Goh Chok Tong raised more than a few eyebrows during last year's National Day address when he retold the story of how his successor as prime minister of Singapore had once allegedly manhandled a cabinet minister.
Mr Goh was quick to point out how the story of an angry Lee Hsien Loong slapping colleague Suppiah Dhanabalan during a heated cabinet meeting in 1990 was just an example of how 'creative' Singaporeans could be.
But many of the ordinary Singaporeans attending the island's annual National Day celebrations were left wondering whether their outgoing prime minister was confirming the slapping incident or simply pointing out it wasn't true.
The situation became even more confusing when Mr Lee - the son of Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew - claimed the following week that he had asked Mr Goh to use the slapping story in his speech 'because well-wishers and friends had been e-mailing me about it'.
Although all involved in the alleged altercation have now strenuously denied it ever occurred, the story's resilience seems to have reinforced the perception that some observers in Singapore have about Mr Lee's somewhat abrasive approach to politics.
'Lee is often characterised as authoritarian, stubborn, aloof and stern,' said Sinapan Samydorai, president of the Think Centre, a Singapore human rights and public advocacy group. 'He may even appear to some as cool and distant from ordinary people,' Mr Samydorai said.
