This bungalow was built for a Dutch trader during the colonial period, but it has become part of modern Singaporean lore. Lee Kuan Yew lived here for decades, founded his political party here, and began to build Singapore into one of the richest countries in the world.
Mr Lee has said he wants the house to be demolished after his death rather than preserved as a museum where the public “tramples” on his private residence.
But the wording of his will has thrown the fate of the property into doubt and created a rift between his three children – reflecting the fierce debate surrounding Singapore’s semi-authoritarian political system.
Now, an extraordinary voice has joined those who complain that the city-state’s prosperity comes at the expense of unaccountable government: Mr. Li’s own children.
Lee Hsien Yang, the youngest child, wants to fulfill his father’s wish. “The idea that the good guy at the center controls everything and you just have to rely on his kindness to make sure everything goes well is not going to work,” he told New York recently in London. The Times said in an interview.
After Lee Kuan Yew’s death in 2015, his eldest son Lee Kuan Yew, then Singapore’s prime minister, argued that his father’s instructions for the bungalow were vague. His siblings want it demolished, and although one of them continues to live in the house, its fate will remain up in the air as long as she does so.
Then, after her death in October, the dispute resurfaced and escalated dramatically. Lee Hsien Yang – known as “Yang” to his parents and siblings – has announced that he has been granted political asylum in the UK because he fears he will be unfairly jailed in Singapore over his differences.
Yang Jiechi said his brother Lee Hsien Loong, who resigned as prime minister in May, abused his power during the housing conflict.
Yeo, 67, described what he said was a pattern of persecution by the Singaporean government in recent years. In 2020, his son was charged with contempt of court for criticizing the Singapore courts in a private Facebook post. That year, his wife, a lawyer who arranged for witnesses at the signing of the patriarch’s will, was banned from practicing law for 15 months. The couple then faced police questioning about lying under oath. In 2022, they leave Singapore.
In October, Young announced that the UK had approved his asylum request, ruling that he and his wife had “well-founded fears of persecution and are therefore unable to return to your country”.
The Singaporean government denied the claims and said the couple were free to return home. It says it is accountable to voters and an independent judiciary. The statement added that Yang carried out an “excessive personal vendetta” against his brother Long.
Long, 72, who now holds the title of senior minister, declined to comment because he has recused himself from involvement in housing issues.
For Yeo, the years-long dispute demonstrates “fundamental problems with the way Singapore is governed and operated”.
Yang admitted his father had detained opposition politicians and union leaders but said he had “the best interests of the country at heart”.
The People’s Action Party has tightly ruled Singapore for nearly 70 years. Years after the founding father’s death, it continues to celebrate his legacy.
Some analysts say this puts Singapore at a crossroads.
“Can we move on?” said Ja Ian Chong, a political science professor at the National University of Singapore. “Or are we still stuck with this relatively fragile, big shot approach to politics?”
Lee Kuan Yew transformed a colonial outpost into an economic powerhouse in a generation. He has unabashedly intervened in the lives of Singaporeans and prioritized community over individuals – a notion that some observers believe embodies the irony of family discord.
Loong wrote in a 2016 letter to Lawrence Wong that he “understood that the house must be preserved if the government deemed it to be in the public interest.” Member of the established Government Council and is currently Prime Minister.
The panel concluded that the bungalow had historical significance and Lee Kuan Yew was willing to preserve it. But polls show a majority of Singaporeans want it demolished. In October, the government said it was again examining whether to preserve the house, which was built around 1898.
“Best combination”
For decades, Lee Kuan Yew’s family seemed as orderly as the country he ran. His wife, Kwa Geok Choo, looks after the family at 38 Oxley Road, one of the most expensive areas in Singapore.
In the 1950s, Mr Lee founded his political party, the People’s Action Party, with a group of friends in a basement restaurant. most of The house is very simple. The furniture is old and mismatched; a family ladles water from pottery vessels to bathe. Even after the sons got married and moved out, they still got together every Sunday for family lunches.
Visitors quickly notice that only one picture of a child is displayed: Loong’s.
“He got the best combination of our two DNAs,” Mr. Li told local reporters. “Others have had a combination of the two, but not as advantageously as he did. It’s just the luck of the draw.
“He was the apple of my mother’s eye and she had ambitions for him,” Yang said of Long. “I was never hostile to him or jealous of him.”
In 2004, Long became prime minister. Yeo, then chief executive of Singapore’s state-owned Telephone Company, said he had no political ambitions. That will change.
demolition debate
After Mr. Li’s wife died, he continued to live in the house with his daughter, Dr. Li Weiling, a neurologist. Mr Lee died in March 2015, and the following month his children gathered at the bungalow to read his will.
The house was left to Loong, but Ling could continue to live there. Once she moves out, the house will be torn down. If for some reason the house isn’t demolished, he doesn’t want it to be open to the public.
Mr. Long was caught off guard and later publicly stated that he was unaware of the final will. His sister wrote in a previously unpublished email to a friend in May 2015 that he became “aggressive” and “threatening” during discussions about the will. Brothers and sisters, if they pursue the demolition clause, the government will step in and declare the house a national monument.
According to Yang, this was the last time Long spoke to Ling and Yang.
Long raised the matter in Parliament the next day. He said he would like to see his father’s wishes fulfilled but “it will be up to the government of the day to consider the matter.”
After a few months, the siblings seemed to have reached a resolution. Yang Conglong bought a house The price was not disclosed.
But soon, the government formed a committee to explore options for the house. This marked the beginning of Yang’s troubles with the country.
new opposition party
Long told the panel he was “very concerned” that the demolition clause in the will “had been reinserted under questionable circumstances”. He asked Yang’s wife Li Xuefen, who organized the signing of the will, whether there was a conflict of interest.
For the younger siblings, it appears the committee is “conducting an investigation into the will,” Young said, noting that the court had declared the will binding.
In a 2017 joint statement, Yang and Ling said they did not trust their brothers as leaders. They said Long and his wife were milking “Lee Kuan Yew’s legacy for their own political ends” and harbored dynastic ambitions for their son.
Long responded in parliament that he had given no instructions to the committee and that his only interaction with the panel had been to respond in writing to their requests.
He denies grooming his son for public office.
The government subsequently charged Young’s wife with professional misconduct regarding the will. The disciplinary tribunal ruled against her, saying she and her husband had constructed an “elaborate edifice of lies” during the proceedings.
A three-judge panel later ruled that Mr Yang’s wife, Ms Li, had given a “contrived and ultimately untrue account of her role” in her will and suspended her for 15 months for misconduct. But the court also ruled that she did not act as counsel for Mr. Li, who was satisfied with his will.
For Yang, the PAP has lost its way. He joined the new opposition Singapore Progress Party and considered running for president, a ceremonial position.
In 2022, police requested interviews with him and his wife, saying they had lied in a misconduct lawsuit. The couple agreed to be questioned later but left Singapore soon after. It was not until 2023 that a minister revealed in parliament that they were under investigation by the authorities.
In October, Yang Yuanfang held a funeral for Ling. Dragon was not invited.
The walls of No. 38 Oxley Road are now cracked and part of the door has been corroded. When a reporter rang the doorbell on a recent Sunday, a housekeeper answered and said no one was home.
