Li Hongyi

Li Hongyi (born 1 May 1987) is the second eldest son of Lee Hsien Loong, the current Prime Minister of Singapore, from his second marriage with Ho Ching.
Education
Li studied in the Gifted Education Programme at before attending Raffles Junior College. In 2006, he received a Singapore Public Service Commission merit scholarship to pursue a degree in Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In the 2008-2009 academic year, he went to study at Trinity College, Cambridge (where his father obtained his bachelor degree) as an exchange student through the Cambridge-MIT Exchange program.
Controversy
Li courted controversy during his national service, when he bypassed the chain of command and sent an complaint email to hundreds of military personnel including the Defence Minister.
The contents of his letter 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) officers" 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 Regimental Orders, he felt the severity of the transgression was taken lightly, and proceeded to 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 was "formally charged and administered a reprimand after a summary trial" in a statement issued by the Ministry of Defense, for contravening the General Orders of adhering to the chain of command and "broadcasting his letter of complaint to many other servicemen". The officer whom he accused, a Captain, was court-martialed and fined.
 
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