Li Hongyi

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Li Hongyi (born 1 May, 1987) is the eldest son of Lee Hsien Loong, the current serving Prime Minister of Singapore, from his second marriage with Ho Ching, who heads Singapore's state investment firm Temasek Holdings.

[edit] Education

He was a student in the Gifted Education Programme and studied at Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) before moving on to Raffles Junior College. He is currently pursuing a degree in Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a Singapore Public Service Commission scholarship.

[edit] Controversies

He courted controversy while doing his national service, when he bypassed the chain of command in an attempt to disrepute a fellow officer and his immediate superior, and disseminated an email complaint to hundreds of military personnel including the defense minister.

The contents of his letter[1] were leaked, to the general public and rapidly caught attention via the internet. In it, he stated concerns regarding "the quality control of SAF (Singapore Armed Force) officer" and raised specific dissatisfaction with a named fellow officer pertaining to the dereliction of duties, where he detailed his investigation into the officer's Absence Without Official Leave (AWOL). Having brought attention to his OC (Officer in Command), the offending officer was duly given the punishment of "10 extra duties". Having observed the punishment being dealt in the RO (Regimental Orders), he felt the severity of the transgression was taken lightly, and proceeded to summarily put this incident as his example of what was lacking and in contrast with the image of high standard set by SAF leadership.

In the aftermath, Li Hongyi was "formally charged and administered a reprimand after a summary trial" in a statement issued by the Ministry of Defense[2][3][4][5], for contravening the General Orders of adhering to the chain of command and "broadcasting his letter of complaint to many other servicemen". The officer, a Lieutenant, whom he accused was court-martialed and fined.

[edit] References

  1. ^ PM's son's army gaffe. Retrieved on 2007-08-27.
  2. ^ Reuters: Singapore PM's son gets army rebuke for e-mail gaffe. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
  3. ^ ChannelNewsAsia: MINDEF takes PM Lee's son to task for contravening orders. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
  4. ^ TODAYonline: SAF acts after email complaint. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.
  5. ^ The New Straits Times: PM Lee's son reprimanded for not following procedure. Retrieved on 2007-07-13.