Lee Hsien Yang, youngest son of Singapore founder, claims asylum in the UK

Lee Hsien Yang says he was granted asylum due to Singapore’s ‘persecution’ against him and his family.

The youngest son of Singapore‘s late founding father has declared that he is now a political refugee in the United Kingdom, marking the latest development in the high-profile feud within the city-state’s most prominent family.

Lee Hsien Yang said on Tuesday that the UK government granted him asylum from what he described as “persecution” at home.

Lee and his sister Lee Wei Ling, who died on October 9, have for years been estranged from influential elder brother Lee Hsien Loong, who was prime minister for two decades until May this year. The rift centred around disagreements over the fate of their father’s home following his death in 2015.

The frayed relationship has played out publicly, with the younger Lee, 67, aligning himself with an opposition party during the 2020 election and last year saying he was considering running for the Singapore presidency, a largely ceremonial post.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Lee Hsien Yang said that he sought asylum in 2022 “as a last resort,” which the UK granted him in August.

“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,” he wrote, adding that he had been unable to return home for his sister’s funeral as a result.

“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.”

Singapore’s government said the persecution claim was baseless and unfounded, ChannelNewsAsia reported.

There was no immediate comment from the UK’s government.

‘Look more closely’

The Guardian published an interview with Lee Hsien Yang on Tuesday in which he strongly criticised the Singapore government and alleged it facilitated money laundering.

“There is a need for the world to look more closely, to see Singapore’s role as that key facilitator for arms trades, for dirty money, for drug monies, crypto money,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

The Singapore government said in a statement that there was no basis to the allegations in the Guardian’s report. The city-state has a “robust system to deter and tackle money laundering and other illicit financial flows, which is consistent with international standards,” it said.

Lee Hsien Yang and his sister, Lee Wei Ling, have accused their eldest brother of abusing his power to stop them from demolishing the family home according to the wishes of their father, who died in 2015 after leading Singapore for more than three decades.

Lee Hsien Loong thought it should be up to the government to decide what to do with it, including potentially retaining it as a heritage landmark.

The elder Lee remains in the cabinet in the post of senior minister, a role also held by his father, who from 1959 to 1990 oversaw the city-state’s rapid rise from a British colonial backwater to a global trade and financial centre.