"I did not deceive my father": PM Lee

SINGAPORE'S Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told Parliament on Tuesday that he did not deceive his father, the late Lee Kuan Yew, into believing that the government had gazetted the family home at 38 Oxley Road for preservation as a heritage site.

PM Lee noted that his father's primary wish on the house had always been clear, and that he had always wanted it knocked down.

"The simple answer is that I did not deceive my father,'' he said.

Read more: Parliament has to clear PM over allegations or censure him: ESM Goh

PM Lee said where his siblings and him differed was on whether the late Mr Lee was prepared to consider alternatives should demolition not be possible.

After his meeting with the Cabinet on July 21, 2011, the late Mr Lee asked PM Lee for his view of what the Government would do with the house after he passed away.

"I gave him my honest assessment. I told him, you have met the Cabinet and heard the Ministers' views. If I chaired the Cabinet meeting, this being the view of the Ministers and the public, in all likelihood, I would have to agree that the house be gazetted and if I was not PM then and did not chair Cabinet, all the more likely the house would be gazetted.

"He understood,'' PM Lee said.

Earlier on Tuesday, PM Lee's siblings - Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Wei Ling - alleged in a Facebook post that PM Lee had made misrepresentations to his father over the house. They insisted that just because their father left instructions for what to do if the house was gazetted, it did not mean he accepted that the house should be gazetted.