🇸🇬 Singapore: The House that Lee Built | People and Power

by the time of his death in 2015 Singapore's founding father leaked menu that won widespread respect as the architect of the city-states prosperity but he'd also been accused of restricting freedom of speech and repressing political opposition now his complex legacy is under scrutiny amid a bitter family dispute and growing calls for greater democracy we've been to find out why it's one of Asia's richest cities a modern metropolis safe orderly and business friendly often described as an economic miracle tiny Singapore has no hinterland and a few natural resources when the former British colony became an independent nation in 1965 there were even doubts about its survival to take our seven in less than one generation from a developing country to one of the most developed countries in the world you know we have to be grateful for him mr. Lee Kuan Yew for having this farsighted vision it will be prudent for us in East Asia to have Europe as a full part to talk about Singapore's success is to talk about its first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew adored by many abhorred by some lky as he is often referred to was as controversial as he was visionaries he does loom larger than life a lot of the story Singapore tells itself is wrapped up with my grandfather and a lot of the story the world has about Singapore's wrapped up with him although he's a very rough and tough man but he gives you the confidence that I get things done you may not like it never mind but this is the way things should be happening when Lee died in 2015 an estimated one and a half million Singaporeans turned up to say their final goodbyes most were ordinary people grateful for what they said were the contributions of a great man later that same year the ruling People's Action Party co-founded by Lee Kuan Yew and in power since 1959 won nearly 70 percent of the vote in general elections giving Lee's son Singapore's current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong a resounding mandate we've had a good 50 years we must go forward now to make the next journey just as fulfilling just as successful just as amazing to the world and to ourselves two years on the mood is markedly less upbeat Singaporeans have long been told that they live in a meritocracy run by the very best minds that perception is now being challenged in unexpected ways on the 14th of June 2017 a curious post started circulating on Facebook titled a public statement by Li Wei Ling and Li Xian yang we have no confidence in p.m. Lee Hsien Loong and are worried about Singapore's future it was the opening salvo in what some are calling the Oxley Feud at the center of the quarrel this house a colonial era bungalow on Oxley Road just off Singapore's shopping district this is where Lee Kuan Yew lived for nearly seven decades and where he raised his family he had repeatedly said he wanted it demolished after his death now according to Lee's younger children their brother Singapore's Prime Minister was doing all he could to preserve the property my father and odds were very reluctant about going public the fact that they took that step was because they felt very much sort of forced into a corner alike all the you know various arms of government were being arrayed against them and you know that if they kept quiet they would have seen essentially a careful dismantling of my grandfather's last wish in an astonishing series of Facebook posts Li si and yang and Li Wei Ling accused their brother the Prime Minister of misleading their own father even more disturbing they said he'd abused the executive power in a bid to preserve the house at Oxley road and they alleged that their brother and his wife wanted to milk Li Kuan Yew's legacy because they harbored political ambitions for their son Li Hong Yi the simple answer is that I didn't deceive my father I explained to you yesterday how my father's primary wish on the house has always been clear he always wanted a knock down where my siblings and I differ is on whether my father was prepared to consider alternatives should demolition not be possible in early July the Singapore Parliament cleared lee seon long of any wrongdoing after a two-day hearing at the time his People's Action Party held 83 out of the 89 elected seats here both the Prime Minister's office and Lee Hongki declined our requests for comment but on Facebook Hong Yi posted for what it's worth I really have no interest in politics the thing about not being interested is we can remain uninterested until you become interested if he didn't want to be in politics he could have said things a lot more clearly and in a way that would be you know at least a little bit difficult to walk back we're spending the day with li Shang Wu in Cambridge Massachusetts when Pierre Eliot health now you know my family has a repeated history with alien health but my grandfather was in sabbatical he stayed at Elliott house when my uncle was doing a thing at the Kennedy School he stayed at Elliott house and now I have dinners at Elliott house every Monday it's the you know it's my one work obligation an economist at Harvard University Shang Wu was in Singapore on holiday when he found himself in the crosshairs of the Oxley feud the catalyst was a post on his Facebook page in which he described Singapore's court system as pliant it was visible only to his friends but someone he's not sure who took a screenshot which was quickly shared online the government demanded a retraction and apology Chung refused and prosecutors have since commenced contempt proceedings against him he's agreed to meet us today on condition we not talk about the case instead we discuss his grandfather's legacy there are two histories we could be telling ourselves twenty years from now there's a history where we say that my grandfather made a great contribution to Singapore's development helped make it become a modern society with sort of professional unimpeachable government his legacy would be that you know unlike many models of sort of independence leaders who were big personalities right that he would have managed to create sort of good institutions that would outlast him and there's a model you know twenty years from now where we look back on Singapore and say this is just one more country where it had a good leader and there are lots of early independence leaders who did great things for their country and it's still circling the orbit of what used to be I worry that in the years to come the government won't have the car to step away from relying on his legacy Shang Wu now lives in a self-imposed exile he says he has no plans to go back to Singapore and no desire to be involved in politics it's valuable in Singapore that there be a transition away from the family brand name I'm not sure why my grandfather chose his own son and was willing to have his own son go into politics and be Prime Minister but all I can say is there are a lot of human beings you know if there's one person in the world you're going to overestimate it's your own child across the world another Singaporean is also trying to live a quiet life away in a self-imposed exile Roy moved to Taiwan's capital Taipei a year and a half ago few people here know it but he was once an activist and opposition politician who ran and lost in Singapore's general elections in 2015 after the election it was actually quite difficult to look for a job you know big international companies where they employ me as well so at that point I I mean one one of us for like my likelihood I need it under living and it was difficult to do so caught the public's attention when he started writing and speaking about Singapore's Central Provident Fund or CPF a mandatory saving scheme for working adults in May 2014 shortly before this protest Li CN long sued him for defamation over a blog post and was sacked from his job at a public hospital [Applause] the Prime Minister's lawyer said he had insinuated that Liane loan was guilty of criminally misappropriating CPF funds all I was concerned about was to talk about the pension funds how people are not being able to you know how people are able to live fair equalize new foods and I just want to talk about that that the lawsuit was complete distraction he lost and the court awarded the prime-minister damages and costs totaling some 136 thousand US dollars hmm is paying in installments and won't be free of debt until 2033 it's clear he's struggling to come to terms with all that's happened if you do live in Singapore you don't understand the fear you do not send what it does to your brain and then you don't understand the cognitive dissonance you have to go through so sometimes when I put the question to people I tell them you know they say they are not scared and I say ok fine will you challenge the government and they all right so that means you're scared it's no secret Singaporeans do not enjoy many of the liberties citizens in most first world nations take for granted The Economist Intelligence Unit classifies the country as a flawed democracy and it is ranked 150 first out of 180 countries on the reporters without borders Press Freedom Index there's just one place where public protests are allowed speakers corner a field near the city centre surrounded by surveillance cameras some activists have gathered today for a silent protest to mark International Human Rights Day for most Singaporeans the occasion is a non-event the kinds of Western political freedoms that the Western media for example acts to talk about are not things that the majority of Singapore's value anyway prosperity can be achieved without having to follow a Western political system there's another school of thought though that says most Singaporeans are too scared to care retired lawyer and activist tea also Leung still remembers the night thirty years ago when police came for her I never saw myself as a threat to the PAP and I never saw myself as having the ability to lead people to go and confront and the government even when I was arrested I just couldn't believe it she was held for more than two years without trial rounded up along with 21 other Singaporeans in a crackdown codenamed operation spectrum the government said they were part of a Marxist conspiracy the notion that there was ever a conspiracy has been widely discredited but it would be more than 2 decades before these former detainees dared to speak publicly about their experiences just reading the government saw it coming and it didn't one civil society group few Singaporean activists expect a repeat of operation spectrum but there remains very little room for dissent last October police arrested artist seal and Palais when he stood in front of parliament as part of a performance in honor of former parliamentarian char typo who was imprisoned without trial for 23 years under Singaporean law just one person can constitute an illegal assembly if you did what I did in most other countries especially as an artwork right not even unlike a demonstration I think most people just leave me alone my intention was to perform the work and then if I'm just lost get in the way of the realisation of it then that's that's not really my problem yeah that's the state's issue that it has to deal with itself Palais was released after a day in custody but if he is charged and found guilty he faces a fine and up to six months in prison former pap Member of Parliament Tan Cheng bak says Lee Kuan Yew believed such draconian measures were necessary I remember the anyone said you have to have the during this time you need fear to get things done in 2011 tan surprised his former party when he ran for president narrowly losing to a candidate backed by the PAP [Music] the president's role is largely ceremonial but he or she can in certain situations prevent the government from drawing on Singapore's reserves he or she also approves key public service appointments many Singaporeans are waiting to to get somebody to ask those questions what's our reserve strength whether we have any losses who is who is putting its finger into this reserve I think most important also is the appointments you know how do you appoint people very important do you appoint people based on friendship why is a president I wouldn't allow that his plans to stand again in 2017 were thwarted when the government changed the rules reserving that year's election for candidates from the Malay race and tightening requirements for those hoping to throw their hat in the ring the government explained the decision as necessary for minority representation but the move sparked a rare protest with hundreds of Singaporeans showing up at speakers corner to express their displeasure in the end only one candidate qualified to stand former House speaker and PAP Member of Parliament Halima Jakob why not have free and fair elections because the PAP does not have the confidence that it can actually win a free and fair election what it shows really is the very short termism of the PAP it shows their fear of transparency their fear of people actually having a voice say you know their fear of giving up even a tiny iota of power articles published Monday the Tom divides his time between coordinating a program on Southeast Asian Studies at Oxford University and managing an online publication and think-tank in Singapore so any questions pain points would you not like the most yes one of his goals is to get Singaporeans to be less afraid to speak up but he knows it won't be easy he too has been penalized for doing so I used to work for the National University of Singapore and after I started publishing and giving lectures about my research which proved that Lee Kuan Yew had lied about his use of detention without trial from the 1960s onwards I was privately informed by someone senior in the university that I would never be able to work in Singapore as an academic as part of the formal academic system again the People's Action Party agreed and then changed its mind about having a representative speak to us but we've managed to contact some of its more active supporters Patrick you is a longtime grassroots leader and I look at Singapore all the fundamentals of really very sound we have in many countries governments in gridlock selling out even the own country and countrymen so that they will be able to achieve their own personal as well as their own parties and objectives I think if you look at the governance they were set up in Singapore to say that there's no check and balance is not completely correct I think we do have a group of leaders even though they serve under the same political parties they are willing to stand up to voice up the concerns sometimes not in public sometimes not in a parliament but behind closed doors [Music] but even amongst inch party supporters the Oxley feud and the controversy surrounding the elected presidency have been a test of faith I will not deny that people were shaken by what have done last year the trust to the government be shaken but we must always remember why is the policy make there must be a reason we have to be patient by and I have trust in the party in the ruling party the only opposition party with seats in parliament declined to speak to us I think they're bombing through them so we're spending time today with the Singapore Democratic Party you know any case so that it's kind of encouraging yeah we've had a couple of very good conversations we've had the usual people scared of us but otherwise I think it's pretty good now we're not going to film you to worry Paul Tam PR ran and lost here in 2015 he's pressing on but remains realistic about his chances for success thank you very much you're up against the PPF juggernaut and they make use of all the resources available to them they have all the mainstream media but ultimately you know I'm pretty sure that the thing is not sustainable the kind of monolithic sort of one-party ideology is not sustainable good morning miss it's nice to meet you it's a belief his colleague has held on to for decades now sorry to bother you on a Sunday how are you she soon drawn has been arrested jailed sued and bankrupted for his political activities haha he's never won an election especially in a system like we have in Singapore which still very autocratic people are still very fearful I've heard countless times where people have said you know we wanted to vote for the opposition for you but you know we're not sure if our votes can be traced back don't try to assure them there's absolutely nothing to fear because your vote is absolutely secret help us spread the word join a Facebook please or my way I think that Singapore would be better off if there was a robust presence of the Opposition in Parliament that there be enough competition that you know the ruling party doesn't feel like you can do whatever it likes we meet Lee sang-woo again in Hong Kong two days before the new year he's spending a somewhat surreal holiday away from home I don't know exactly how much the government keeps trying to surveil my family but this is probably the first Christmas where I've made Christmas plans with the family sort of over encrypted messaging when I see my parents outside of Singapore right I feel a sense of relief that they are not there ah and that's a very odd thing to feel about home Lee Kuan Yew believed in the power of fear but now members of his own family are too afraid to go back to the country he worked so hard to build my grandfather always worried about having the family together but he also worried about the persistence of Singapore's institutions I I just don't know you know looking both at what's happened to the family and what's happened in Singapore's institutions I just don't know what would have caused him more grief

Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 586,793

Rating: 4.3957677 out of 5

Keywords: al jazeera, aljazeera, aljazeera english, singapore elite, al jazeera english, lee, singapore politics, singapore, press freedom, singapore city, lee kuan yew, investigation, james leong, freedom of speech, lynn lee, haunted, lee hsien loong, singapore prime minister, narendra modi, mansion, al jazeera live, jazeera, 🇸🇬, Singapore: The House that Lee Built, The House that Lee Built, British colony of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, Asia's richest cities

Id: c27vAhUJQdc

Length: 24min 50sec (1490 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 01 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/wasabi_sushi]

Noteworthy people in the video:
Prof Li Shengwu, Dr Tan Cheng Bock, Dr PJ Thum, Dr Paul Tambyah

Notable quotes:

PJ Thum - Thum claimed that when he was a research fellow at NUS, he published and gave lectures about his research, which showed that Singapore's founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew "had lied about his use of detention without trial from the 1960s onward." Thum further claimed that shortly afterwards, a senior staff member at NUS privately informed him that he "would never be able to work in Singapore as an academic... again"

Li Shengwu - Speaking on the concerns that the family have, “I don’t know exactly how much the government keeps trying to surveil my family but this is probably the first Christmas where I have made Christmas plans with the family over encrypted messaging.”…”When I see my parents outside of Singapore, I feel a sense of relief that they are not there. And that is a very odd thing to feel about home.”

[u/Gneissguys]

Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

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