From his remarks in Parliament today concerning the selection of the House as the forum to settle the Oxley Road feud between him and his siblings, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong appears to have placed the onus of proving whether the allegations against him have truth on the shoulders of Members of Parliament.
Stating that it is the responsibility of MPs to “get to the bottom of the issue,” PM Lee asserted that the allegations of abuse of power leveled against him have been answered in the two days of Parliamentary debate and asked, “What has been the outcome? No MPs have produced or alleged any additional facts or charges or substantiated any of the allegations.”
“If MPs believe that something is wrong, it is your job to pursue the facts and make those allegations in your name. And if you think something is wrong, even if you are not fully sure, then come into this House, confront the Government firmly, and ask for explanations and answers.
“If having heard the government, you are still not satisfied, then by all means demand a Select Committee or a Committee of Inquiry.
But the debate has produced no evidence of abuse of power, so why the need for a Select Committee or a COI, and “drag this out for months?”
He particularly called out Workers’ Party MPs for their statements on the matter, saying party leader Low Thia Khiang did not outrightly accuse the Government of wrongdoing or cited any concrete evidence to support the abuse of power claims, before pointing out that MP Png Eng Huat only repeated the PM’s siblings allegations but did not endorse any of them.
“That’s significant because it shows that the Government and I have acted properly and with due process, and that there is no basis to the allegations of (abuse of) power made by my siblings, Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang.” the PM declared.
His statements on the matter follow assertions by parliamentarians and members of the public alike that Parliament is not the forum to settle this issue as the PM’s younger siblings do not have the chance to prove the veracity of their claims for themselves in such an arena.