PAP government has chosen to trample on Lee Kuan Yew’s wish to have his house demolished: Lee Hsien Yang
The property has been at the centre of a family feud after the death of Lee Kuan Yew on Mar 23, 2015
[SINGAPORE] The PAP government has chosen to “trample” on founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew’s wish to have his house demolished in its entirety by planning to gazette the site of 38 Oxley Road as a national monument, said Lee Hsien Yang on Nov 3.
In a statement posted on his Facebook page that night, Lee Hsien Yang said the move to earmark 38 Oxley Road as a national monument “effectively rejects” the demolition application that he had earlier submitted.
He noted that the late Lee had regarded his whole house as private. “The PAP government has chosen to trample on Lee Kuan Yew’s unwavering wish to demolish his private house,” he said.
Earlier on Nov 3, the National Heritage Board (NHB) had announced that the Preservation of Sites and Monuments Advisory Board has assessed the 38 Oxley Road site to be of “historic significance and national importance”, and worthy of preservation.
Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo has accepted the NHB’s recommendation, and intends to gazette the site as a national monument. If a preservation order is made, the government intends to acquire the site to safeguard and preserve it.
Lee Hsien Yang, who submitted an application in October 2024 to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for permission to demolish the house, was issued a notice of the government’s intention to preserve the site on Nov 3, 2025.
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He said his father was opposed to monuments, and that the People’s Action Party disrespects the legacy and values of Lee Kuan Yew by choosing to gazette 38 Oxley Road as a national monument.
Lee Hsien Yang has two weeks until Nov 17 to submit any objections to the notice, after which Neo will “consider every objection” before making a final decision on whether to make a preservation order for the site.
Founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew had lived at 38 Oxley Road from the mid-1940s until his death in 2015.
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The single-storey bungalow, built in the 19th century, had also served as the early headquarters of the PAP. It was in the basement dining room that the party was founded and where Singapore’s founding leaders had met to plan the transition from the end of colonial rule to independence.
The property has been at the centre of a family feud after the death of Lee Kuan Yew on Mar 23, 2015.
His three children had disagreed on the fate of the property when his will was read, with Lee Hsien Yang and his sister, Dr Lee Wei Ling, saying that their father wanted the house demolished without compromise.
Their elder brother, then Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, was of the view that their father was prepared to consider alternatives should the government decide otherwise.
In a bid to resolve the disagreement, PM Lee, who was bequeathed the house by Lee Kuan Yew, had transferred the property to Lee Hsien Yang at market value in late 2015.
Dr Lee continued living in the property.
The family feud spilled into public view in June 2017, when Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee went on social media to denounce PM Lee and accuse him of trying to block the demolition of the house against the late Lee Kuan Yew’s wish.
Shortly after Dr Lee’s death on Oct 9, 2024, Lee Hsien Yang said in a Facebook post that he would be applying to demolish the house at 38 Oxley Road to build a small private dwelling that would be “be held within the family in perpetuity”.
He made an application on Oct 21, 2024 to demolish the house.
On Oct 24, 2024, NHB announced that it would carry out a study of the site to assess if it is worthy of preservation as a national monument.
The URA then told the media it would defer the evaluation of Lee Hsien Yang’s application given the study.
Since then, Lee Hsien Yang has been calling on Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to make a decision on the property. In several social media posts, he accused the government of “kicking the can down the road”. THE STRAITS TIMES
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