Lee Hsien Yang formally opposes preserving his father’s home, citing Lee Kuan Yew’s demolition wishes.
PETALING JAYA: Lee Hsien Yang has formally contested the Singapore government’s plan to declare the 38 Oxley Road property a protected national monument, asserting that such action would violate his late father’s explicitly stated preferences.
According to Channel News Asia, Singapore’s National Heritage Board has acknowledged receiving the written opposition from Hsien Yang and stated it will review his concerns before advising Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo on how to proceed with the preservation proposal.
Opposition Letter Details Father’s Consistent Position
In correspondence shared publicly on Monday (November 17), the younger son of Singapore’s founding Prime Minister argued that the government faces a choice between respecting Lee Kuan Yew’s deeply held convictions or disregarding them.
“As his son and his trustee I object to the proposed gazetting of the property,” Hsien Yang stated in his letter addressed to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, which was also translated into Mandarin, Malay and Tamil.
The submission arrived on the final day for objections following the government’s announcement earlier in November regarding its intention to designate the historic site. The property is owned by 38 Oxley Road Pte Ltd, with Hsien Yang as the sole shareholder.
The National Heritage Board confirmed it would follow established procedures in evaluating the objections before making recommendations to Neo, who previously indicated that any formal challenges would receive objective and fair consideration.
Arguments Against Preservation
Hsien Yang emphasised that his father maintained an unwavering stance against commemorative structures throughout his lifetime.
“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,” he wrote.
He dismissed various justifications presented for the gazetting as “false, convoluted and self-contradictory arguments,” also characterizing claims that Kuan Yew reversed his position as fictional.
Should the government move forward, a preservation order would be issued and acquisition procedures would begin according to standard processes, with compensation determined under the Land Acquisition Act. The owner and interested parties would have opportunities to submit claims to the Singapore Land Authority.
Government’s Preservation Rationale
The government revealed its gazetting intention on November 3, stating it sought to balance preserving a historically significant location with honoring the founding Prime Minister’s privacy preferences.
Neo explained he had considered recommendations from the Heritage Board and its advisory panel, which evaluated the site as meriting preservation.
Plans indicate the acquired property would become public space, potentially transformed into a heritage park, preventing residential, commercial or private development. Authorities pledged to eliminate all evidence of the Lee family’s private living areas from the structures.
This announcement followed Lee Hsien Yang’s demolition application submitted in October of the previous year. Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong recused himself from all governmental decisions concerning the property, having informed the Cabinet of this decision in April 2015.
Historical Context and Family Dispute
Hsien Yang stated his father believed from 2010 that the Cabinet had decided to gazette the property, prompting him to appeal to Singaporeans directly and instruct his three children to demolish the house.
He quoted his father specifying that if blocked from demolition, the house should never be accessible to outsiders beyond his children, their families and descendants, noting his father never consented to preserving and opening his dining room publicly.
The demolition application came after his older sister Dr. Lee Wei Ling passed away in 2024, with Lee Hsien Yang committing to maintain the property privately within the family indefinitely as his father intended.
He referenced opinion surveys conducted since 2015 showing substantial public support for honoring the demolition wish.
Kuan Yew’s Documented Wishes
The founding Prime Minister repeatedly expressed publicly his desire for the house’s demolition after his death.
In an October 2010 letter to Cabinet, he wrote the house should not become “a kind of relic for people to tramp through” and possessed “no merit as architecture.”
Hsien Yang included video footage showing his father stating: “I have told the Cabinet when I’m dead, demolish it.”
This clip originated from a Singapore’s Straits Times interview for the January 2011 book “Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going.”
In that publication, Kuan Yew also noted that his house restricted neighbouring properties from building higher, suggesting demolition would increase land values by enabling planning rule changes.
He reaffirmed this position in a July 2011 Cabinet letter, despite ministerial opposition.
Shifting Positions in Documentation
A December 2011 letter revealed Kuan Yew had reconsidered after unanimous Cabinet opposition to demolition, suggesting that if preserved, the property should be structurally reinforced, refurbished and rented out, as vacant buildings deteriorate rapidly.
However, his 2013 final will returned to demanding demolition, or alternatively, keeping it closed to everyone except family and descendants.
His estate was distributed equally among his three children, with the final will containing a provision allowing Dr. Wei Ling to reside there as long as she wished.
Public Family Conflict
On June 14, 2017, Hsien Yang and Dr. Wei Ling accused then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of mischaracterizing their father’s intentions for political purposes. They claimed to feel threatened while attempting to fulfill the demolition wish and accused him of misusing governmental authority for personal objectives.
Hsien Loong addressed these allegations in a July 3, 2017 parliamentary statement, noting the demolition clause’s removal from the fifth and sixth will versions before being reinstated in the seventh and final version.
That final will was prepared with involvement from Hsien Yang and his lawyer wife Lee Suet Fern. In 2020, a disciplinary tribunal found Mrs. Lee guilty of grossly improper professional conduct regarding her father-in-law’s last will, resulting in a 15-month practice suspension.
Both the tribunal and court determined the couple had misled the late Kuan Yew during the will’s execution and provided false testimony under oath.
Kuan Yew’s previous lawyer, Kwa Kim Li, was ordered to pay S$13,000 in penalties in 2023 for confidentiality breaches and misleading communications.
The couple departed Singapore on June 15, 2022, choosing not to attend a scheduled police interview concerning the matter. Lee Hsien Yang announced after his sister’s October 2024 death that he would not return for her wake and funeral.
