SINGAPORE — Mr Lee Hsien Yang, the younger brother of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, has publicly backed Dr Tan Cheng Bock's return to politics. Dr Tan, 79, was a former Member of Parliament (MP) with the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) before retiring in 2006. In 2011, he contested in the Presidential Election.

In a Facebook post on Thursday (Jan 24), Mr Lee wrote that he has known Dr Tan for “many years” and Dr Tan “has consistently put the interests of the people first”. 

“We are fortunate that he has stepped forward to serve Singapore,” Mr Lee said, adding that Dr Tan is the “leader Singapore deserves”.

Last Friday (Jan 18), Dr Tan announced that he and 11 others, some of them former PAP cadres, applied to start a new party called the Progress Singapore Party.

Dr Tan said that he filed an application with the Registry of Societies to register the party, and was hoping to get approval for it soon. 

In November last year, Mr Lee was seen having breakfast with Dr Tan at West Coast Market and Food Centre, which is in Dr Tan's Ayer Rajah constituency when he was an MP.  Dr Tan wrote on Facebook after that meeting, saying that the pair had "wanted to catch up with each other as we have not met for quite a while" .

Mr Lee, together with his sister, Dr Lee Wei Ling, are in a long-running dispute with PM Lee over the preparation of their father's — the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s — last will, which contained a clause stating that the family's 38 Oxley Road home be demolished.