SINGAPORE: As Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke about his background in mathematics in a new interview that aired yesterday (24 Mar), some Singaporeans are asking why the head of government has yet to publicly acknowledge the many achievements of his mathematician nephew, Li Shengwu.

Mr Lee has had an interest in mathematics since he was a boy. At 19, he was awarded the President’s Scholarship and Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship in 1971 by the Public Service Commission (PSC) to study mathematics at Trinity College, University of Cambridge.

Two years later, while he was an undergraduate in 1973, Mr Lee was awarded the prestigious Senior Wrangler position. Awarded to the top mathematics undergraduate at Cambridge, this position has been described as “the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain.”

Mr Lee graduated with a first-class honours degree in mathematics and computer science with distinction. According to college tutor Denis Marrian, Mr Lee was “the brightest mathematician he had admitted to the college”.

British mathematician Béla Bollobás added that Mr Lee “would have been a world-class research mathematician” had his father – Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew – not persuaded Mr Lee to leave the field and pursue politics.

Mr Lee said that he has no regrets about choosing politics over being a mathematician in an hour-long interview with China Central Television (CCTV) in an hour-long interview. He said, “I was not a rising star. I was a promising student.”

When told he was being modest, the PM said: “No, it is a vast field. I did two undergraduate years in mathematics, so it is just barely at the foothills…I decided that I had the responsibility to come back to Singapore, be part of Singapore, and do what I could to help the country to succeed.”

While PM Lee said that he had had a fulfilling life after choosing politics, he lets his love for mathematics show every once in a while, sharing posts on equations and math formulas on his Facebook page.

However, even as the PM is open about his affection for mathematics on social media, he remains mum about the notable achievements his nephew has made in the field. Li Shengwu, PM Lee’s younger brother Lee Hsien Yang’s son, followed in his uncle’s early footsteps and brought honour to Singapore through his many accomplishments in mathematics in a very short time.

After completing his GCE A-Level examinations, Mr Li was awarded the Angus Ross Prize by Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) for being the top A-level literature student in Singapore. He was awarded two scholarships – the Overseas Research Scholarship and the Clarendon Scholarship awarded by Oxford University – as he furthered his studies at Oxford.

Mr Li graduated at the top of his class in 2009 with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics. He won the Hicks and Webb Prize, an award presented to outstanding economics students, that same year.

He went on to achieve a master’s degree in economics from Oxford University, and in 2011, he won the George Webb Medley Prize for his outstanding graduate thesis.

Mr Li received a doctorate in economics from Stanford University in 2016. He also became the very first Singaporean to be inducted into the Harvard Society of Fellows, a society which recognizes young scholars for their potential to advance academic wisdom.

Just two years later, Mr Li – who serves as an Assistant Professor of Economics at Harvard University – won the coveted Exeter Prize, which is awarded to the best economics paper published in the previous calendar year.

Last month, Mr Li became the very first Singaporean to be awarded the prestigious 2023 Sloan P. Foundations Fellowship prize – a highly competitive award which is given to “outstanding” early-career researchers.

Despite making Singapore proud with his many accolades in an already-illustrious career, Mr Li has yet to publicly receive any acknowledgement for his achievements from his famous uncle. His achievements were also not covered by The Straits Times, Singapore’s national newspaper.

The raging Lee family feud is most likely the cause of the PM’s seeming indifference towards his nephew. While Mr Li won praise overseas, he was convicted of contempt of court for a private friends-only Facebook post in Singapore.

Meanwhile, his parents have left Singapore amid a police probe into the possibility that they lied about Lee Kuan Yew’s will. On his part, Mr Lee Hsien Yang has dubbed the action continued “persecution” by the Singapore authorities. He has also registered an interest in perhaps running for President later this year.

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