The site of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew’s family home at 38 Oxley Road has been earmarked to become a national monument. - ST
SINGAPORE: Lee Hsien Yang, the sole owner of 38 Oxley Road, has submitted a written objection to the Government, following an announcement by the authorities on Nov 3 that they intend to gazette the site as a national monument.
The site of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew’s family home is of historic significance and national importance, said the National Heritage Board (NHB) and Singapore Land Authority (SLA) then. The agencies noted that it was the venue for political conversations, activities and decisions of Singapore’s founding leaders.
On Nov 17, Lee Hsien Yang said in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong that as the late Lee Kuan Yew’s son and trustee, he objects to the proposed gazetting of the property as a national monument.
Nov 17 is the deadline for objections to be made against the proposed gazetting of 38 Oxley Road as a national monument. If gazetted and later acquired by the Government, the site will be converted into a public space such as a heritage park, the authorities had said.
The law obliges Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo to consider Mr Lee Hsien Yang’s objection, but a preservation order to gazette the site can still be made thereafter.
The law does not dictate how long the minister can take to decide on whether he will make a preservation order after the notice of intention is issued.
In the letter, which he posted on Facebook, Lee said 38 Oxley Road “will be a monument to the PAP’s dishonour of Lee Kuan Yew”, citing his father’s wish for the home to be demolished.
“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,” wrote Lee.
“Numerous false, convoluted and self-contradictory arguments have been advanced to attempt to justify this gazetting,” he added.
“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.”
Lee said that from 2010, the late Lee was led to believe that the Cabinet had made the decision to gazette 38 Oxley Road.
Referencing a line from Lee Kuan Yew’s last will, dated Dec 17, 2013, Lee Hsien Yang said his father had never agreed to preserve and make public his dining room.
In the will, Lee Kuan Yew had written: “If our children are unable to demolish the House as a result of any changes in the law, rules or regulations binding them, it is my wish that the House never be opened to others except my children, their families and descendants.”
The basement dining room is widely regarded as the most historically significant part of the house, and was where key players in 1950s politics – including the late Lee – discussed their ideas for Singapore’s future.
Lee Hsien Yang, who had in 2024 made an application to the Government to demolish his family home, noted that opinion polls published since 2015 have shown support for the late Lee’s wish that the home be demolished.
“Today PM Wong, this decision sits with you, not some junior minister or committee,” said Lee in his letter.
PM Wong, in his capacity then as National Development Minister, had been part of a ministerial committee that the Cabinet had tasked in 2016 to prepare drawer plans of various options for 38 Oxley Road.
The committee, chaired by then Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, released its findings in April 2018.
It set out three possibilities for 38 Oxley Road – retaining the entire building, retaining only the basement dining room, or demolishing the building fully for redevelopment, either for residential use or for other uses such as a park or heritage centre.
It considered Lee Kuan Yew’s last will, a 2011 letter he wrote to the Cabinet, as well as renovation and redevelopment plans for the property that Lee had submitted to the Government in 2012.
The committee said that while Lee’s preference was for the property to be demolished, he was aware that the Cabinet and others were opposed to demolition given the property’s historical and heritage value.
The committee said that Lee had further reflected on the matter and was prepared to accept options other than demolition, provided that the property was refurbished and kept in a habitable state and that his family’s privacy was protected.
Concluding his letter, Lee Hsien Yang wrote: “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.”
The Straits Times has contacted the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and the National Heritage Board for comment. - The Straits Times/ANN
