SINGAPORE — The long-running Lee family dispute took an unexpected turn on Thursday (July 6), when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s siblings said they welcomed his offer to manage their disagreement privately.

They will also “cease presenting further evidence on social media” for the time being, provided that they and their father’s wishes are “not attacked or misrepresented”, Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee Wei Ling said in a seven-page joint statement which was released on their Facebook pages. 

But the offer of an olive branch came as they reiterated their allegations — and made fresh criticism — against PM Lee, and dismissed the recently concluded two-day parliamentary debate on the matter as raising “more questions than answers”. 

“In Parliament, many spoke up to parrot Lee Hsien Loong’s attacks on Lee Kuan Yew’s will and on us. This entirely proves our point that Hsien Loong’s subordinates are beholden to him, and cannot be impartial judges of their own boss,” they said in the joint statement, which was released alongside a compilation of the material that they have published so far to make their case. 

Reiterating how Parliament was “not the right forum” to debate the matter, they stressed that it was impossible for the Members of Parliament to effectively question PM Lee when his party controls almost all the seats in the House. 

The ruling People’s Action Party holds 83 of the 89 seats in Parliament. 

“No independent investigator has gathered evidence, interviewed other witnesses or subpoenaed the Government’s own records,” they said.

They also revealed that after ties between the siblings soured following the death of their father, they had tried to reach out to PM Lee through various intermediaries over the past two years. 

In fact, shortly after they had put up their first joint statement in the early hours of June 14 — which triggered the public spat — they had “privately offered a ceasefire”. 

“Our attempts at reconciliation were rebuffed. We therefore welcome Hsien Loong’s stated desire on (Tuesday) to manage his disagreement with us in private. We look forward to talking without the involvement of lawyers or government agencies,” they said.

On Tuesday, as he wrapped up the parliamentary debate, PM Lee said that right from the start, he had wanted to manage the issue privately and not escalate it and be forced to take legal action. He also said he harboured hopes of reconciliation with his siblings. 

On their decision to stop putting up new material on social media, the siblings said it seemed that “releasing further evidence ... at this time will only muddy the facts, and put pressure on government agencies to make excuses for PM Lee”. 

They said: “If there is ever a truly independent inquiry to examine the evidence, they are welcome to ask. Ultimately, it is up to the people of Singapore whether they hold Lee Hsien Loong to a true accounting.”

The siblings said they “love Singapore, and want only that it prospers under a government that has integrity and respects the rule of law”. Had there been “a neutral and unbiased venue” to resolve their differences in private, they would not have brought the dispute into the public eye, they added. 

“We are private citizens with no political ambitions … We seek only to honour our father Lee Kuan Yew’s demolition wish,” they reiterated. 

Much of the dispute centred around their late father’s will and the fate of their family home. 

While they acknowledged that the Government has the legal power to gazette the house against Mr Lee’s wishes, they alleged that PM Lee had “gone beyond that (and) sought to rewrite history” about their father’s stance on demolishing the house, by claiming “unbelievably, that Lee Kuan Yew wavered in his unwavering wish”. 

They said: “To be clear, we have never asked, and do not ask, for any exceptions or special treatment.” 

Referring to the Ministerial Committee set up to look into options for the house, they said: “Due process needs to be followed, not secret committees attacking wishes and wills.”

The siblings said they have “paid heavy costs that far exceed the monetary value of any piece of property” in seeking to fulfil their father’s wish. 

“It is wrong of Hsien Loong to pretend to honour our parents’ wishes while using the organs of the state to do the opposite,” they added.