Val chua

Val Chua is a former journalist at newspaper. She was a business reporter from the start, but covered political and general news in her five years there, eventually becoming the newspaper's deputy news editor in 2007.

She attracted wide online discussions following an article she wrote in November 2003 on Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's trip to London, in which his wife suffered a stroke. The incident, revealed by MM Lee himself during a community event, was widely reported by other mainstream media. Although it was factually correct and did not draw upon the journalist's opinion, it attracted flak, ironically because it had more details than other reports.

Lee Sr and the eye-opening trauma in London

The article was written on the 3 of November 2003 and concerned certain remarks Minister Mentor Lee Kwan Yew made at a community event in Jalan Bukit Merah. It was not an opinion piece and was merely a news account covering Mr Lee's speech. The article did not contain the journalist's views at all but quoted Mr Lee extensively. The reason why it was controversial was because of what Mr Lee said at the event. Minister Mentor related how his wife has suffered a stroke while she was accompanying him in the United Kingdom and how they suffered a "humiliating" treatment in the hands of the NHS. The most controversial statement Mr Lee made as written in Ms Chua's article was:

"She would have had to wait till 8am the next morning for her CT brain scan if 10 Downing Street had not intervened to get her early attention. High Commissioner Michael Teo had sought help from 10 Downing Street at 2am on Sunday and she received treatment at 3.30am on the night itself."

Media Storm
When the article was published in , 10 Downing Street denied categorically that preferential treated had been given to Kwa Geok Choo, the wife of Mr Lee, forcing Mr Lee to retract his earlier statement. Mr Lee also made some elitist statements such as "We run a (healthcare) system where you have to co-pay ... but you get the attention. There, no attention, just join the queue." The national health service in the UK provides free health care for all patients and there is no preference given to anyone. Singapore however, does not have a universal health care system where every citizen has to pay, depending on how much they earn, for health care.

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