Tan Kin Lian says that if he were faced with a demand letter from PM Lee, he would apologise but with some qualification

Former presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian shared some of his thoughts on a recent letter of demand that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had sent Terry Xu, Editor of The Online Citizen.

PM Lee’s spokesperson issued a letter to sociopolitical website The Online Citizen (TOC), demanding that it remove an article containing “false” and “libellous” allegations and publish an apology.

In the letter sent to TOC chief editor Terry Xu at 6pm on Sunday (Sept 1) — a copy of which was made available to the media — Ms Chang Li Lin, the prime minister’s press secretary, took issue with an article titled, “PM Lee’s wife Ho Ching weirdly shares article on cutting ties with family members”, which she called a “scurrilous” attack on PM Lee’s character and integrity.

According to Ms Chang, the article and Facebook post repeated several false allegations that were leveled against PM Lee by his sister, Dr Lee Wei Ling.

PM Lee has demanded that Xu remove the content immediately and publish a “full and unconditional apology” by Wednesday, or face legal action.

Yesterday morning (September 3), Mr Tan, a former Chief Executive Officer of NTUC Income remarked, “What would I do, if I were the editor of The Online Citizen, faced with the legal demand by LHL personal assistant?

I would take down the article. No problem. I can put up several articles a day. Taking down an article is no big deal”.

He also added, “I will give a simple apology – I apologize to PM Lee for any distress that my article might have caused to him. It was not intended.

This apology is no big deal either. It is not an admission of wrong doing. It is just a courteous response – sorry, if I had offended you. I did not mean to”.

However, in dealing with lawyers, Mr Tan noted, “If the lawyer insist on a strong apology, I would ignore it. I dislike the “bullying” by lawyers. I will let the public see how nasty the lawyer or their client can be”.

Following PM Lee’s National Day Rally held on Sunday (August 18), Mr Tan also shared some of his thoughts.

During the rally, PM Lee Hsien Loong announced a slew of changes to education and retirement policies.

On the overall rally, Mr Tan, a former Chief Executive Officer of NTUC Income said, “PM Lee used colourful charts and PowerPoints in past rallies as well. They did not solve the problems then”.

Separately, Mr Tan also said, “Instead of addressing the real challenges, LHL find way to win more votes”. /TISG

Read related: Tan Kin Lian: PM Lee used colourful charts and PowerPoints in past rallies as well. They did not solve the problems then.