Singapore's affluent veneer hides repression and corruption, says son of its modern-day founder

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Lee Hsien Yang, who has been granted political refugee status in the U.K., told The Associated Press that Singaporean authorities have “weaponized” the country's laws against critics and that he is just the most prominent example of a growing number of Singaporeans fleeing abroad to seek protection from their own government. “Beneath that there is a repressive nature to that regime and there are people fleeing from it.” The Singapore government reacted strongly Thursday, accusing Lee of turning a “personal vendetta into an international smear campaign against his father, his family and his country.” It said Lee had alleged in his asylum application that he and his family were being persecuted by the Singapore government to prevent his son, Li Shengwu, from becoming prime minister. Human Rights Watch says Singapore silenced dissenting voices in its recent elections and voiced concern over aggressive enforcement of a sweeping “online falsehoods” law that it said allows officials to censor online content. Lee cited other examples including the involvement of Singaporean banks in the Malaysian state development fund 1MDB corruption scandal, and two Singapore government-linked companies operating in Brazil's oil and gas industry that were allegedly implicated in Brazil's sweeping “Operation Car Wash” anti-corruption investigation.