SINGAPORE (SCMP): A day after his sister’s death, the estranged brother of former Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong has appealed to Singaporeans via social media to “honour” his late father’s wishes to demolish their family home.
Close to midnight on Wednesday, Lee Hsien Yang posted on his Facebook page that he was conveying a message from his late sibling: “My father’s, Lee Kuan Yew, and my mother’s, Kwa Geok Choo, unwavering and deeply felt wish was for their house at 38 Oxley Road, Singapore 238629 to be demolished upon the last parent’s death.”
Lee Wei Ling, the daughter of Singapore’s first prime minister, died at home at the age of 69, four years after being diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare and degenerative brain disease.
She and Lee Hsien Yang, 67, had been estranged from their eldest sibling, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, over what to do with their family home, where she lived, following their father’s death.
According to a source who declined to be named, Lee Hsien Loong is not invited to the private funeral of Lee Wei ling. The wake is open to all.
The younger Lee brother on Wednesday night wrote: “Lee Kuan Yew had directed each of his three children to ensure that their parents’ wish for demolition be fulfilled. He had also appealed directly to the people of Singapore.
“Please honour my father by honouring his wish for his home to be demolished.”
He also appealed to the media to respect his sister’s wishes and not come to the wake or private funeral, saying she had wanted a “simple private send-off”.
“Wei Ling believed in treating people equally. Respects can be paid on a strict queue basis for everyone. There will be no exceptions, not even for VIPs.”
In 2017, Lee Wei Ling and Lee Hsien Yang made public the conflict with their older brother, who was then prime minister, alleging he was misusing his power to scuttle their efforts to demolish the family bungalow, according to their father’s wishes.
Lee Hsien Loong has denied his younger siblings’ claim that he hoped to keep the bungalow intact for political capital in light of the reverence with which most Singaporeans still view Lee Kuan Yew.
The house is currently owned by Lee Hsien Yang. Lee Hsien Loong earlier said his father bequeathed the property to him, but he then sold it to his brother at a fair market valuation. The proceeds were donated to charity.
A ministerial committee set up in April 2018 to decide the fate of the house, which Lee Wei Ling was still living in at the time, provided three options for a future government: gazette the property as a national monument, retain the basement dining room and tear down the rest, or demolish the entire building.
In an emotional message on social media earlier on Wednesday, Lee Hsien Loong acknowledged the rift that had developed between the siblings. He recalled Lee Kuan Yew telling him when he was 13 to take care of his mother and younger siblings if anything were to happen to the senior Lee.
“Sadly, after he passed away in 2015, a shadow fell between my siblings and me, and I was unable to fulfil his wish. But I held nothing against Ling, and continued to do whatever I could to ensure her welfare,” he said.
Lee Hsien Yang told local media that he would not be returning to Singapore for his sister’s wake and funeral and was organising it remotely.
He and his wife, lawyer Lee Suet Fern, left Singapore amid police investigations for giving false evidence in judicial proceedings over Lee Kuan Yew’s will, police said in March last year.
Lee Wei Ling’s wake will be held at Singapore Casket at Lavender Street from Thursday to Saturday, according to Lee Hsien Yang’s Wednesday evening Facebook post. Visiting hours will be from 2pm to 10pm on Thursday, 10am to 10pm on Friday and 10am to 1pm on Saturday. - SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
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