SINGAPORE: Mr Lee Hsien Yang on Monday (Nov 17) issued an open letter objecting to a government proposal to designate the 38 Oxley Road site as a national monument, saying that the decision would dishonour his late father's wishes.
This came after the government announced earlier this month its intention to gazette the site of Singapore's founding prime minister's family home as a national monument given its historic significance.
“The PAP government can honour Lee Kuan Yew on a matter of deep importance to him, or trample on his wishes and create a monument to that dishonour,” wrote his younger son in a letter posted to Facebook and translated into Mandarin, Malay and Tamil.
“As his son and his trustee I object to the proposed gazetting of the property.”
The letter, which was addressed to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, was posted on the deadline day for objections to be filed with authorities following the government's proposal to gazette the site. The government said it would give the property owner – 38 Oxley Road Pte Ltd – until Nov 17 to file objections.
Mr Lee Hsien Yang, the company's sole shareholder, said his father consistently opposed monuments.
“Throughout his life Lee Kuan Yew was clear and unambiguous that he wanted his home at 38 Oxley Road demolished. He was against any monuments and this was part of the values he stood for,” the younger Mr Lee wrote.
Numerous “false, convoluted and self-contradictory arguments” have been advanced to “attempt to justify” the gazetting of the site, he said.
“The narrative that Lee Kuan Yew changed his mind and would be ‘all right’ with some form of preservation of his house is also a fiction.”
CNA has asked the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), the National Heritage Board (NHB) and the Prime Minister’s Office for their response to the letter.
Any formal objections will be submitted to Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo, who said in parliament on Nov 6 that they would be "considered objectively and fairly as part of due process”.
If the government decides to proceed with the preservation, a preservation order will be made and the acquisition process will commence according to established processes.
Compensation will be made according to the Land Acquisition Act, and the owner, any occupiers and others with an interest will be given the opportunity to submit their claims to the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) to determine compensation, Mr Neo said.
On Nov 3, the government announced its intention to gazette the site as a national monument, saying it would balance the need to preserve a location of historic significance with respect for the founding prime minister's wish for privacy.
In his speech in parliament on Nov 6, Mr Neo said he had considered recommendations from NHB and its Preservation of Sites and Monuments Advisory Board, which assessed the site as worthy of preservation.
If preserved and acquired, the site would be converted into a public space, with one possible outcome being a heritage park, according to NHB and the Singapore Land Authority (SLA). This means the site cannot be redeveloped for residential, commercial or other private uses.
"Regardless of the option taken, the government will respect Mr Lee Kuan Yew's wishes, and will remove all traces of Mr Lee's and his family's private living spaces from the buildings," NHB and SLA said.
The announcement came more than a year after Mr Lee Hsien Yang applied to demolish the house on Oct 21 last year. The government responded at the time by saying it would assess whether the site merited preservation as a national monument.
Mr Lee’s older brother, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, recused himself from all government decisions on the property, informing Cabinet of this decision on Apr 15, 2015.
In his open letter on Monday, Mr Lee Hsien Yang wrote: “38 Oxley Road will be a monument to the PAP’s dishonour of Lee Kuan Yew.”
He said his father was led to believe from 2010 that the decision to gazette 38 Oxley Road had been made by the Cabinet, and he then chose to “appeal directly” to the people of Singapore and directed his three children to demolish his house.
Quoting his father, the younger Mr Lee wrote: “Only if they were blocked, then ‘... the house never be opened to others except my children, their families and descendants’. He had never agreed to preserve and make public his dining room.”
Mr Lee Hsien Yang said he applied to demolish 38 Oxley Road after his older sister Dr Lee Wei Ling died in 2024, committing to hold the property privately in the family “in perpetuity” according to his father’s wishes.
He also cited published opinion polls since 2015, which he said have “all shown overwhelming support” for honouring Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s wish to demolish his house.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew had on several occasions publicly expressed his wish for the house to be demolished after his death.
In an October 2010 letter to the Cabinet, Mr Lee Kuan Yew wrote that the house should “not be kept as a kind of relic for people to tramp through” and that it has “no merit as architecture”.
In his post on Monday, the younger Mr Lee also included a video clip of his father saying: “I have told the Cabinet when I’m dead, demolish it.”
The video is from an interview with a team of journalists from the Straits Times for the book Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going, which was published in January 2011.
In the book, Mr Lee Kuan Yew also said: "Because of my house, the neighbouring houses cannot build high. Now demolish my house and change the planning rules, go up, the land value will go up."
He reiterated his stance in a July 2011 letter to the Cabinet, but faced opposition from ministers.
In a letter dated Dec 27, 2011, Mr Lee Kuan Yew wrote that he had reflected on the matter after the Cabinet unanimously opposed demolition, and decided that if the property were to be preserved, it should have its foundations reinforced and be refurbished and let out for people to live in, as an empty building would “soon decline and decay”.
Yet in his final will executed in 2013, he returned to saying he wanted the house demolished, or if that were not possible, closed to everyone except family and descendants.’
Upon Mr Lee Kuan Yew's death, his estate was divided equally among his three children, with his final will including a clause allowing Dr Lee Wei Ling to stay in the house for as long as she desired.
On Jun 14, 2017, Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee accused then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of misrepresenting their father for political gain. They said that their father had wanted the house at 38 Oxley Road demolished, and that they felt threatened in trying to fulfil this wish.
They also accused Mr Lee Hsien Loong of abusing his government influence to drive a personal agenda.
Mr Lee Hsien Loong addressed the matter in a ministerial statement in parliament on Jul 3, 2017, noting that the demolition clause had been removed in the fifth and sixth versions of the will, and only reinserted in the seventh and final will.
The final will was prepared with the involvement of Mr Lee Hsien Yang and his wife Lee Suet Fern, a lawyer. In 2020, a disciplinary tribunal found Mrs Lee guilty of grossly improper professional conduct in handling her father-in-law's last will, and a court suspended her from practice for 15 months.
Both the tribunal and the court found that the couple had misled the late Mr Lee in the execution of his last will and lied under oath during proceedings.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew's previous lawyer, Madam Kwa Kim Li, was also ordered to pay S$13,000 in penalties in 2023 for failing to safeguard Mr Lee's confidentiality and for misleading Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee in an email.
The couple left Singapore on Jun 15, 2022, after deciding not to attend a scheduled police interview related to the matter. Mr Lee Hsien Yang said after his sister's death in October 2024 that he would not return for her wake and funeral.
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This came after the government announced earlier this month its intention to gazette the site of Singapore's founding prime minister's family home as a national monument given its historic significance.
“The PAP government can honour Lee Kuan Yew on a matter of deep importance to him, or trample on his wishes and create a monument to that dishonour,” wrote his younger son in a letter posted to Facebook and translated into Mandarin, Malay and Tamil.
“As his son and his trustee I object to the proposed gazetting of the property.”
The letter, which was addressed to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, was posted on the deadline day for objections to be filed with authorities following the government's proposal to gazette the site. The government said it would give the property owner – 38 Oxley Road Pte Ltd – until Nov 17 to file objections.
Mr Lee Hsien Yang, the company's sole shareholder, said his father consistently opposed monuments.
“Throughout his life Lee Kuan Yew was clear and unambiguous that he wanted his home at 38 Oxley Road demolished. He was against any monuments and this was part of the values he stood for,” the younger Mr Lee wrote.
Numerous “false, convoluted and self-contradictory arguments” have been advanced to “attempt to justify” the gazetting of the site, he said.
“The narrative that Lee Kuan Yew changed his mind and would be ‘all right’ with some form of preservation of his house is also a fiction.”
CNA has asked the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), the National Heritage Board (NHB) and the Prime Minister’s Office for their response to the letter.
Any formal objections will be submitted to Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo, who said in parliament on Nov 6 that they would be "considered objectively and fairly as part of due process”.
If the government decides to proceed with the preservation, a preservation order will be made and the acquisition process will commence according to established processes.
Compensation will be made according to the Land Acquisition Act, and the owner, any occupiers and others with an interest will be given the opportunity to submit their claims to the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) to determine compensation, Mr Neo said.
Related:
THE GOVERNMENT'S PROPOSAL
On Nov 3, the government announced its intention to gazette the site as a national monument, saying it would balance the need to preserve a location of historic significance with respect for the founding prime minister's wish for privacy.
In his speech in parliament on Nov 6, Mr Neo said he had considered recommendations from NHB and its Preservation of Sites and Monuments Advisory Board, which assessed the site as worthy of preservation.
If preserved and acquired, the site would be converted into a public space, with one possible outcome being a heritage park, according to NHB and the Singapore Land Authority (SLA). This means the site cannot be redeveloped for residential, commercial or other private uses.
"Regardless of the option taken, the government will respect Mr Lee Kuan Yew's wishes, and will remove all traces of Mr Lee's and his family's private living spaces from the buildings," NHB and SLA said.
The announcement came more than a year after Mr Lee Hsien Yang applied to demolish the house on Oct 21 last year. The government responded at the time by saying it would assess whether the site merited preservation as a national monument.
Mr Lee’s older brother, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, recused himself from all government decisions on the property, informing Cabinet of this decision on Apr 15, 2015.
In his open letter on Monday, Mr Lee Hsien Yang wrote: “38 Oxley Road will be a monument to the PAP’s dishonour of Lee Kuan Yew.”
He said his father was led to believe from 2010 that the decision to gazette 38 Oxley Road had been made by the Cabinet, and he then chose to “appeal directly” to the people of Singapore and directed his three children to demolish his house.
Quoting his father, the younger Mr Lee wrote: “Only if they were blocked, then ‘... the house never be opened to others except my children, their families and descendants’. He had never agreed to preserve and make public his dining room.”
Mr Lee Hsien Yang said he applied to demolish 38 Oxley Road after his older sister Dr Lee Wei Ling died in 2024, committing to hold the property privately in the family “in perpetuity” according to his father’s wishes.
He also cited published opinion polls since 2015, which he said have “all shown overwhelming support” for honouring Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s wish to demolish his house.
Related:
WHAT DID LEE KUAN YEW WANT FOR THE HOUSE?
Mr Lee Kuan Yew had on several occasions publicly expressed his wish for the house to be demolished after his death.
In an October 2010 letter to the Cabinet, Mr Lee Kuan Yew wrote that the house should “not be kept as a kind of relic for people to tramp through” and that it has “no merit as architecture”.
In his post on Monday, the younger Mr Lee also included a video clip of his father saying: “I have told the Cabinet when I’m dead, demolish it.”
The video is from an interview with a team of journalists from the Straits Times for the book Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going, which was published in January 2011.
In the book, Mr Lee Kuan Yew also said: "Because of my house, the neighbouring houses cannot build high. Now demolish my house and change the planning rules, go up, the land value will go up."
He reiterated his stance in a July 2011 letter to the Cabinet, but faced opposition from ministers.
In a letter dated Dec 27, 2011, Mr Lee Kuan Yew wrote that he had reflected on the matter after the Cabinet unanimously opposed demolition, and decided that if the property were to be preserved, it should have its foundations reinforced and be refurbished and let out for people to live in, as an empty building would “soon decline and decay”.
Yet in his final will executed in 2013, he returned to saying he wanted the house demolished, or if that were not possible, closed to everyone except family and descendants.’
Upon Mr Lee Kuan Yew's death, his estate was divided equally among his three children, with his final will including a clause allowing Dr Lee Wei Ling to stay in the house for as long as she desired.
On Jun 14, 2017, Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee accused then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of misrepresenting their father for political gain. They said that their father had wanted the house at 38 Oxley Road demolished, and that they felt threatened in trying to fulfil this wish.
They also accused Mr Lee Hsien Loong of abusing his government influence to drive a personal agenda.
Mr Lee Hsien Loong addressed the matter in a ministerial statement in parliament on Jul 3, 2017, noting that the demolition clause had been removed in the fifth and sixth versions of the will, and only reinserted in the seventh and final will.
The final will was prepared with the involvement of Mr Lee Hsien Yang and his wife Lee Suet Fern, a lawyer. In 2020, a disciplinary tribunal found Mrs Lee guilty of grossly improper professional conduct in handling her father-in-law's last will, and a court suspended her from practice for 15 months.
Both the tribunal and the court found that the couple had misled the late Mr Lee in the execution of his last will and lied under oath during proceedings.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew's previous lawyer, Madam Kwa Kim Li, was also ordered to pay S$13,000 in penalties in 2023 for failing to safeguard Mr Lee's confidentiality and for misleading Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee in an email.
The couple left Singapore on Jun 15, 2022, after deciding not to attend a scheduled police interview related to the matter. Mr Lee Hsien Yang said after his sister's death in October 2024 that he would not return for her wake and funeral.
Continue reading...