Singapore's affluent veneer hides repression and corruption, says son of its modern-day founder
SYLVIA HUIUpdated Thu, 31 October 2024 at 10:10 PM SGT5-min read
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Britain Singapore
Lee Hsien Yang, who has been granted political asylum in the UK from what he called persecution in Singapore, as he is interviewed by Associated Press in London, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)ASSOCIATED PRESS
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LONDON (AP) — Singapore has become much more repressive, and corruption in the Asian financial hub has worsened in the decade since the death of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, according to his youngest son who fled to Britain to seek asylum from what he described as a campaign of persecution to silence him.
Lee Hsien Yang, who has been granted political refugee status in the U.K., told The Associated Press that Singaporean authorities have “weaponized” the country's laws against critics and that he is just the most prominent example of a growing number of Singaporeans fleeing abroad to seek protection from their own government.
Lee cited a tightening of laws on security and rights of assembly and a sharp increase in the number of asylum-seekers from the city-state over the past decade under the rule of his estranged brother, Lee Hsien Loong, who was prime minister until he stepped down earlier this year.
