No freedom of action to override Cabinet: PM Lee

He says Lee Kuan Yew understood his considerations, constraints as head of govt on issue of Oxley Road home

Lawyer Lim Tean (above), who is defending Mr Xu, claims that PM Lee "called the shots" when it came to handling the Oxley Road property. Mr Terry Xu, editor of sociopolitical website The Online Citizen. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO Prime Minister Lee Hsien L
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong arriving at court yesterday for the second day of the hearing on his libel suit against the editor of The Online Citizen. PM Lee is suing over a TOC article published last year that pointed to claims that he had misled his father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, into thinking the house at 38 Oxley Road had been gazetted by the Government. ST PHOTOS: JASON QUAH
Lawyer Lim Tean (above), who is defending Mr Xu, claims that PM Lee "called the shots" when it came to handling the Oxley Road property. Mr Terry Xu, editor of sociopolitical website The Online Citizen. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO Prime Minister Lee Hsien L
Mr Terry Xu, editor of sociopolitical website The Online Citizen. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in court yesterday that he did not have complete freedom of action to override his Cabinet ministers' position on not demolishing the home of his late father at 38 Oxley Road.

PM Lee, testifying on the second day of the hearing on his libel suit against The Online Citizen (TOC) editor Terry Xu, also said his father Lee Kuan Yew understood his considerations and constraints as head of government.

He also rejected a repeated charge by the defendant's lawyer Lim Tean that he "called the shots" when it came to handling the property.

PM Lee is suing Mr Xu over a TOC article, published in August last year, that pointed to claims by his sister, Dr Lee Wei Ling, that her brother had misled their father into thinking 38 Oxley Road had been gazetted by the Government.

In his cross-examination of PM Lee, Mr Lim asked why he could not override Cabinet ministers, who in a July 2011 meeting had - counter to Mr Lee's wishes - opposed knocking down the Oxley Road house.

"As the prime minister, I have to put aside my family considerations," said PM Lee. "It's my duty, I swore an oath to do so."

Overriding the ministers based on his father's wishes would be going against that oath and doing wrong by Singapore, he added.

PM Lee said that after the Cabinet meeting, he gave Mr Lee his honest assessment of what the Government would do with the house after Mr Lee's death.

"I told him that he had met the Cabinet and heard the ministers' views. I said that if I chaired the Cabinet meeting, given that these were the views of the ministers and the public, I thought that it would be very hard for me to override them and knock the house down.

"I added that I would have to agree that the house had to be gazetted to be kept, and if I was not the prime minister or I did not chair the meeting, all the more likely the house would be gazetted. Mr Lee understood."

Mr Lim then referred to an e-mail sent by Dr Lee to her father, in which she wrote: "Having lived here for so many years I have adjusted... you call the shots. I am delighted to stay at Oxley."

Mr Lim said to PM Lee: "Your father replies to her later that evening... 'I cannot call the shots. Loong as PM has the final word.' Your father here was stating the obvious, isn't it? You call the shots... It is not your ministers, it is not your Cabinet as you would like us to believe?"

Mr Lim produced another e-mail from the late Mr Lee which read: "Even if I knock it down while I am alive the PM can gazette it as a heritage site and stop the demolition."

This showed that Mr Lee was talking, at all times, about his son being the decision-maker, not the Cabinet, said Mr Lim.

PM Lee replied: "I am the prime minister. I have a view. If I say my father would like the house knocked down, the ministers will consider it. It is not possible for me to go against the ministers, as I explained to my father and my father acknowledged.

"I had explained to him what I would have to do if I were the decision-maker. In other words, I really didn't have freedom of action."

Lawyer Lim Tean (above), who is defending Mr Xu, claims that PM Lee "called the shots" when it came to handling the Oxley Road property.

Mr Lim then said: "I am suggesting to you that after the Cabinet meeting of July 21, 2011, your father was distraught, because as the prime minister of this country from 1959 to 1990, he knew that no Cabinet of his would have opposed him on an issue of this kind, and he knew that no Cabinet of yours would have opposed you if you had said you wanted demolition. That's right, isn't it?"

"That is wrong," said PM Lee.

"He knew that you called the shots?" said Mr Lim.

"These are political statements, not questions," said PM Lee.

Justice Audrey Lim rebuked Mr Lim at this juncture, saying: "If you want to ask a question, it should be in the form of a question. You are making a lot of statements."

PM Lee then reiterated that his father understood where both the Cabinet and his son stood.

"When he wrote to Cabinet in December 2011, he said the ministers have unanimously expressed their view that the house should not be demolished," said PM Lee. "He did not say the prime minister has told the ministers that he will not demolish the house."

Mr Lim then said: "I am suggesting to you that your father knew that you called the shots and that you were not supporting him... It was convenient for you to say that it was pressure from others."

"I reject that totally and I have explained why," said PM Lee.

Changing tack, Mr Lim said: "Your siblings are correct, when they say you wanted to keep the house to inherit Mr Lee Kuan Yew's credibility? The prime minister living in 38 Oxley Road would remind the public of your father, won't it?"

"That is rubbish," said PM Lee.

"Singaporeans know me. I have been in politics now since 1984 - 36 years. I have been prime minister for 16 years and if I still depend on living in a particular house in order to exude a magic aura and overawe and impress the population, I think I am in a very sad state and Singapore would be in a very sad state," he added.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 02, 2020, with the headline No freedom of action to override Cabinet: PM Lee. Subscribe