Li Shengwu

Singaporean academic and member of the Lee family

Li Shengwu

李绳武 (Lǐ Shéngwǔ)
Occupation	Economist, Harvard University
Personal details
Party	Not politically affiliated; grandson of Lee Kuan Yew
Born	4 February 1985
Alma mater	University of Oxford (BA, MPhil); Stanford University (PhD)

Li Shengwu (born 4 February 1985) is a Singaporean economist based in the United States and a member of the Lee family, Singapore's most prominent political dynasty. He is the son of Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Suet Fern, the grandson of founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, and the nephew of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. He is a professor of economics at Harvard University, and has since 2017 been at the centre of a public dispute with the Singapore government arising from the wider Lee family feud over 38 Oxley Road, culminating in a contempt-of-court conviction and his continued residence outside Singapore.

Family background

Li was born in Singapore in 1985, the eldest of three sons of Lee Hsien Yang — the younger son of Lee Kuan Yew — and Lee Suet Fern. Unlike his father and grandfather, Li spells the family surname (李) using Hanyu Pinyin romanisation, "Li", rather than the traditional "Lee". He briefly studied economics before pursuing an academic career, joining Harvard University's faculty in 2018 and receiving tenure in 2024.

The Oxley Road dispute and contempt of court case

Main article: Li Shengwu contempt of court case

After Lee Kuan Yew's death in 2015, a public rift emerged within the Lee family between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his younger siblings, Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Wei Ling, over the fate of the family home at 38 Oxley Road, which Lee Kuan Yew's will had directed be demolished. When the dispute became public in 2017, Li Shengwu made a private Facebook post — later leaked — criticising what he described as a "pliant court system" in Singapore. Singapore's Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) subsequently brought contempt-of-court proceedings against him, notwithstanding that the post was private and Li was, at the time, resident overseas and not a party to the underlying family dispute. The three-year proceeding ended in July 2020 with a High Court finding of guilt and a S$15,000 fine, which Li paid in August 2020 while maintaining he had committed no offence and calling the case "politically motivated". Full details of the proceedings, the AGC's conduct of the case, and subsequent allegations about how the post came to public attention are covered in the main article. Li has separately criticised the 2023 reappointment of Attorney-General Lucien Wong — previously Lee Hsien Loong's personal lawyer — to a third term at age 72, calling it politically motivated; opposition MPs Sylvia Lim and Low Thia Khiang had earlier raised similar independence concerns in Parliament during the 2017 Oxley Road debate.

Continued residence outside Singapore

Li has continued to reside in the United States since the case was resolved. In a 2023 interview, he said he feared arrest if he returned to Singapore, characterising his uncle, then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, as someone who "doesn't want competing claims to legitimacy" and would not take chances on that front. He also said his parents would be at risk if they returned, citing Singapore's provisions allowing indefinite detention without access to a lawyer. His parents, Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Suet Fern, were granted refugee status by the United Kingdom in 2024, citing fears of persecution linked to the family dispute.

2025 New York Times video and government rebuttal

On 22 January 2025, The New York Times published an opinion video, How Tyranny Begins, featuring Li alongside individuals from Russia, Hungary and Nicaragua describing experiences of alleged government repression. In the video, Li accused his uncle Lee Hsien Loong of using police investigations and legal proceedings to suppress political opposition, cited his own contempt-of-court case as an example, and said he had left Singapore to avoid further persecution. He argued that "when it becomes too obvious to prosecute someone for being an enemy of the state, they fabricate something else", and separately criticised the appointment of Lucien Wong as Attorney-General as politically compromised. Singapore's Ambassador to the United States, Lui Tuck Yew, responded in a letter to the NYT editor dated 26 January 2025, accusing the paper of misrepresenting Singapore through "false portrayals" and "misleading analogies". Lui said Li "masquerades as a persecuted dissident", noting he remained a Singapore citizen able to travel on a Singapore passport, had not been exiled, jailed or stripped of possessions, and was "free to return to Singapore at any time" following payment of his 2020 fine. Lui pointed to Singapore's rankings on international rule-of-law and corruption indices, and said decisions on matters including 38 Oxley Road were made "transparently and follow due process". A separate Lui letter, dated 15 January 2025, addressed a related NYT article on the Lee family dispute, reiterating the government's position that Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Suet Fern had misled Lee Kuan Yew in drafting his will, citing earlier disciplinary tribunal findings; Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Suet Fern have disputed this characterisation.

See also

• Li Shengwu contempt of court case
• Lee family (Singapore)
• 38 Oxley Road
• Lee Hsien Yang
• Lee Hsien Loong
• Lee Kuan Yew