Poll finds Singapore divided over prospect of third-generation member of ruling Lee clan entering politics

The Lee family has dominated Singapore’s politics for almost six decades and it isn’t clear how citizens feel about another scion entering the fray

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A view of Singapore’s skyline. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:37pm, 28 Jan 2019Updated: 8:56pm, 29 Jan 2019

A rare political poll released in Singapore on Monday shone a light on a topic that thus far had been confined to pockets within the chattering classes: will a “third-generation” member of the city state’s powerful Lee family enter politics?

The family of the revered late founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew has dominated Singapore’s politics for the best part of six decades – his eldest son Lee Hsien Loong is the country’s third and current premier – and there have been increasing questions about whether this trend may continue.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Photo: AP

The public feud between Lee Hsien Loong and his younger siblings Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Wei Ling in 2017 added further grist to the rumour mill, with the younger two Lees at the height of the quarrel insinuating that the prime minister and his wife Ho Ching were priming their son Li Hongyi for political office.

Li, a data scientist at a government agency, immediately hit back by declaring on Facebook: “I really have no interest in politics”.

Still, speculation has continued to circulate – intensifying in recent months amid expectations that a snap poll may be called this year.