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Lee Wei Ling slams Chee, denies signing petition

SINGAPORE — The sister of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday (May 5) criticised Singapore Democratic Party chief Dr Chee Soon Juan as being unfit for Parliament, as she clarified false claims that she had signed a petition calling for an end to attacks on Dr Chee’s character.

Dr Lee Wei Ling (left) and Dr Chee Soon Juan. TODAY file photos

Dr Lee Wei Ling (left) and Dr Chee Soon Juan. TODAY file photos

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SINGAPORE — The sister of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday (May 5) criticised Singapore Democratic Party chief Dr Chee Soon Juan as being unfit for Parliament, as she clarified false claims that she had signed a petition calling for an end to attacks on Dr Chee’s character. 

Writing on her Facebook account, Dr Lee Wei Ling said: “I have a very poor opinion of Dr Chee, and do not think he is fit to be in Parliament. The man has not changed at all, though he is now posing as a changed man, using his family.” 

In a subsequent post, she said she “needed to publicly announce” her view of Dr Chee after her name had been “misused” in a petition. 

Dr Lee did not specify the petition, but The Independent website ran an article about someone signing off as “Dr Lee Wei Ling” on a petition started by local actress Neo Swee Lin that  was titled Singaporeans Against Gutter Politics. 

As of Thursday, the petition had more than 4,000 supporters.

Apart from setting the record straight, Dr Lee also criticised Dr Chee — who is contesting the Bukit Batok by-election — for “pretend(ing) to be magnanimous” by saying he would not attack former People’s Action Party (PAP) Member of Parliament David Ong even though his own party members had taken to the stage at a rally last week to do just that. Mr Ong vacated his Bukit Batok seat over an alleged extramarital affair. 

Referring to Dr Chee, Dr Lee said: “What do you say about such a man? And having made character attacks, when this is pointed out, he then played the martyr, saying his character is being attacked.” 

Stressing that she would “never support such a person”, she added: “Why does he not deal with facts: why did he in the first place agree to his speakers attacking David Ong’s character, while pretending to be above it all?”

Last week, Mr Lee, who is the PAP’s secretary-general, called Dr Chee “completely hypocritical” on the same matter. 

“All the speakers fired away at Mr David Ong, and then came Chee Soon Juan at the end and (he) said, ‘No, you must not kick somebody who is down. That is very bad’,” Mr Lee noted.

Following Mr Lee’s comments, Dr Chee said he would put a stop to any attacks by his party members on Mr Ong. He added that he would not get into any “mudslinging” with the PAP.

Dr Lee said Dr Chee’s “true nature should be fully exposed — cheating NUS, telling untruths all his life, slippery”, in reference to Dr Chee’s dismissal from the National University of Singapore in 1993 for misusing research funds. 

“Singaporeans should decide whether such a person should be in Parliament. Is it possible that he has truly reformed?!” she added. 

Dr Lee’s clarification marks at least the third time in the Bukit Batok by-election where an online allegation has been posted, only to be exposed as false. 

On Tuesday, the PAP responded to a Facebook post by user Ridhuan Abdullah, who claimed that a party volunteer had made disparaging remarks about Dr Chee to him. 

The party said the alleged incident was “fictitious” after checks were conducted with its volunteers. 

A day later, the PAP also debunked an article posted by the All Singapore Stuff website with the headline “PAP entourage say ‘Indians should support Indians’”. 

“We have checked and confirmed that the incident is fictitious. Playing the race card is irresponsible,” the ruling party said.

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