?? who is she/he? Another sad family story?
Nov 27, 2009
Tan Lead Shake to divorce wife
Former opposition politician says he cannot live with brother's killer
By Ang Yiying
Mr Tan Lead Shake and wife Wu Yunyun in their wedding photo. At a press conference yesterday, he said she was lucky to get a 16-year jail term.
FORMER opposition politician Tan Lead Shake will leave his China-born wife Wu Yunyun, who was convicted last week of killing his brother.
Speaking to the press for the first time since her conviction, Mr Tan yesterday said he would initiate divorce proceedings.
The 41-year-old, who is currently unemployed, said in Mandarin: 'She has done something like that. A normal person will find it hard to accept.
'She is someone who killed my brother. How can I continue living with her?'
He said he had not thought of whether he would bring up the issue of divorce personally, but added that he did not think it was a legal requirement.
While he did not say how soon he would start divorce proceedings, he did say that it 'should not be too long'.
Asked whether their children - a six-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl - would ask for their mother, he said they had done so initially, but not any more.
Wu, 27, was last week sentenced to 16 years' jail for killing her brother-in-law Tan Lead Sane and attempting to kill his wife.
Asked about his view on her sentence, he said he felt she had been 'lucky' to get 16 years' jail.
He gave reporters a three-page statement in Chinese, most of which was focused on dispelling reports that the family had ill-treated Wu.
This point was also echoed by his mother and sister-in-law at an earlier press conference.
He said reports that Wu had been stopped from going out were untrue as she had held a number of jobs in Singapore - as a factory worker and a waitress.
She had also returned to China four times since coming to Singapore in 2001. He said that her last trip was for six months and that she could have stayed on in China if she had wanted to.
Of Wu, he painted a picture of someone who kept to herself and was sensitive to criticism.
Asked how he had coped when the incident happened, he said: 'Whether or not we want to go through it, we still have to live.'
He said his relationship with his sister-in-law was 'not good' after the incident and that his mother - who is now living with her - was in a difficult position.
Does he hate his wife?
He did not answer directly, only saying: 'Anyone who faces such a situation... regarding the person who has done the deed, you definitely will not be able to treat them as though the matter has not happened.'
