No longer just a home: The site of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew’s family home at 38 Oxley Road has been earmarked to become a national monument. — The Straits Times/ANN
LEE Hsien Yang, the sole owner of 38 Oxley Road, has said that he objects to the government’s Nov 3 plan to gazette the site as a national monument.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Hsien Yang 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,” he wrote.
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 statesman’s wish that the home be demolished.
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.
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.
The basement dining room is widely regarded as the most historically significant part of the house, and was where key players in 1950s politics discussed their ideas for Singapore’s future.
The committee said that while the elder Lee’s preference was for the property to be demolished, he was aware that the Cabinet were opposed to demolition given the property’s historical and heritage value.
The committee argued that Kuan Yew 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.
Referencing a line from his father’s last will, dated Dec 17, 2013, Hsien Yang said his father had never agreed to preserve and make public his dining room.
In the will, 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.”
Concluding his letter, 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/ANN
