Lee Hsien Yang creates 'false image' of urgency of demolition for 38 Oxley Road, Singapore

The Singapore The government hit back on Friday evening at Lee Hsien Yang, the estranged brother of the country’s former prime minister and the youngest son of the modern city-state’s founder, saying he had created a “false image” of the urgency of the demolition of their parental home.

Lee had earlier in the day called on current Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to take “responsibility” in deciding the fate of the family home of the country’s most powerful political clan.

Local media reported in the evening that the government had said in response that Lee Kuan Yew had accepted that his family home would be preserved.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Digital Development and Information said Lee Kuan Yew had “submitted renovation and redevelopment plans for the property” in 2012 and “expected that the property would be retained”.

The spokesperson said Lee Hsien Yang and his wife Lee Suet Fern had chosen not to mention that they had misled Lee Kuan Yew in the execution of his last will and testament.

A disciplinary board and the top court in Singapore ruled in 2020 that the couple had lied under oath. The findings came after a 31-page report on options relating to the Oxley Road house by the National Heritage Board in 2018.

“The affidavits (by the couple) were intended to paint a false picture. Several lies were downright blatant,” the spokesperson said.