Singapore aghast over a family feud
Children of the country’s founder fight over house
SINGAPORE — Paint is chipping off the two-story house at 38 Oxley Road. If not for the empty white guard posts, few could tell it housed the man who built Singapore into a global symbol of order and opportunity.
Now this modest former residence of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founder and first prime minister, is at the crux of a bewildering battle that has entangled the citystate’s most prominent family — his own. It has tested the very principles he relied on to transform an unknown backwater into one of the most prosperous societies in Asia.
His two youngest children accuse their brother, the current prime minister, of betraying their father’s wishes to demolish the house after his death. They say he abused his power for political capital and to ensure his own son’s dynastic rule.
The leader argues he wants to honor Lee’s desires, but must leave the decision about such an iconic place in the hands of the government, as his father recognized.
It was in the basement of 38 Oxley Road that Lee and his supporters plotted an independent Singapore in the early 1960s, free of its British colonial masters. They envisioned a disciplined society based on meritocracy, one that rooted out corruption even at the sacrifice of some political freedoms. That vision steered the country during his three-decade rule.
Under Lee’s watch, Singapore became a gleaming financial capital known for having one of the world’s best education systems — and a penchant for strictness that bordered on the obsessive. Chewing gum was famously outlawed, and caning was employed as a punishment for relatively minor crimes.
Lee cultivated an image as a humble exemplar of Confucian virtues — of which none is more important than loyalty to family.
These recent allegations of impropriety, from within that circle, have shaken the long-term conviction in the sanctity of Lee’s ideals.
People wonder “will good governance be maintained in Singapore and transcend the lifespan of Lee Kuan Yew, or is it fraying?” said Gillian Koh, who researches local politics at the National University of Singapore.
Lee Kuan Yew, who died two years ago, gave instructions in his will to eventually tear down the house. It lacks a foundation and needs repair, making it the plain cousin in a neighborhood with multimilliondollar condos and Singapore’s glitzy version of Rodeo Drive.
The former leader talked about houses that become a “shambles” when they are turned into museums and opened to the public. He considered it an unnecessary, costly expense.
So Singaporeans were shocked when the dispute erupted into public view last month on Facebook, an unprecedented outburst against a government that often sues its critics.
The siblings titled their attack: “What has happened to Lee Kuan Yew’s values?”
The youngest of Lee’s children, Lee Hsien Yang, head of the Civil Aviation Authority and former chief executive of global telecom company Singtel, said he planned to flee the country. He feared his brother, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, would use “the organs of state against us.”
Their sister, Lee Wei Ling, a well-known neurologist, also signed a six-page letter that questioned their elder brother’s “character, conduct, motives and leadership.”
The pair accused the prime minister of setting up a secret government committee to drive his own agenda for the house and “milk” their father’s legacy. They indicated he may have lied under oath and claimed his wife, Ho Ching, who runs the sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, helped mastermind the deception.
This publicity drew attention to the small circle that governs the city-state. Lee Hsien Loong, a lauded Cambridge graduate who took power in 2004, is only the third leader, after his father and Goh Chok Tong, a longtime civil servant.
The prime minister, wearing a simple blue button-down, held a special session of Parliament this month to refute the allegations. He called them “baseless” and said he had no role in a committee that explored the future of the house.
His father understood the government might want to preserve the place, he said, and had considered other options for it.
The siblings called the session a “whitewash” since the prime minister’s party controls almost all parliamentary seats. But they agreed to handle the dispute privately, at least for now.
“Ultimately, it is up to the people of Singapore whether they hold Lee Hsien Loong to a true accounting,” they said.
Singaporeans appear divided. Some view the building as a national treasure.
Others think the nation should respect the wishes of a dying man. Many are embarrassed by the discord in a state that prides itself on decorum.
“This is a private matter,” said Jeffrey Koh, 55, as he scanned the newspaper at a cafe off Oxley Road. “We’re a laughingstock.”