Teo Ser Luck returns to private sector to help start-ups and businesses
27 Apr 2017 06:52PM (Updated: 27 Apr 2017 07:00PM)
SINGAPORE: Minister of State for Manpower and Mayor of North East CDC Teo Ser Luck will be returning to the private sector after requesting to step down from public office, announced the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Thursday (Apr 27).
Mr Teo, who has spent more than 10 years as an office holder, said it is a decision that he has “thought through for a while.”
In a Facebook post, he revealed that he plans to “build, create, invest or help start-ups and businesses. Some are tech related while others will be in products or services which I’m passionate about.”
He added: “I have decided to go back to (the) private sector to continue my journey and also have some time for the family.”
Mr Teo, 48, will continue to serve Sengkang Central division as a Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC. He will relinquish his appointment as Minister of State on Jun 30, and as mayor when his current term ends on May 26.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday thanked Mr Teo for his contributions.
“Ser Luck has contributed much in the ministries he served in – Transport, MTI, Manpower – and worked with his fellow mayors on many meaningful projects. I thank him for his contributions and wish him all the best in his future endeavours,” PM Lee said in a Facebook post.
Mr Teo was first elected as a Member of Parliament in 2006 as part of the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) team in the Pasir Ris-Punggol Group Representation Constituency (GRC).
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Wish Mr Teo all the best in the private sector and please only help those Singaporean startups .
PM Lee denies claims made by siblings
“Ho Ching and I deny these allegations, especially the absurd claim that I have political ambitions for my son,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says, in response to the public statement issued by Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee Wei Ling.
14 Jun 2017 10:13AM (Updated: 14 Jun 2017 02:33PM)
SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Wednesday (Jun 14) denied the allegations made by his siblings – Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee Wei Ling –and said he was “very disappointed” that they chose to issue a statement publicising private family matters.
“I am deeply saddened by the unfortunate allegations that they have made. Ho Ching and I deny these allegations, especially the absurd claim that I have political ambitions for my son,” he said in a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.
The siblings of PM Lee had earlier on Wednesday issued a public statement saying they have “lost confidence” in their brother and that they “do not trust him”. They also said, based on their interactions, that PM Lee and his wife “harbour political ambitions for their son, Li Hongyi”.
The statement by Dr Lee and Mr Lee, titled “What has happened to Lee Kuan Yew’s values?” was published on their Facebook pages.
“While siblings may have differences, I believe that any such differences should stay in the family. Since my father’s passing in March 2015, as the eldest son I have tried my best to resolve the issues among us within the family, out of respect for our parents,” PM Lee said.
“My siblings’ statement has hurt our father’s legacy.”
OXLEY ROAD HOME ISSUE
A major part of the siblings’ statement concerns the plans to demolish the home of their father, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
“Lee Kuan Yew made clear in public and private that he wished that his home at 38 Oxley Road be demolished upon his passing,” they said. They went on to claim that PM Lee has opposed this wish, alleging that he has an incentive to preserve the house “to inherit (Lee Kuan Yew’s) credibility”.
“We are private citizens with no political ambitions. We have nothing to gain from the demolition of 38 Oxley Road, other than the knowledge that we have honoured our father’s last wish,” the statement said.
Before his death on Mar 23, 2015 at the age of 91, Mr Lee Kuan Yew had stated in his will his desire that the house be demolished after his passing, or after Dr Lee - who still stays at the address - has moved out.
Three weeks after his father’s death, PM Lee said in Parliament that he intended to fulfil his father’s wishes and recuse himself from any Government decision made on the house.
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Dispute with PM Lee no ‘private family affair’: Lee Wei Ling
Published: 11:25 AM, June 15, 2017
Updated: 12:10 PM, June 15, 2017
SINGAPORE – The Lee siblings would not have publicised their dispute with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Long over their late father’s house had it been “merely a family affair”, said Dr Lee Wei Ling in her latest Facebook post in the wee hours of Thursday morning (June 15).
In it, she said that PM Lee’s alleged “use of power to abuse his siblings, who could fight back” was the crux of their message. If he could do that, she claimed, there was no telling “what else he could do to ordinary citizens”.
Writing from Scotland, where she is on holiday, Dr Lee said that her lawyer edited that part of the message out.
The note, posted at around 2 am Singapore time, also alleged that PM Lee had sought to “punish” his brother, Mr Lee Hsien Yang, for “blocking what he wants to do with the house”. PM Lee did this, she said, by insisting that his brother donate 50 per cent of the market value of the house – on top of the full market value he paid for it – to charity.
“My father had told us, his children, repeatedly, that being family property, there is no need to donate to charity if Oxley were sold,” she added.
On Wednesday, Dr Lee and Mr Lee Hsien Yang alleged in a six-page statement that they felt “threatened” in trying to fulfil their late father’s wish to demolish their family home at 38 Oxley Road — to the extent that the younger Mr Lee feels he is forced to leave the country.
They also said they have “no confidence” in their brother and “worry for Singapore”. The published statement, Dr Lee said, was carefully vetted by their lawyers and hence not in her own voice.
PM Lee has denied the allegations, adding that his siblings’ statement has hurt their father’s legacy.
“I am very disappointed that my siblings have chosen to issue a statement publicising private family matters. I am deeply saddened by the unfortunate allegations that they have made. Ho Ching and I deny these allegations,” PM Lee said.
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PM’s brother set to leave Singapore
Tham Yuen-C, The Straits Times
Jun 15, 2017 06:00 am
Mr Lee Hsien Yang, the younger brother of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, is making preparations to leave Singapore with his wife, but does not know yet when he will leave and where he will be going.
He told The Straits Times yesterday that it was the only sensible option left for him.
“There are many ways people are made to feel uncomfortable,” he added.
“I am a person who spent his life here, who has done public service, contributed in the private sector. This is my home. I would not do this unless I really felt there is a serious issue.
“And I have felt this is not where I can continue to live, the way I have been living in the last two years.”
Mr Lee, chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, was elaborating on a statement that he and his sister, Dr Lee Wei Ling, had issued in the wee hours of yesterday morning.
Facade of 38 Oxley Road, the residence of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. It was here that the founding members of the People’s Action Party (PAP), comprising a small group of trade unionists, teachers, lawyers and journalists discussed setting up a new left-wing party.
They said they felt closely monitored and feared the use of state organs against them.
The situation made Mr Lee feel compelled to leave Singapore “for the foreseeable future”, said the statement, which centred on a dispute over the house of their late father, former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.
But he later told The Straits Times that if PM Lee was no longer in a position of power, “I would reconsider my position”.
Following their statement, The Straits Times went to their home at around 10.30am.
Mr Lee had already left for work. His wife, Mrs Lee Suet Fern, a top corporate lawyer, was on her way to work. She said they were making preparations to leave Singapore.
The couple, however, have not decided where they would go or when they would leave, Mr Lee told The Straits Times.
He also said his three adult sons, Shengwu, Huanwu and Shaowu, do not live with him any more and would make their own decisions.
Eldest son Shengwu, a junior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows, posted the statement on his Facebook page and said: “I generally avoid commenting on Singapore politics, but this is an exception. In the last few years, my immediate family has become increasingly worried about the lack of checks on abuse of power.
“The situation is now such that my parents have made plans to relocate to another country, a painful decision that they have not made lightly.”
Mr Lee and Dr Lee are joint executors and trustees of the estate of their late father, and they have pushed for his house at 38, Oxley Road to be demolished, in keeping with his wish as stated in his will.
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PM Lee’s son, Li Hongyi, says he has ‘no interest in politics’
Published: 4:18 PM, June 15, 2017
Updated: 4:45 PM, June 15, 2017
SINGAPORE — Mr Li Hongyi, the second son of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, has publicly declared that he has no interest in politics, seemingly refuting a claim made by his aunt and uncle.
“For what it is worth, I really have no interest in politics,” Mr Li, 30, wrote on Thursday (June 15) in a public Facebook post, his first since the death of his grandfather, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, in March 2015.
Mr Li is currently in the civil service, working as a deputy director in the Government Digital Services Group.
His name was thrust into the public spotlight on Wednesday after his aunt and uncle, Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang, alleged, among other things, that PM Lee and his wife Ho Ching harboured political ambitions for Mr Li.
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http://www.todayonline.com/singapore...erest-politics
How conveniently .
Lee Hsien Yang and family making preparations to leave Singapore out of fear
By onlinecitizen on June 14, 2017 Current Affairs
Mr Lee Hsien Yang and his family are in the process of leaving the country out of fear that his brother, Lee Hsien Loong who is the current Prime Minister of Singapore will use the state organs against him and his wife.
Children of late Lee Kuan Yew, Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang have earlier issued a public statement in the early morning of Wednesday expressing their non confidence in their brother and their worry about Singapore’s future in his hands.
They also mentioned that they felt threatened by PM Lee’s misuse of his position and influence over the Singapore government to drive his personal agenda.
“We are concerned that the system has few checks and balances to prevent the abuse of government. We feel big brother omnipresent. We fear the use of the organs of state against us and Hsien Yang’s wife, Suet Fern.” wrote the two in the published statement.
The two also wrote, “We feel hugely uncomfortable and closely monitored in our own country. We do not trust Hsien Loong as a brother or as a leader. We have lost confidence in him.”
Late Lee Kuan Yew had served as the founding Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990 , passing the baton to former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in 1990 with PM Lee succeeding as Prime Minister in December 2004.
PM Lee in his response, wrote that he is deeply saddened by the unfortunate allegations that his siblings have made. He further added that he and his wife deny the allegations made against his family, especially the claim that he has political ambitions for his son, Li Hong Yi.
Straits Times reported that they caught Mr Lee Hsien Yang’s wife, Mrs Lee Suet Fern at her home in the morning just before she left for office, and quoted her saying that she and her husband were in the process of preparing to leave the country, however, declined to say when they would be leaving, or where they would be going.
Mr Lee Hsien Yang, chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore was also quoted by Financial Times,
“I am not an anti-establishment, opposition figure. I have a long record of public service. It is heart wrenching for me to leave this country. It is not something I would do lightly.”
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Lee Weiling out of Singapore, calls current PM unsuitable with his misuse of official power
By onlinecitizen on June 15, 2017 Current Affairs
Dr Lee Weiling, daughter of late Lee Kuan Yew has shared that she is out of Singapore at the moment in a Facebook post published in the early morning of Thursday.
Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang who are the younger children of Singapore’s founding prime minister, issued a harsh statement on Wednesday morning to criticise their brother, Lee Hsien Loong who is the current Prime Minister of Singapore, saying that they are disturbed by the character, conduct, motives and leadership of PM Lee, and the role of his wife, Ho Ching.
Dr Lee states in her Facebook post that the article that was published by the press only gave the Prime Minister’s version of the story, which led to the public thinking that it is merely a family affair.
She wrote, “If it were merely a family affair, we would not have taken it public.”
Dr Lee pointed out that the main message of the statement is not about the threat faced by the two sibilings from PM Lee but “if PM can misuse his official power to abuse his siblings who can fight back, what else can he do to ordinary citizens.”
However, according to Dr Lee, their lawyer edited that main message out, and as Mr Lee Hsien Yang got most of the bullying, “he could not help but allow his emotion to be expressed in the press statement”.
Dr Lee noted that 38 Oxley Road was bought by her parents and it is for them to decide the fate of the property. She wrote that late Lee Kuan Yew have told them that being family property, there is no need to donate to charity if the property on Oxley road was sold.
She then alleged that PM Lee stipulated that as a condition for selling the house to her brother, Mr Lee Hsien Yang, he must also donate 50% of that value to charity in addition to paying him the market value of the house.
Dr Lee then ended her post by stating that PM Lee and his wife are their true colours. “I think these Colours show them unsuitable as PM and most certainly as PM’s wife of Singapore.”
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I have grave concerns about the events surrounding making of the last will: PM Lee in Statutory Declaration
Published: 9:27 PM, June 15, 2017
Updated: 10:43 PM, June 15, 2017
SINGAPORE — Saying his siblings’ allegations made it untenable for him not to respond publicly, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong released an edited summary of what he told the Ministerial Committee that was set up to weigh the various options for the home of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew at 38, Oxley Road in his statutory declarations.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew (“Mr Lee”) made six wills before his last will of 17 December 2013 (the “Last Will”). All the wills, save for the Last Will, were prepared by Ms Kwa Kim Li (“KKL”).
I learnt about the contents of the Last Will only on 12 April 2015, when the Last Will was read to the family. I saw copies of the six wills preceding the Last Will only in June 2015, when KKL provided the family with the same. Only then was I able to review and compare the terms and changes between those wills and the Last Will.
The Demolition Clause first appeared in Mr Lee’s first will made on 20 August 2011 (the “First Will”).
Mr Lee gave instructions to remove the Demolition Clause, and it was removed, from the penultimate two wills (the “Fifth Will” and “Sixth Will”). However, it somehow found its way back into the Last Will.
The Demolition Clause in the Last Will is now being used by Dr Lee Wei Ling (“LWL”) and Mr Lee Hsien Yang (“LHY”) to claim that Mr Lee was firm in his wish that the house at 38 Oxley Road (the “House”) be demolished, and that he was not prepared to accept its preservation or contemplate options short of demolition. There is no basis for these claims, not least because of the deeply troubling circumstances concerning the making of the Last Will.
In setting out these circumstances, I will refer only to objective facts and contemporaneous documents, some of which I learnt of only later.
Under the First Will, Mr Lee gave each child an equal share of his estate (the “Estate”). However, under the Sixth Will made on 2 November 2012, Mr Lee gave LWL an extra share (relative to LHY and me), and he told LWL about this.
As I only later learnt, this issue became the subject of discussion between LHY and Mr Lee in late 2013 and on 16 December 2013 at 7.08 pm, LHY’s wife, Mrs Lee Suet Fern (“LSF”) sent an email to Mr Lee, copied to LHY and KKL (“LSF’s Email”), stating:
“Dear Pa Pa
This was the original agreed Will which ensures that all 3 children receive equal shares, taking into account the relative valuations (as at the date of demise) of the properties each receives.
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PM Lee raises ‘serious questions’ about LKY’s last will; Hsien Yang, Dr Lee hit back
Published: 9:44 PM, June 15, 2017
Updated: 12:38 PM, June 16, 2017
SINGAPORE — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has raised “grave concerns” about events surrounding the making of his father’s Last Will, saying on Thursday (June 15) it was untenable for him not to respond to his siblings’ allegations before he returned from leave overseas.
Giving his version of how Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s Last Will of December 2013 came to be made — contents of which he said he only learnt about in April 2015, after his father’s death the previous month — PM Lee questioned the role of his sister-in-law, Mrs Lee Suet Fern, in the will and whether there was conflict of interest on her part. Among other questions, he also asked whether the provisions of the will were explained to Mr Lee Kuan Yew and if his father gave specific instructions to re-insert the demolition clause.
I have grave concerns about the events surrounding making of the last will: PM Lee in Statutory Declaration
Without “proper and complete answers” to these and other questions, “there are serious doubts about whether Mr Lee (Kuan Yew) was properly and independently advised on the content of the Last Will before he signed it”, he said.
And not least because of the “deeply troubling circumstances” concerning the making of the Last Will, PM Lee said there was no basis for the claims of his siblings — Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee Wei Ling — that the demolition clause in the will showed that Mr Lee was firm in his wish that the house be demolished, and that he was not prepared to accept its preservation or contemplate other options.
The Prime Minister said he believed it necessary to “go beyond the Last Will in order to establish what Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s thinking and wishes were in relation to the house”.
Releasing an edited summary of the statutory declarations he made to a ministerial committee looking into options for 38 Oxley Road, PM Lee said preparations were carried out for the Last Will (the seventh) after a discussion between Mr Lee Hsien Yang and their father in late 2013. The Last Will was to revert to the three children receiving equal shares of his estate, instead of Dr Lee receiving a larger share than her brothers.
“Yet, the Last Will that (Mrs Lee Suet Fern) and her law firm prepared and got Mr Lee (Kuan Yew) to sign went beyond that. Significantly, they re-inserted the demolition clause, even though that clause does not appear to have been discussed at the time of the making of the Last Will and had been in fact removed by Mr Lee from (the fifth and sixth wills),” said PM Lee, calling the circumstances “deeply troubling”.
He said there appears to be a conflict of interest that Mrs Lee Suet Fern was involved in the Last Will while her husband was a beneficiary and stood to gain from the removal of Dr Lee’s extra share. PM Lee noted that at one point, Dr Lee “began to harbour grave suspicions about the change in the shares in the Last Will”. Dr Lee also told PM Lee’s wife Ho Ching she did not trust Mrs Lee Suet Fern, who has “great influence” on Mr Lee Hsien Yang.
In a span of 41 minutes on Dec 16, 2013, Mrs Lee Suet Fern had seen to the preparation of the new will and got a lawyer from her law firm to be on standby to get it executed by Mr Lee Kuan Yew, he said. In that duration, their cousin Kwa Kim Li, who had prepared the first six wills of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, was removed from the email loop by Mr Lee Hsien Yang, he claimed.
After the Last Will was read to the three siblings and Mrs Lee Suet Fern and Ms Ho on April 12, 2015, Mr Lee Hsien Yang “repeatedly insisted on the immediate demolition of the house”, PM Lee claimed. “I said that such a move so soon after Mr Lee (Kuan Yew’s) passing, when the public’s emotions were still raw, might force the Government to promptly react by deciding to gazette the house, and that would not be in the interests of Mr Lee’s legacy or Singapore.”
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PM raises ‘serious questions’ over making of Mr Lee’s Last Will
Published: 4:00 AM, June 16, 2017
Updated: 7:47 AM, June 16, 2017
SINGAPORE — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has raised “grave concerns” about events surrounding the making of his father’s Last Will, saying on Thursday it was untenable for him not to respond to his siblings’ allegations before he returned from leave overseas.
Giving his version of how Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s Last Will of December 2013 came to be made — contents of which he said he only learnt about in April 2015, after his father’s death the previous month — PM Lee questioned the role of his sister-in-law, Mrs Lee Suet Fern, in the will and whether there was conflict of interest on her part. Among other questions, he also asked whether the provisions of the will were explained to Mr Lee Kuan Yew and if his father gave specific instructions to re-insert the demolition clause.
Without “proper and complete answers” to these and other questions, “there are serious doubts about whether Mr Lee (Kuan Yew) was properly and independently advised on the content of the Last Will before he signed it”, he said.
And not least because of the “deeply troubling circumstances” concerning the making of the Last Will, PM Lee said there was no basis for the claims of his siblings — Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee Wei Ling — that the demolition clause in the will showed that Mr Lee was firm in his wish that the house be demolished, and that he was not prepared to accept its preservation or contemplate other options.
The Prime Minister said he believed it necessary to “go beyond the Last Will in order to establish what Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s thinking and wishes were in relation to the house”.
Releasing an edited summary of the statutory declarations he made to a ministerial committee looking into options for 38 Oxley Road, PM Lee said preparations were carried out for the Last Will (the seventh) after a discussion between Mr Lee Hsien Yang and their father in late 2013. The Last Will was to revert to the three children receiving equal shares of his estate, instead of Dr Lee receiving a larger share than her brothers.
“Yet, the Last Will that (Mrs Lee Suet Fern) and her law firm prepared and got Mr Lee (Kuan Yew) to sign went beyond that. Significantly, they re-inserted the demolition clause, even though that clause does not appear to have been discussed at the time of the making of the Last Will and had been in fact removed by Mr Lee from (the fifth and sixth wills),” said PM Lee, calling the circumstances “deeply troubling”.
He said there appears to be a conflict of interest that Mrs Lee Suet Fern was involved in the Last Will while her husband was a beneficiary and stood to gain from the removal of Dr Lee’s extra share. PM Lee noted that at one point, Dr Lee “began to harbour grave suspicions about the change in the shares in the Last Will”. Dr Lee also told PM Lee’s wife Ho Ching she did not trust Mrs Lee Suet Fern, who has “great influence” on Mr Lee Hsien Yang.
In a span of 41 minutes on Dec 16, 2013, Mrs Lee Suet Fern had seen to the preparation of the new will and got a lawyer from her law firm to be on standby to get it executed by Mr Lee Kuan Yew, he said. In that duration, their cousin Kwa Kim Li, who had prepared the first six wills of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, was removed from the email loop by Mr Lee Hsien Yang, he claimed.
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