I do not understand why the Chinese and their media thinks that Singapore is tilting towards the US.
TPP? Singapore has always champion for more free trade in the region, whether it's the US or China initiating it. We are also the first supporters of Chinese initiatives such as the RCEP, OBOR, and the AIIB. Does that mean we are anti-US?
The SCS issue? Singapore is a non-claimant state. Are we really that stupid to get ourselves in and antagonize China when we have no stake in it? But we have our own principles and when pressured by other ASEAN states to make a stand, we need to state it clear from the start: all nations big or small should try to settle the dispute peacefully through the rule of law. Otherwise if Singapore gets into such disputes with larger countries in the future, we have no moral authority to make that statement. We would be seen as a hypocrite who make that statement whenever it involves us and flip position when it doesn't involve us. The international community and our neighbors will likewise find Singapore as mercenary and non-credible.
Or would you rather we be like the Philippines or Malaysia? On the surface pro-China but the society is anti-China and at the back receiving help from US/Japan to fight against China? We have also criticized the US on several issues, such as its hypocrisy on UNCLOS when the US herself is a non-signatory. But do the Chinese media report that? All I see from the Chinese media is that Singapore is a lap-dog of the US and is helping the US to bring China down.
If we are really anti-China, would we be the largest foreign investor in China? Why would we try to bring our investments down? Would we initiate a third government-to-government project to transfer our skills and knowledge? Would we be teaching hundreds of Chinese officials (including Xi Jinping in the past) who come here annually about governance? Would we advice Deng to open up China's economy when he visited Singapore? Would we try to help China to get into the WTO after the Tiananmen incident and the sanctions by the West?
How many governments share such close relationship over such a long period of time? Tilting over to the US now when our interest with China is at an all-time high?
S'pore hosts the largest US base in the area tucked quietly into the Woodlands. From inception S'pore hs had the closest relation with Israel which is an US proxy.
LEE FAMILY FEUD
‘I HOPE ONE DAY, THESE PASSIONS WILL SUBSIDE’: SINGAPORE PM SEEKS RECONCILIATION WITH SIBLINGS
Premier Lee Hsien Loong denies deceiving his father, Lee Kuan Yew, about family home on Oxley Road, as he urges Lion City to move on from saga: ‘This is not a soap opera,’ he tells parliament
BY
BHAVAN JAIPRAGAS
4 JUL 2017
Singapore’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong. Photo: AFP
A teary eyed Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday told lawmakers he hoped to one day reconcile with his estranged younger siblings who
accused him of abusing his power, but warned their bitter public feud was unlikely to end any time soon.
In a round-up speech following a two-day parliamentary debate on the allegations made by Lee Wei Ling and Lee Hsien Yang, the premier said comments by him and his ministers from the despatch box showed beyond doubt he had committed no wrongdoing.
“I hope one day, these passions will subside, and we can begin to reconcile. At the very least, I hope my siblings will not visit their resentments and grievances with one generation onto the next generation,” Lee told lawmakers.
WATCH: Singapore PM says siblings’ charges ‘baseless’
His eyes reddened and his voice choked with emotion as he spoke about “a difficult ... long road” towards rapprochement with his siblings. Other MPs from his ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) were also seen wiping away tears as he spoke.
The three are the children of the country’s revered independence leader
Lee Kuan Yew. The premier warned it was likely his two siblings’ attacks against him would continue in the near term.
The feud over the fate of their family home at 38 Oxley Road – Lee Kuan Yew’s home of seven decades – erupted into a national debate last month after the two younger siblings went public with stunning accusations that their brother had used his executive powers to get his way over the property.
Singapore PM misled Lee Kuan Yew on family house: brother
“I hope this two-day debate has cleared the air and will calm things down,” Premier Lee said.
But “it would be unrealistic to hope that the matter is now completely put to rest. I do not know what further statements or allegations my siblings may make,” he said. He rounded off his second speech in two days by urging the city state to move on from the saga. “This is not a soap opera ... We must all get back to work.”
Clockwise: Lee Kuan Yew, Lee Hsien Loong, Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Wei Ling. File photos
The prime minister dismissed calls by some MPs for a parliamentary select committee to conduct a probe on the abuse of power claims, claiming there was no case to answer.
Chief among the siblings’ accusations is that the premier convened a ministerial committee to railroad their plans to demolish 38 Oxley Road – a wish their father included in his final will.
They say Lee Hsien Loong opposes demolition because he wants to preserve the house as a monument in order to draw political capital from their father’s aura as the republic’s founding premier. But Premier Lee and his ministers dismissed the accusations as “baseless”.
Lee: I am fulfilling my father’s wishes for 38 Oxley Road
In comments to the South China Morning Post earlier on Tuesday, Lee Hsien Yang said the premier had made “specious arguments” in his Monday speech addressing the accusations.
Lee Hsien Yang, the youngest of the three siblings, told the
Post the prime minister had misled their father Lee Kuan Yew into thinking the government had gazetted the patriarch’s century-old bungalow for preservation as a heritage site.
The Lee family tree. Image: SCMP
The former military general said it was only because Lee Kuan Yew believed this to be a fait accompli that the patriarch wavered in his wish to demolish the property upon his death.
That went against
Lee Hsien Loong’s contention in parliament on Monday that their father’s preference for demolition was not “black and white”.
In that speech, Premier Lee said their father had even approved architectural plans for interior renovation, showing he was open to less extreme options than demolition.
Who’s who in the Lee Kuan Yew family feud
Responding on Tuesday on whether he misled his father, Premier Lee said: “I think when the allegation is that you have deceived Mr Lee Kuan Yew and it is directed at the prime minister, that can never be a private allegation. It has enormous ramifications for my standing and reputation, and the matter has to be answered.”
“The simple answer is that I didn’t deceive my father,” Lee said, pointing out that he told his father outright that he would not be able to overrule his cabinet on gazetting the house. In a 2011 meeting with the senior Lee, ministers told the patriarch they opposed the demolition of the house.
In his round up speech, the premier repeated a point he made a day earlier – that he would not sue his siblings for libel because that would further besmirch his parents’ names.
Flowers below a tribute to Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew. Photo: AFP
Low Thia Khiang, the legislature’s unofficial opposition leader, took issue with this stance, citing past cases in which the premier won defamation suits against domestic political opponents.
“Does this not show that blood is thicker than water? Own siblings, cannot sue. After all we are all brothers and sisters. But political opponents and critics, sue until your pants drop!” said Low, whose Workers’ Party holds six out of 89 elected seats in the parliament. Lee’s PAP – in power since 1959 – holds the remaining 83 seats. The prime minister did not directly address Low’s comments.
The premier’s predecessor, Goh Chok Tong, meanwhile attacked the two younger Lee siblings and Lee Hsien Yang’s lawyer wife Lee Suet Fern for using disagreements over 38 Oxley Road to advance what he claimed was a “personal vendetta”.
Lee Hsien Yang, the younger brother of Singapore’s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong. Photo: AFP
“From what Lee Hsien Yang and his wife are freely telling many others, it is clear that their goal is to bring Lee Hsien Loong down as PM, regardless of the huge collateral damage suffered by the government and Singaporeans,” said Goh, who handed power to Lee Hsien Loong in 2004 after taking the helm from Lee Kuan Yew in 1990.
A metaphor for Singapore in the Lee Kuan Yew family feud
“It is now no more a cynical parlour game. If the Lee siblings choose to squander the good name and legacy of Lee Kuan Yew, and tear their relationship apart, it is tragic but a private family affair,” Goh said. “But if in the process of their self-destruction, they destroy Singapore too, that is a public affair.”
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