Dr Lee Wei Ling has said in her Facebook that she “will no longer write for SPH as the editors there do not allow me freedom of speech.”
She further disclosed that it was the reason why she posted her article suggesting “Mr Lee Kuan Yew would have cringed at hero-worship‘ in her Facebook.
In her note Dr Lee particularly called out The Straits Times for leading the hero-worship. She said, “What made me write this article was a front page report in The Straits Times (Mar 21). It carried a photo of an outline of Papa’s face made with 4,877 erasers that form an installation which is 2.3 m wide and 3.1 m tall, titled Our Father, Our Country, Our Flag.”
An assistant editor of The Straits Times later took offence at Dr Lee’s note and criticised Dr Lee for being a “sourpuss” and said that “if we hadn’t done this barrage of tributes, some political enemies might write bad things about us”. He asked Ms Lee to be glad that “we don’t spit on your dad’s grave.”
The editor later took down the post because he felt that it was too strongly worded. No apologies were offered.
Dr Lee Wei Ling was a regular columnist with the publications of SPH, The Straits Times, and its subsidiary The Sunday Times.
Despite the viral sharing of Dr Lee’s post in social media, the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) did not publish it in any of their print media. Perhaps to keep her criticisms of the media company confined to the online-world, SPH only acknowledged Dr Lee’s note in several of its online media platforms.
