Lee Hsien Yang: UK deems S'pore unsafe for me
Mr Lee Hsien Yang, in a Facebook post on Oct 22, said that he has become a political refugee from Singapore under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.
He said: “I sought asylum protection in 2022. The Singapore government’s attacks against me are in the public record. They prosecuted my son, brought disciplinary proceedings against my wife, and launched a bogus police investigation that has dragged on for years. On the basis of these facts, the UK has determined that I face a well-founded risk of persecution, and cannot safely return to Singapore.
“I sought asylum protection as a last resort. I remain a Singapore citizen and hope that some day it will become safe to return home.”
Mr Lee added: “In 2017, my sister Wei Ling and I declared, ‘We do not trust Hsien Loong as a brother or as a leader.’ We stated that we feared the abuse of the organs of the Singapore state against us and against my family. Because of that risk, I was unable to attend Wei Ling’s funeral.”
Mr Lee, the younger son of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, did not clarify if he has been granted asylum, which will allow him to stay in Britain for a minimum of five years, and open the door for permanent settlement there after this period.
Mr Lee left Singapore on June 15, 2022, after the police asked him and his wife Lee Suet Fern to assist in investigations.
The pair have not returned since.
To apply for asylum in Britain, one must fear returning to their country of origin or nationality, according to a British government information booklet on asylum applications.
Applicants become refugees once they are granted asylum, it adds.
The document also says to be recognised as a refugee under the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, one must have left their country and be unable to go back because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on one of five reasons.
These are: race, religion, nationality, political opinion and/or membership of a particular social group.
An applicant must also have failed to get protection from the authorities in their own country.
The issue of Mr Lee’s ability to return to Singapore re-emerged following the death and funeral of his older sister, Dr Lee Wei Ling, on Oct 9 at age 69, four years after being diagnosed with a rare brain disorder called progressive supranuclear palsy.
Mr Lee had earlier said he would not be returning to Singapore for the wake and funeral, and that his son Li Huanwu would be helping with them.
On Oct 11 – in response to queries from the media – the police said there are no legal restraints on Mr Lee and Mrs Lee returning to the Republic.
“They are and have always been free to return to Singapore,” they said.
Mr Lee has in the past hinted at a permanent departure from the country.
In 2023, Mr Lee said in a Facebook post that he may never return to Singapore amid the ongoing police investigation, the root of which is a legal disagreement between Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his younger siblings over the fate of their late father’s house in Oxley Road.
The statement added that the police had asked the younger Mr and Mrs Lee to assist in investigations in June 2022 by attending an interview. It said: “They had initially agreed but in the end did not turn up for the scheduled interview, left Singapore on June 15, 2022, and have not returned since.”
Among the differences was a demolition clause – relating to the demolition of the 38 Oxley Road house after Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s death – which had not been in the sixth or penultimate will but was in the last.
This clause became a sticking point among the late Mr Lee’s children.
In 2020, the Court of Three Judges and a disciplinary tribunal found that Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Mrs Lee Suet Fern had lied under oath during disciplinary proceedings against Mrs Lee, a lawyer, over her handling of the last will of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who died on March 23, 2015, at the age of 91.
The police then became involved.
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