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An 'insult' to suggest Lee Kuan Yew did not understand his own will: Hsien Yang

Yahoo file photo
Yahoo file photo

It is “an insult to a great man” to suggest that the late Lee Kuan Yew did not understand his own will, said Lee Hsien Yang.

In his latest Facebook post on Saturday (24 June), the brother of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that the PM “is now getting his ministers to repeat his insinuations that Lee Kuan Yew did not understand his own will”. It was an apparent reference to Senior Minister of State for Law and Finance Indranee Rajah’s Facebook post on the same day.

Hsien Yang, who is currently chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, said, “They argue that Lee Kuan Yew, a Cambridge-educated lawyer and sitting MP, signed his own will without knowing what was in it. They claim that he initialed beneath the demolition clause, without understanding what it meant in plain English.”

He again repeated his assertions that the 2013 will “was no more than a reversion to the 2011 will on Lee Kuan Yew’s instructions” and is “final and legally binding”. He added, “The proper place for Lee Hsien Loong to challenge his father’s will was in court.” His Facebook post included links pertaining to the will.

On Saturday, Indranee Rajah penned a Facebook post entitled “4 Further Things You Should Know About The Oxley Dispute”. Citing details included in PM Lee’s summary of statutory declarations on the late Lee’s seventh will, she suggested that Lee Kuan Yew might have only had five minutes to “read through and absorb the contents of the 7th will”.

Rajah also claimed that if Hsien Yang’s wife Suet Fern had been involved in the drafting of the will, “certain questions will arise” as a lawyer drafting a will is required under the law to be independent.

The Lee family feud erupted on 14 June when Hsien Yang and his sister Wei Ling issued a public statement denouncing their elder brother. PM Lee denied his siblings’ allegations on the same day.

On 15 June, PM Lee said that his father’s last will was made under “deeply troubling circumstances” in his summary of statutory declarations.

PM Lee will issue a Ministerial Statement to address the issues arising from the feud at the next sitting of Parliament on 3 July.

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