The youngest son of Singapore’s founding leader Lee Kuan Yew said he was granted asylum in Britain due to persecution at home, where a bitter family feud rages over a property dispute.
Lee Hsien Yang said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that he sought asylum in 2022 “as a last resort” from government attacks against him.
“I am a political refugee from Singapore under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention,” Lee, 67, wrote.
“I face a well-founded risk of persecution and cannot safely return to Singapore.”
The Lees are the closest thing Singapore has to royalty, and their battle over whether to demolish or preserve the single-story house has generated headlines and gossip.
Lee Hsien Yang and his sister wanted to demolish the bungalow that hosted the formation of the People’s Action Party (PAP), which has governed Singapore since 1959.
Their older brother, former premier Lee Hsien Loong, wanted to preserve the property, which prompted his siblings to accuse him of trying to exploit their father’s legacy for political gain.
After Lee Wei Ling, who was living at the disputed property, died of an illness on October 9, Lee Hsien Yang had said he felt unsafe to return to Singapore for her funeral.
He said there was a “risk” that his brother would wield “the organs of the Singapore state” against him.
“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 in his latest Facebook post.
“I remain a Singapore citizen and hope that someday it will become safe to return home,” he added.
The Singapore government has said that the younger Lee’s allegations of persecution are without basis and that he and his wife are free to return to Singapore at any time.
When asked about the asylum claim, a UK Home Office spokesperson told AFP: “It is longstanding government policy that we do not comment on individual cases.”
The Lee family feud became public in 2017, two years after the death of their father, who is credited with transforming the former British colony into a wealthy financial hub.
The property at the centre of the row was the home of founding premier Lee from the mid-1940s until his death.
Lee Hsien Loong, who was prime minister for two decades before stepping down in May, remains the secretary-general of the governing PAP and is a senior minister in the cabinet of his successor.
A ministerial committee tasked with looking at options for the bungalow said in 2018 that the property has “architectural, heritage and historical significance”.
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