post of 23 July stated: “Two ministers have leased state-owned mansions from the agency that one of them controls, felling trees and getting state-sponsored renovations.”
Shanmugam and V Balakrishnan assert: “Lee Hsien Yang has accused us of acting corruptly and for personal gain by having Singapore Land Authority (“SLA”) give us preferential treatment by illegally felling trees without approval and also having SLA pay for renovations to 26 and 31 Rideout Road.”
Shanmugam and V Balakrishnan are wrong about what I said. My post did not assert that Shanmugam and V Balakrishnan acted corruptly or for personal gain by having SLA give them preferential treatment by illegally felling trees without approval and also having SLA pay for renovations for them. My post simply stated facts that were already widely published in the Singapore and international media.
My post was made in the UK. If K Shanmugam and V Balakrishnan believe that they have a real case, then they should sue me in the UK.”
The irony! It’s an excellent reply from Lee Hsien Yang and this is followed by an interesting rejoiner from Lim Tean.
Excellent! Let’s have a live telecast. I’m sure more people will be watching this than parliamentary debates.
While it’s heartening to see that the persecuted are not cowering in fear, I’m not optimistic about anything positive emerging from all this. In less than a week, I’ll be off to Padang to climb Gunung Kerinci. And I must say that this is my least enthusiastic NDP. Somebody mentioned that he feels no pride displaying the flag. He’s right. How can I celebrate National Day when there are fellow Singaporeans being POFMAed, persecuted and forced into exile for daring to speak out? Maybe I shouldn’t do NDP. Maybe I should just climb for myself; climb in June/July, no need to bring the flag up. It’s not that many people are going to miss my yearly ritual anyway.
New Book!
