When the brother of Singapore's prime minister joined the opposition to the party their father led through the city-state's independence and rise as a nation, he brought a bitter family squabble into the realm of politics on the eve of a general election.

Lee Hsien Yang (above, centre), younger brother of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and son of modern Singapore's founder, Lee Kuan Yew, said last week he was a member of the new Progress Singapore Party (PSP). He said the People's Action Party (PAP), which has governed Singapore since independence in 1965, had "lost its way" without his late father.