Lee Hsien Yang raises serious questions about Ho Ching after NHB’s clarifications

PM Lee’s younger brother Mr Lee Hsien Yang yesterday (22 June) accused the Prime Minister’s wife, Ho Ching, of overstepping her role and acting as a contact for the Prime Minister’s Office in lending items that belonged to Lee Kuan Yew to the National Heritage Board.

Mr Lee said that Madam Ho Ching helped herself to a number of Lee Kuan Yew’s papers on 5 Feb 2015, when his father was admitted gravely ill into the ICU. He said that it is “deeply troubling that someone can represent the PMO despite holding no official position.”

Channel NewsAsia (CNA) later pointed out to us that Madam Ho Ching may have been on an official trip on 6 Feb. The National Heritage Board (NHB) also came out to clarify that the items were loaned to NHB after the Mr Lee Kuan Yew passed away, to be displayed at an exhibition held at the National Museum of Singapore. The dates in the document shared by Mr Lee were “clerical errors” NHB said.

Responding to CNA’s report and NHB’s clarification, Mr Lee said, “this is even more troubling.”

He added: “By (Lee Kuan Yew) LKY’s will, the estate’s residual items, such as personal documents, fall under the absolute discretion of the executors Wei Ling and myself. Unapproved removal of these items, even by a beneficiary, constitutes both theft and intermeddling. Ho Ching is not an executor or a beneficiary to our father’s estate.”

Mr Lee asked how Madam Ho Ching is a proper contact representative for the Prime Minister’s Office.