Do we like Lee Hsien Loong?
Our score: 5 out of 10. A mixed record: a real LGBTQ+ reform with strings attached, a strong crisis record, and a long run of lawsuits against critics.
Lee Hsien Loong is Singapore's elder statesman: army brigadier-general, Cambridge maths graduate, MP since 1984, Deputy PM from 1990, and Prime Minister from August 2004 to May 2024. He is the son of founding PM Lee Kuan Yew, and Time notes the two of them once sued a magazine together. He handed over to Lawrence Wong on 15 May 2024 and stayed on as Senior Minister.
The story the rainbow crowd cares about is 2022. Lee announced Section 377A, the colonial-era law against sex between men, would go, calling it the “right thing to do now”. In the same breath he said the government would amend the constitution so courts couldn't open the door to same-sex marriage. LGBTQ groups welcomed the repeal but said the marriage move deepened inequality, and one activist called it “a retrogressive step”.
The other big stoush is how he treats critics. In 2014 the High Court gave him summary judgment against blogger Roy Ngerng over a post about pension money. In 2021 a judge awarded him a combined S$370,000 against The Online Citizen's editor and a writer, saying the editor had acted “recklessly, with indifference to the truth”. He reportedly donates the damages to charity, but critics say such suits are used to silence dissent, and Singapore's leaders say they protect reputations.
On the harm check, here's the honest bit: nothing I read has him demeaning women, migrants or trans people in his own words, and I found no conspiracy theories or dodgy company. On climate, he said back in 2010 that Singapore would need an explicit carbon price. The black mark is the marriage amendment, plus a government that experts call “thin-skinned” about dissent. I didn't turn up a full record on migrants or women, so that's a gap.
The recent stuff is low-key. At the April 2026 Administrative Service dinner he warned that war and conflict make good governance harder and urged trust and social cohesion. No scandal in sight, which for a Lee is almost a news story in itself.
The good stuff is a decent crisis record. He drew on reserves for a S$20.5 billion aid package in the 2009 financial crisis, then repaid it. In Covid, relief packages drew S$40 billion, and he gave nine televised speeches. The IMF called the recovery “impressive”.