{"id":52729,"date":"2020-12-04T06:19:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T22:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediaintel.asia\/?p=166422"},"modified":"2020-12-04T06:19:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T22:19:00","slug":"intellasia-east-asia-news-singapore-in-very-sad-state-if-i-depend-on-living-in-oxley-road-house-to-exude-magic-aura-pm-lee-in-libel-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/2020\/12\/04\/intellasia-east-asia-news-singapore-in-very-sad-state-if-i-depend-on-living-in-oxley-road-house-to-exude-magic-aura-pm-lee-in-libel-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Intellasia East Asia News \u2013 Singapore in \u2018very sad state\u2019 if I depend on living in Oxley Road house to \u2018exude magic aura\u2019: PM Lee in libel trial"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If he still depended on living in his late father Lee Kuan Yew\u2019s home at 38 Oxley Road to \u201cexude a magic aura and impress the population\u201d, both he and Singapore would be in a \u201cvery sad state\u201d, prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Tuesday (December 1). CopyAMP code
\nHe made this comment in courtroom evidence as part of a lengthy back-and-forth with lawyer Lim Tean over whether he had misled his father into thinking that the house would be gazetted as a heritage property.
\nThe Oxley Road property has taken centre stage in a defamation lawsuit that PM Lee filed against Lim\u2019s client \u2013 socio-political website The Online Citizen\u2019s (TOC) chief editor Terry Xu.
\nThe lawsuit went to trial in the High Court on Monday. It continued on Tuesday in a courtroom filled to capacity with onlookers, subject to safe distancing measures, as Lim cross-examined PM Lee.
\nThe prime minister is suing Xu for alleged libel over an article published on TOC in August last year. The article was titled \u201cPM Lee\u2019s wife Ho Ching weirdly shares article on cutting ties with family members\u201d.
\nSince 2017, PM Lee has been embroiled in a dispute with his siblings \u2013 Dr Lee Wei Ling and Lee Hsien Yang \u2013 over the fate of their family home at 38 Oxley Road after the death of their father, who was Singapore\u2019s founding prime minister.
\nThe TOC article, PM Lee\u2019s lawyers have said, contains false allegations repeated from his siblings that gravely injure his character and reputation.
\n\u201cPOLITICALLY UNTENABLE\u201d
\nDuring a three-hour hearing on Tuesday morning, PM Lee reiterated his stance on 38 Oxley Road \u2013 that it was \u201cpolitically untenable\u201d for him to profit from redeveloping it.
\nIf he wanted to carry out his father\u2019s wishes and do this, he \u201cwould do ill to Singapore\u201d, he said.
\nPM Lee had previously explained that he had recused himself from the government\u2019s handling of the property and sold the property to his brother.
\nPart of his case for defamation is that those who read the TOC article would think that PM Lee misled his father into thinking that the government would gazette the house and that it was futile for the late Lee to maintain his position that it should be demolished.
\nThe house has never been gazetted.
\nOn the other hand, Xu\u2019s case is that between December 27 in 2011, when Lee wrote to the Cabinet about the house, and September 6 in 2012, when he said in an email that it had been gazetted as a heritage house, he had been misled into thinking it had been gazetted.
\nLee thus removed the demolition clause in his fifth will in October 2012, Xu argues.
\nLee had signed six wills over 15 months between August 2011 and November 2012. He signed a final one, with the demolition clause re-inserted, in December 2013.
\nNO FREEDOM OF ACTION
\nEarlier, PM Lee testified that many members of the public, newspaper editors, as well as members of the Cabinet wanted the house to be preserved. Lee wanted it demolished.
\nOn Tuesday, in a bid to establish the proposition that the late Lee thought the house would be gazetted, Lim took PM Lee through numerous emails between him, his father, Madam Ho and his siblings.
\nOn August 11, 2011, Dr Lee had responded to an email from their father. She said that she would prefer to continue living at the Oxley Road property but that he \u201ccalled the shots\u201d.
\nThe late Lee replied: \u201cI cannot call the shots. Loong as PM has the final word.\u201d
\nIn another email shortly after, he also said: \u201cEven if I knock it down while I\u2019m alive, the PM can gazette it as a heritage site and stop the demolition.\u201d
\nLim told PM Lee in court: \u201cThe reality of the matter is that you as PM, the most powerful person in Singapore politically \u2013 you had the final word. Not editors, not the Cabinet, the public.\u201d
\nPM Lee replied: \u201cThat\u2019s what my father said, but I explained to him what I would do if I were the decision maker. In other words, I really did not have freedom of action.\u201d
\n\u201cSINGAPOREANS KNOW ME\u201d
\nLim then suggested that Lee was \u201cdistraught\u201d after meeting the Cabinet in July 2011. PM Lee replied: \u201cThat is wrong.\u201d
\nThe lawyer also suggested that it was \u201cconvenient\u201d for PM Lee to say there was pressure from others to preserve the house when his father knew that he, PM Lee, called the shots.
\n\u201cI reject that totally and I have explained why,\u201d the prime minister responded.
\n\u201cYour siblings are correct when they said you wanted to keep the house to inherit Lee Kuan Yew\u2019s credibility?\u201d the lawyer asked. PM Lee said he thought this was \u201crubbish\u201d.
\nLim then asked: \u201cThe PM residing at Oxley, will it remind the public of your father?\u201d
\n\u201cMaybe for better, maybe for worse,\u201d PM Lee replied.
\n\u201cAre you saying that Singaporeans have a terrible impression of your father?\u201d the lawyer asked.
\n\u201cI\u2019m saying that Singaporeans know me \u2026 I\u2019ve been a politician for 36 years, PM for 16 years. If I still depend on living in the house to exude a magic aura and impress the population, I think I would be in a very sad state and Singapore would be in a very sad state,\u201d he responded.
\nGAZETTING NOT EVEN RELEVANT: PM
\nAmong the emails that Lim went through was one that the late Lee sent to Mdm Ho, copied to PM Lee.
\nHe had said: \u201cYes, but Loong as PM has indicated he would declare it a heritage site that will put an end to any rebuilding.\u201d
\nIn his evidence, PM Lee explained that they had discussed the matter repeatedly afterwards and that his father knew on December 27, 2011, when he wrote to the Cabinet, that the house would not be gazetted.
\nLim produced another email from the late Lee dated Sep 6, 2012 where he wrote: \u201cAlthough it has been gazetted as a heritage house, it is still mine as owner.\u201d
\nPM Lee accepted that based on the email, his father believed the house had been gazetted at that point. However, he said that he did not discuss the matter with Lee beyond May 2012.
\nThe lawyer pointed to another email dated November 30, 2013 sent to Lee by his usual lawyer, Ms Kwa Kim Li. It stated: \u201cLast night, you raised the possibility that Oxley may one day be de-gazetted after your passing.\u201d
\nPM Lee again stressed that he had not discussed gazetting the property with his father.
\nWhen his own lawyer, Senior Counsel Davinder Singh, asked if gazetting was even a relevant point, he responded: \u201cNo. Even if it was not gazetted and I, after inheriting the house, would be allowed to redevelop and profit from it, I think it would have been a humongous stink. It\u2019s impossible.\u201d
\nThe trial continues on Tuesday afternoon with Xu taking the stand.<\/p>\n

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If he still depended on living in his late father Lee Kuan Yew\u2019s home at 38 Oxley Road to \u201cexude a magic aura and impress the population\u201d, both he and Singapore would be in a \u201cvery sad state\u201d, prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Tuesday (December 1…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,100],"tags":[10474,10315,8864,1859,10380,4491],"class_list":["post-52729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-chinese-law","category-website","tag-lee-hsien-loong","tag-media-intelligence","tag-news-media","tag-singapore","tag-singapore-general-news","tag-temasek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52729"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52729"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52730,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52729\/revisions\/52730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}