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Lee Kuan Yew
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SCMP Series
Top 10 most-read Letters to the Editor 2020
6 of 10
1
China’s coronavirus numbers just don’t seem to add up
A worker walks among beds in a convention centre that has been converted into a temporary hospital in Wuhan, Hubei, on February 4. Photo: AP
2
What is China not telling us about the novel coronavirus?
A woman walks past statues wearing face masks, as the snow falls in Beijing on February 5. Photo: AP
3
Singapore deserves to be blamed for failing migrant workers
Migrant workers wear masks while queuing at a meal distribution point in the Little India district of Singapore on May 6. Photo: EPA-EFE
4
Could Singapore offer migrant workers a path to citizenship?
Migrant workers wait in line at a meal distribution point in the Little India district of Singapore, on May 6. A majority of Singapore’s Covid-19 cases are from the foreign worker community, who live in crowded dormitories. Photo: EPA-EFE
5
Does Chinese arrogance make some people turn against them?
Chinese tourists take souvenir photos with the national flag on Quanfu, one of the Paracel Islands, in Sansha prefecture of Hainan province in the South China Sea, in September 2014. Photo: AP
6
What I know about Lee Suet Fern
Lee Suet Fern (far left) and other family members of the late Lee Kuan Yew arrive with his portrait at the start of the state funeral at the University Cultural Centre in Singapore on March 29, 2015. Photo: AP
7
Singapore is now home, but Hong Kong is where the heart is
The people of Hong Kong left an indelible mark with their silent, stoic belief in doing the right thing the right way. Photo: Winson Wong
8
Three ways for China to win back the world’s trust
A security officer walks past a display at the PT Expo in Beijing last October. Photo: AP
9
Lee Kuan Yew was proof autocratic government can be good
Founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew addresses delegates at the Global Brand Forum in Singapore in August 2004. Lee was autocratic but revered as a statesman and nation builder. Photo: AFP
10
Cathay fate shows how Hong Kong is now toxic for businesses
Hong Kong’s popular tourist and shopping district of Tsim Sha Tsui on October 17. Photo: AFP
Lee Suet Fern (far left) and other family members of the late Lee Kuan Yew arrive with his portrait at the start of the state funeral at the University Cultural Centre in Singapore on March 29, 2015. Photo: AP
OpinionLetters

Letters | What I know about Singapore’s Lee Suet Fern

Lee Kuan Yew
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I have been very disturbed to read in the Post of the Singapore Law Society’s failed attempt to disbar Lee Suet Fern. She is the daughter-in-law of the late Lee Kuan Yew, the former Singapore prime minister who died in 2015, and married to his younger son. He and another sibling have fallen out very publicly with their brother, current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, over the last will of Lee Kuan Yew made in 2013, probate for which was granted in 2015.

Lee Suet Fern is alleged to have assisted with arrangements for the execution and witnessing of Lee Kuan Yew’s last will, having “blindly followed the directions of her husband”, and not to have advised the elder Lee to take independent legal advice.

Lee Kuan Yew was himself a lawyer, and the idea that he would have signed anything against his wishes is fantasy. A Court of Three Judges concluded last week that Lee Suet Fern should not be struck off but should be suspended from practice for 15 months for misconduct.

The Court accepted that she was not acting as Lee Kuan Yew’s solicitor, that he never communicated with her in relation to his will (she was abroad), that he was content with his will (which of course he could have changed at any time) and that there was no dishonesty or undue influence involved. No complaint was ever lodged by Lee Kuan Yew or by any of the beneficiaries of the will.

I have known Lee Suet Fern for 40 years. She is a senior lawyer of undisputed ability, ethics and experience, and a partner in a major US global law firm.

When I hosted a lunch for Lee Kuan Yew in 2008 in London, he told me of his trust and admiration for her. Who will believe that he would have had any objection to his daughter-in-law helping to arrange for the witnessing of his will, which she did not draft, or that she acted in any way improperly? In my view, she has been unjustly suspended, a stain on the international reputation of Singapore.

We would be delighted to welcome her back to practise in London where she was trained following her double first at Cambridge.

Sir David Lewis, former lord mayor of London; former president, City of London Law Society

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