Chinese state media and netizens have seized on the
feud between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his siblings to
criticise the Republic’s leadership, drawing a sharp contrast
between their coverage and that of the media in countries around
the world, which have mostly stuck to factual and balanced
reporting.
On Thursday (June 15), for example, the Global Times
ran an opinion piece headlined “Is family feud indicating a broader
dispute in Singapore?” In adopting a hectoring tone, the piece
posited that the family dispute was a sign that socio-political
tensions were brewing in Singapore.
“The attack launched on Lee Hsien Loong by his two
siblings to some extent represents the dissatisfactions of the
liberals and opposition parties against the ‘central interest
group’ built up by Lee Hsien Loong, which may lead to the outburst
of conflicts in Singapore,” the commentary said.
It went on to say that “Singapore appears to be
ill-prepared to adapt to global changes. Its avid support of the
South China Sea arbitration rendered the country isolated. As an
active promoter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it was caught in
an awkward position after US President Donald Trump discarded the
deal. These have cornered Singapore into an unprecedented passive
diplomatic position”.
It concluded thus: “Lee Hsien Loong has been granted a
chance on the stage of history, but is being rooted against by his
siblings. His winning edge lies only in his governance
achievements.”
The tabloid, which is published by the Chinese
Communist Party’s mouthpiece, People’s Daily, and thus offers a
view of official thinking, has long had Singapore in its
sights.
Last November, after the Singapore Armed Forces’ Terrex
vehicles were seized, it warned that the Republic’s “hypocrisy”
over its military relationship with Taiwan could harm its relations
with China.
A month earlier, it published a series of reports
critical of PM Lee’s official visit to Japan. The newspaper claimed
that Singapore had agreed to cooperate with Tokyo on various
issues, including territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
That charge came after it alleged in September that
Singapore had pushed for a stronger statement on an international
tribunal ruling invalidating Beijing’s expansive claims in the
South China Sea during the Non-Aligned Movement summit. Singapore’s
ambassador to China, Stanley Loh, rebutted the report, calling it
“false and unfounded”, but the paper stood by its story.
Global Times’ readership comprises a sizeable number of
young nationalists.
Those voices were very much in evidence on Weibo,
China’s version of Twitter, after reports of the dispute between
the Lees were published.
The tone of the reactions bordered on the belligerent.
One netizen, for example, wrote: “The Lee family is the vanguard of
anti-China (forces). But if you want to oppose China, you should
first get your family matters in order.”
Said another: “Lee Hsien Loong did not go against the
wishes of Lee Kuan Yew, because both father and son chose to be
lackeys of America”.
Hongkong’s South China Morning Post, meanwhile,
reported that after reports of the dispute were published by
outlets such as Xinhua and People’s Daily, many Chinese nationals
took the opportunity to gloat.
One such report, in the Global Times, was flooded with
over 5,600 comments from netizens, with the top one attracting
1,440 likes, the Post reported.
That comment called Mr Lee “an anti-China lackey of the
United States”. The poster revelled in details of the family split,
and added: “Chinese people should forever remember this anti-China
lackey of the West. He is more anti-China than anyone else.”
The tone in China contrasts sharply with that
elsewhere.
Headlines in news outlets such as the Financial Times,
Guardian, BBC News, CNN, and The New York Times were mostly spober
recountings of details of the dispute.
The NYT’s headline, for example, was “In Singapore,
Prime Minister’s sibligs are taking a private feud public”. The
Financial Times’ story, headlined “Singapore frets over worsening
Lee family feud”, noted that “the row has dominated political
discourse in the Asian financial centre this week.”
Closer to home, Malaysian newspapers have also adopted
a sober tone.
On Thursday, a day after the news broke, the New
Straits Times carried a Reuters report which focused on the Lee
siblings’ claim that they had “lost confidence” in the Prime
Minister’s leadership. The Star, meanwhile, zoomed in on the
accusation by Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee Wei Ling that the PM was
milking their father’s legacy. AGENCIES
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