It looks like it is about to be another long week ahead for the Lee family.
By now, the family feud between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his younger sister, Dr Lee Wei Ling, should already be a familiar story to many.
Unfortunately, the drama doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon.
PM Lee’s wife, Ho Ching, has now been thrown into the spotlight as well.
She might have mentioned in her latest Facebook post on Monday (April 11) that she would much rather avoid “adding oil to fires”, but one of her social media posts did quite the opposite.
The saga began on Sunday when Dr Lee posted a message on Facebook calling her brother a “dishonourable son”, and accused him of attempting to create a dynasty with his position as Prime Minister. PM Lee responded hours later with a statement, saying he was “deeply saddened” by his sister’s accusations.
And while all this was happening, an image of a monkey with its middle finger pointing up appeared on Ho’s Facebook page.
It could have simply been a case of coincidence, but given the ongoing public feud, the Internet soon went wild with Ho’s post.
The post might no longer available on her Facebook or Twitter pages, but one can always count on such gaffes to live on in memes and screenshots over the Internet.
Social media users were quick to speculate whether the picture was directed at anyone in particular.
However, Ho has since come forward to clear the air and said she was merely “playing around” with Twitter on Sunday.
As she offered her “embarrassed apologies”, the Twitter newbie also said she had been “trying out different buttons” on the page when she retweeted the photo.
“Discovered Twitter reposts pictures without captions, and unfortunately one of the pictures could be misunderstood on its own,” she said.
“Took down (the post) as soon as a friend alerted me.”
She added that she would prefer if “we try to solve and resolve problems, among friends, within families and between neighbours”.
And in what could possibly be a reference to Dr Lee’s public disapproval of the way some people commemorated the death anniversary of Lee Kuan Yew, Ho said: “We grieve in different ways, and should leave space for each of us to come to terms with our loss”.
“Grieving is especially hard when tears come at unexpected moments. I respect and deeply appreciate the many heartfelt commemorations, and understand those who prefer a more stoic approach.”
Within an hour of posting her response on Facebook, Ho’s post had already garnered over 90 shares and close to 800 likes.
Facebook user Christine Keung commented: “Everything will heal on its own given time. Hope people too will stop being nosy and stop stirring up issues when they cannot help but cause trouble.”
Hopefully, Ho’s latest Facebook response will bring the unfortunate family drama to an end, and all parties involved will sort out their differences behind closed doors.
OTHER RELATED STORIES:
– PM Lee refutes sister’s claims of ‘establishing dynasty’ after Lee Kuan Yew’s death
– Why Dr Lee’s column was not published
– Dr Lee Wei Ling reveals contentious part of unpublished article for ST
– ST and ex-editor refute Dr Lee Wei Ling’s allegations
ssandrea@sph.com.sg
How the saga unfolded
MARCH 21
Dr Lee Wei Ling submits her column to The Straits Times on what she considered “hero-worshipping” of her father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
MARCH 23
Straits Times associate editor Ivan Fernandez replies to Dr Lee with the edited version of her column. She replies via e-mail: “Reads well. But I want to wait until the day unfolds completely.”
MARCH 25
Dr Lee submits another version of her column with substantial additions and insists on this version being run unedited. Mr Fernandez turns down the amended version, which has repeated references to China, and Dr Lee posts it on her Facebook page.
APRIL 1
Dr Lee announces on Facebook that she will “no longer write for SPH as the editors there do not allow me freedom of speech”. She says this was the reason she posted the article on her father online.
APRIL 2
Dr Lee follows up with a post about how former editor-in-chief of The Straits Times, Mr Cheong Yip Seng, was “scolded” by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong over a book he wrote, titled OB Markers. She talks about this to bolster her case about the lack of freedom of speech, even though Mr Cheong had denied “being scolded” when she asked him about it.
APRIL 3
Dr Lee says she had a “love-hate relationship” with the three editors at The Straits Times who worked with her on her columns over the years. She says they must have been “commanded to edit certain issues out” of her columns.
APRIL 4
Mr Janadas Devan, who edited Dr Lee’s columns when he was an associate editor of The Straits Times, points out that Dr Lee had continued writing for the paper over a period of 10 years. He says “it beggars belief that she now presents herself as someone who was suppressed and silenced”.
APRIL 5
The Straits Times editor, in a note in the paper’s Forum page, says Dr Lee’s claims about being censored were unfounded.
“This is not an issue of freedom of expression, but a matter of upholding standards,” he says, noting that all newspapers require writers to work with editors to get columns fit for print. He adds that Dr Lee’s demand that her latest column be published unedited or she would go online “was simply not acceptable”.
APRIL 6
Dr Lee posts her column online again, this time highlighting what she says her editor considered “irrelevant”.
APRIL 9
Mr Ivan Fernandez, who edited her column, writes a detailed explanation of why the paper refused to publish it.
He says he found parts that made repeated references to China distracting from her main point. He had also found that almost three-quarters of the parts that she added had been plagiarised from websites.
APRIL 10
Dr Lee makes public an e-mail exchange she had with Mr Fernandez. In one of the e-mails, she accused PM Lee of abusing his power over the commemorations in order to “establish a dynasty”. PM Lee replies a few hours later in a Facebook post saying the accusations are “completely untrue”. He says he is “deeply saddened” by the accusations.
This article was first published on April 11, 2015.
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