Singapore — There has been much sympathy from people responding to a Facebook post on Wednesday (July 29) by the Prime Minister’s nephew, Li Shengwu, after he was convicted on a charge of contempt of court.
High Court Judge Kannan Ramesh fined Li S$15,000 or, in default, a week in jail, for comments he made in a post to friends in 2017. The post, which included a link to a New York Times editorial titled Censored In Singapore, had the words: “Keep in mind, of course, that the Singapore government is very litigious and has a pliant court system.”
Li, 35, is in the United States, where he is an associate professor at Harvard University. His post on Wednesday (July 29) was shared in Singapore by his father Lee Hsien Yang.
In his post, Li said: “I disagree with the judgement, and worry that it will reinforce the PAP’s tendency to suppress ordinary political speech.”
Li also referred to a gift — a book of memoirs — he received from his grandfather, the founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, in 2000. “As I was arranging my bookshelf the other day, I came across a gift from my childhood. (photo attached) Those were better times, before my uncle bullied his siblings and tore the family apart,” he said.
On Mr Lee Hsien Yang’s Facebook page, people online flooded the comments section to apportion blame for the very public family feud.
