In his 72-page Affidavit Evidence-in-Chief, or AEIC, Mr Lee Kuan Yew tells the judge that Dr Chee Soon Juan “harbours a deep-seated hatred of me.” Awww…
And why does Dr Chee hate the Minister Mentor so much? According to the MM it is because, among other things, Mr Lee calls Dr Chee a liar and makes him a bankrupt.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew and son, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, are suing the SDP, Ms Chee Siok Chin and Dr Chee for defamation. Mr Lee filed the AEIC in preparation for the hearing on 12 May 08 to assess damages to be paid to the Lees.
And how does the minister tell that Dr Chee hates him?
Dr Chee’s “deep-seated hatred for me is evident from the personal attacks they have launched against me and my family,” Mr Lee says. “For example, on or about 5 May 2006, at a SDP rally in Woodlands, CSJ, CSC (Chee Siok Chin) and other members of the SDP unfurled a banner that said ‘FREE Singapore from the Lees: SDP members’ dated 8 May 2006 posted on the SDP website.”
SDP calling for Singapore to be freed from the Lees in the last elections
Oh, Ms Chee Siok Chin can’t stand me too, Mr Lee continues. Why? Because one of the things she did was to protest outside the CPF Building in August 2005, calling for transparency and accountability from the Government.
“I have been advised by my solicitors and verily believe,” the minister Lee adds, “that SDP is infected by the malice against me on the part of CSJ and CSC.” Imagine the pain and hurt our dear MM must be going through.
But wait a minute, is the MM calling out for love? One would have thought he gets enough of it from the Straits Times. Still, it does get a bit boring if it comes from the same source all the time. (Worse when you are the source’s boss.)
But wasn’t it Mr Lee who said: “If nobody is afraid of me, I’m meaningless.”
Okay, Mr Lee, we hear you. You want to be feared but at the same time you get hurt when you think someone hates you. Not an easy man to please, our dear MM.
Yes, it’s the same MM who called Mr J B Jeyaretnam a “skunk” and a “mangy dog.” The same MM who called Mr Tang Liang Hong a “Chinese chauvinist” and Mr Francis Seow a “womaniser.” The same MM who said that Dr Chee was “kaput” and told Professor Larry Diamond that the SDP secretary-general was “mad.”
Like few other critics, Chee has gotten under Lee’s skin. An astute observer of Singapore explained that Chee “is the type of person they would have recruited. He is articulate and focuses on issues they are vulnerable on, like income disparities.” In addition, Chee directly challenges the government’s prize image of honesty and openness, urging Singaporeans to protest the Orwellian limits on public assembly and speech.
For Lee Kuan Yew, who won massive defamation suits against both Chee and Jeyaretnam, this is too much. “He is an opportunist. He is mad,” the minister mentor told me in 2006. “If he is mad,” I asked, “why bother with him?” Because, Lee said, “this is not the kind of opposition we want to encourage.”
– Excerpt from The Spirit of Democracy (2008), written by Dr Larry Diamond
So does Dr Chee really hate the Minister Mentor? Find out when the two meet in court next week…