Lee Kuan Yew’s grandson left Singapore because friends feared he would be detained

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Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong attends the funeral service for the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew at the University Cultural Centre, National University of Singapore on March 29, 2015 in Singapore.

Li, 32, said he had been in Singapore to attend a friend’s birthday celebrations but missed those because of his sudden departure for Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he is a junior fellow at Harvard University. Li said in a previous interview earlier this month that he has no intention of returning to Singapore and would defend himself with legal representation in the city state.

The prime minister has previously said he is not involved in the current decision-making over the future of the house, and has denied there has been any abuse of state power.

A spokesperson for the attorney-general’s chambers declined to comment because the case is already before the court.

During the interview at his office on the Harvard campus,where he is doing post-doctoral work in economic theory and behavioral economics, Li questioned whether the People’s ActionParty, which has ruled Singapore since 1959 and received almost 70 percent of the vote in the 2015 election, has too much control.

He called for more room for “healthy, loyal dissent” in Singapore. “I worry that Singapore’s ruling party tries too hard to maintain a monopoly on credibility,” said Li.