Siblings claim LHL misled Kuan Yew over family home status

SinGaPORE: The younger siblings of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have responded to his ministerial statement in Parliament on their dispute over the family home at 38, Oxley Road.

They accused Hsien Loong of misleading their father and founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew over the status of the family home – that the gazetting of 38, Oxley Road was either “inevitable” or that the house was already gazetted.

Because of the misrepresentation, Kuan Yew, who had wanted to demolish the house, had considered “alternatives” to demolition, Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee Wei Ling said.

In Parliament on Monday, Hsien Loong revealed that Kuan Yew had approved of renovation plans to the Oxley Road house, which would demolish the private living spaces of the house but keep the basement dining room which had historical significance. The dining room was where meetings took place that led to the formation of the People’s Action Party in 1954.

Hsien Loong said that the renovation plans showed that while Kuan Yew wanted to demolish the house, he was prepared to consider other options, if the government decided otherwise.

The younger Lee siblings allege that their brother wants to preserve the house against their father’s wishes for political gain.

In a Facebook post yesterday, Hsien Yang wrote: “From 2010, LHL improperly misrepresented to our father LKY that gazetting of 38 Oxley Road was either ‘inevitable’ or that the house was already gazetted. We now know that no decision had been made.” — The Straits Times/Asia News Network