TR EMERITUS

Lee Hsien Yang The estranged younger brother of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is considering a run for the largely ceremonial role of president this year, a sign that an ongoing family feud could start to overshadow the city-state’s politics. Lee Hsien Yang, 65, spoke about his plans to Bloomberg News after the government revealed an ongoing police investigation against him and his wife over the handling of the last will of his father Lee Kuan Yew, who founded modern Singapore. "There is a view that depending on who they float, if I were to run they would be in serious trouble and could lose", Lee Hsien Yang said by phone, referring to the ruling People’s Action Party headed by his brother. "A lot of people have come to me. They really want me to run. It’s something I would consider." The Prime Minister’s Office didn’t immediately comment. The government has said the police investigation was an opportunity for Lee Hsien Yang and his wife Lee Suet Fern to vindicate themselves and their refusal to participate raises questions. A former chief executive of Singtel, Lee Hsien Yang has lived in self-imposed exile in Europe for months along with his wife. He declined to say where they were residing. With the ongoing probe, Lee Hsien Yang said he was unsure "what the chances are that I will return to Singapore in the foreseeable future." While the prime minister runs the government in Singapore, the presidency holds some powers such as the right to veto spending bills or government requests to draw on past reserves, which was done to help shore up the budget during the pandemic. The president also must sign off on civil service appointments. Although candidates for the presidential race are supposed to be non-partisan under Singapore’s constitution, the current president was a former senior official of the PAP, which has ruled Singapore since independence in 1965. The vote will give an indicator of the national mood ahead of a general election that must be called by November 2025, with the PAP seeking to win over younger voters facing rising living costs after suffering its worst-ever showing in the 2020 election. The next national vote will also likely mark the end of Lee Hsien Loong’s roughly two decades in power. Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has been tapped to take the reins after another deputy, Heng Swee Keat, stepped aside as heir apparent in April 2021. Discord among the Lee siblings has simmered for years since the patriarch’s death in 2015. It largely centres on whether a colonial-era bungalow near the glitzy shopping district where Lee Kuan Yew lived for most of his 91 years should be demolished. Lee Hsien Loong, 71, has in the past expressed disappointment that his younger brother and sister Lee Wei Ling have publicised private family matters. Lee Hsien Yang’s path to presidency will be difficult. He has to meet requirements set by the Presidential Elections Committee, which is stacked mostly with government officials, in order to qualify as a candidate. Critics have said in the past the committee has too much discretionary power to decide whether candidates are fit to run. His wife Lee Suet Fern was suspended for 15 months from practising law in 2020. She said at the time she disagreed with the punishment for professional misconduct in her handling of the will. Their son Li Sheng Wu was fined the same year for a private Facebook post that criticised the government over its handling of the matter. This is not the first time Lee Hsien Yang has mulled running for public office. In 2020, he joined the opposition Progress Singapore Party and briefly flirted with the idea of competing against his brother in elections in what critics called a stunt to raise the profile of the opposition. Lee Hsien Yang said in Facebook post then he backed down then as "Singapore doesn’t need another Lee". He was still front and centre of his party’s election campaign that yielded no outright electoral victories though a rule that mandates opposition representation in parliament awarded it two non-constituency seats. The PAP by contrast won 89% of the seats up for grabs but it was the worst showing for the ruling party as the opposition Workers’ Party made significant headway.   By Philip Heijman * Article first appeared on Bloomberg.      Read More →

1. Many young people find the prices of new flats (aka BTO flats) to be too high and unaffordable. The general public has asked the government to use a lower land value, so that the flats can be sold more at a lower price. 2. The government is unwilling to use a lower land value, as a drop in the prices of HDB flats will be bad for existing owners, especially those who bought the flats recently at higher prices. 3. I suggest the following approach to deal with this issue: The government should price the new flats at the level that existing in 2019, i.e. before the pandemic. The increase in HDB prices in the recent years is due to the shortage of supply of new flats caused by the stoppage of construction during the pandemic. This supply shortage caused the prices of property to increase sharply. This increase can be considered to be temporary. The government has already given orders to build 150,000 new flats over the next three years. This increased supply can meet the new demand. 4. If the prices of new flats are kept at 2019 level, there will be increased demand, as they look attractive when compared to the increase in the resale prices of HDB flats. Even if the demand is higher than the new flats under construction, the government has sufficiently vacant land to build more flats. 5. There is a risk that there will be an oversupply of new flats in the future, and some will not be sold and be left vacant. If this situation should arise, the government can keep the flats vacant or rent them to tenants. The vacant flats can be made available to new buyers, who will not have to wait for several years to get a flat. Even if the flats are left vacant for a few years, the actual construction cost is not a large sum. 6. The prices of new flats in the future can be adjusted based on increase in the median wage level in the country. This strategy is to fix the prices at an "affordable level" and use this price to influence the future property prices. As the government is a large land owner with a large supply of vacant land, they can influence the property market by ensuring an adequate supply of new flats to meet future demand. Under this strategy, the government will use the supply of new flats to influence the property prices, rather than allow the market price to determine the future prices of HDB flats. 7. I look forward to the day where there is a ready supply of vacant flats that buyers can buy and get the keys immediately. They should not have to wait several years for the flats to be ready.   Tan Kin Lian      Read More →

Mr & Mrs Lee Hsien Yang under police investigation Obviously Teo Chee Hian is ignorant of senior lawyer, TPB Menon's opinion on the ridiculous judgement in the Law Society's case against Lee Suet Fern. Go read his excellent book - 60 YEARS AT THE SINGAPORE BAR, REFLECTIONS & RUMINATIONS. I remember that the court concluded that Lee Suet Fern was not acting as Lee Kuan Yew's lawyer when she helped prepare his Will. She did it as his daughter in law. That being the case, Menon opined that Lee Suet Fern owed no duty to advance his (Lee Kuan Yew's) interest. Menon thus found it difficult to accept the judgement which ruled against Lee Suet Fern. He gave 3 reasons and the third is particularly pertinent. It reads: the Testator would turn in his grave if he were to be told that the Court had concluded that he had signed 'a document which was in fact not that which he had indicated he wished to sign'. Indeed! The court had gravely insulted the first prime minister who spent his whole life building the country "to his image" as a very senior lawyer once told me. Lee Kuan Yew drafted and signed a codicil after making his last Will. It is ridiculous to suggest that he was senile and a sotong when he made a codicil all by himself. That Codicil was witnessed by his personal staff. How could his codicil be held valid if he didn't understand what his last Will was all about? Finally, why didn't Lee Hsien Loong challenge the Will and Codicil when probate was being taken? My suspicion about this resurrection of the case in parliament now is because the presidential election and the general election will soon be held. It is totally unmeritorious and a waste of taxpayers' money to use parliament in this manner. Lee Kuan Yew I am sure is turning in his grave now.   Teo Soh Lung   Related: Lee Hsien Yang, wife Lee Suet Fern under police investigation for lying in judicial proceedings about Lee Kuan Yew's will.        Read More →