Trouble’s been seemingly brewing between Dr. Lee Wei Ling — daughter of the late founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew — and Singapore Press Holdings since last week, but the conflict’s now getting hung out in public.
A regular columnist at The Straits Times, Dr. Lee’s musings have always been a monthly highlight for the newspaper, with narratives that offer intimate, personal glimpses into the life of Lee Kuan Yew — a softer side of which folks rarely see.
Always referring to the founding prime minister by the affectionate moniker of ‘Papa’, her introspective columns were especially popular in the midst of her father’s death last year as well as the significant days that followed.
On the first anniversary of the late statesman’s death however, she chose to publish a story on Facebook about how the iconic figure would have disapproved of all the brazen veneration dedicated to him. Though her Facebook post went massively viral, The Straits Times mentioned nothing about it.
The only reference to her post however would be harsh criticism made in private by the paper’s assistant sports editor, who called her an “un-fun sourpuss”, noting that she should be glad “we don’t spit on your dad’s grave”.
Trouble in paradise of course, and Dr. Lee made it clear that she won’t be associating herself with the country’s biggest newspaper anymore, citing a lack of freedom of speech.
Of course, everyone knows this — the paper has been said to be closely monitored by the government, inculcating a culture of self-censorship. In fact, Singapore as a whole doesn’t fare too well in the annual Reporters Without Borders index, scoring pretty low in the rankings for freedom of press. To have the daughter of Lee Kuan Yew herself call the paper out is another thing altogether — and a pretty major blow to the paper’s reputation.
