{"id":212785,"date":"2025-01-11T05:31:46","date_gmt":"2025-01-11T05:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/11\/why-singapores-first-family-is-locked-in-a-bitter-feud-over-a-house\/"},"modified":"2025-01-11T05:31:46","modified_gmt":"2025-01-11T05:31:46","slug":"why-singapores-first-family-is-locked-in-a-bitter-feud-over-a-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/11\/why-singapores-first-family-is-locked-in-a-bitter-feud-over-a-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Singapore\u2019s First Family Is Locked in a Bitter Feud Over a House"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/07\/multimedia\/00singapore-house-01-gkjz\/00singapore-house-01-gkjz-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,549&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Why Singapore\u2019s First Family Is Locked in a Bitter Feud Over a House\" title=\"Why Singapore\u2019s First Family Is Locked in a Bitter Feud Over a House\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The bungalow was built for a Dutch trader in colonial times, but it has become part of modern Singaporean lore. It was where <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/03\/23\/world\/asia\/lee-kuan-yew-founding-father-and-first-premier-of-singapore-dies-at-91.html\" title=\"\">Lee Kuan Yew<\/a> lived for decades, where he started his political party and where he began building Singapore into one of the richest countries in the world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Lee had said that he wanted the house to be demolished after he died rather than preserved as a museum, with the public \u201ctrampling\u201d through his private quarters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pmo.gov.sg\/-\/media\/PMO\/Newsroom\/Attachments\/20170703-PM-Lee-Ministerial-Statement-on-38-Oxley-Road\/Demolition20Clause.ashx\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">wording of his will<\/a> left the property\u2019s fate in limbo and caused a rift between his three children \u2014 one that reflects an <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/14\/world\/asia\/singapore-lee-prime-minister-retire.html\" title=\"\">intensifying debate<\/a> over Singapore\u2019s semi-authoritarian political system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, an extraordinary voice has joined those who complain that the city-state\u2019s prosperity has come at the cost of a government that lacks accountability: one of Mr. Lee\u2019s own children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe idea that one good man at the center can control this, and you just rely on his benevolence to ensure that everything is right, doesn\u2019t work,\u201d Lee Hsien Yang, the youngest child, who wants to honor his father\u2019s wishes for the house, said in a recent interview with The New York Times from London.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After Lee Kuan Yew\u2019s death in 2015, the eldest child, by then Singapore\u2019s prime minister, argued that his father\u2019s instructions for the bungalow were ambiguous. His siblings wanted it demolished, though one continued to live in the house, and as long as she did, its fate remained unresolved.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Then, after her death in October, the dispute resurfaced \u2014 and escalated sharply. Lee Hsien Yang, called Yang by his parents and siblings, announced that he had <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/10\/22\/world\/asia\/singapore-lee-hsien-yang-political-asylum-uk.html\" title=\"\">obtained political asylum<\/a> in Britain because he feared being unfairly imprisoned in Singapore over the disagreement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Yang said his brother \u2014 <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/14\/world\/asia\/singapore-lee-prime-minister-retire.html\" title=\"\">Lee Hsien Loong<\/a>, who stepped down in May as prime minister \u2014 had abused his power in the conflict over the house.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Yang, 67, described what he called a pattern of persecution by the Singapore government in recent years. In 2020, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/08\/04\/world\/asia\/singapore-family-feud-facebook.html\" title=\"\">his son was charged with contempt of court<\/a> for criticizing Singapore\u2019s courts in a private Facebook post. That year, his wife, a lawyer who had arranged for the witnesses at the signing of the patriarch\u2019s will, was barred from practicing law for 15 months. Then the couple faced a police inquiry about lying under oath. In 2022, they left Singapore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In October, Yang announced that Britain had granted his asylum request, ruling that he and his wife \u201chave a well-founded fear of persecution and therefore cannot return to your country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Singapore\u2019s government rejected the claims, saying that the couple was free to return home. It said it was accountable to voters and an independent judiciary. Yang, it added, was engaged in \u201can extravagant personal vendetta\u201d against his brother, Loong.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Loong, 72, who now holds the title of senior minister, declined to comment because he has recused himself from the matter of the house.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For Yang, the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/06\/14\/world\/asia\/singapore-lee-hsien-loong-siblings.html\" title=\"\">yearslong dispute<\/a> is proof that there are \u201cfundamental problems in the way Singapore is governed and run.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Yang acknowledged that his father had detained opposition politicians and union leaders, but said that he \u201chad the best interests of the country at heart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The People\u2019s Action Party has governed Singapore with a tight grip for nearly 70 years. And years after the founding father\u2019s death, it continues to praise his legacy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This, some analysts say, has left Singapore at a crossroads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAre we able to move on?\u201d said Ja Ian Chong, who teaches political science at the National University of Singapore. \u201cOr are we still stuck with this relatively brittle, big-man kind of approach to politics?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Lee Kuan Yew transformed a colonial outpost into an economic powerhouse in a generation. He made no bones about intervening in the lives of Singaporeans and prioritized the community over the individual \u2014 a notion that some observers say points to the irony of the family feud.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He \u201cunderstood that the government would have to preserve the house if it decided that was in the public interest,\u201d Loong wrote in a 2016 letter to Lawrence Wong, who was part of a government committee created to consider options for the property, and is now prime minister. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That panel concluded that the bungalow had historical significance, and that Lee Kuan Yew had been amenable to its preservation. But polls indicate that most Singaporeans want it torn down. In October, the government said it was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.channelnewsasia.com\/singapore\/38-oxley-road-new-preservation-study-edwin-tong-nhb-4741321\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">again studying<\/a> whether to preserve the circa 1898 house.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-3f46f832\">\u2018The Best Combination\u2019<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For decades, Lee Kuan Yew\u2019s family appeared to be as orderly as the state he ran. His wife, Kwa Geok Choo, was in charge of the household at 38 Oxley Road, in one of Singapore\u2019s most expensive areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the 1950s, Mr. Lee and a group of friends set up his political party, the P.A.P., in the basement dining room. Most of the<span class=\"css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0\">  <\/span>house was spartan. The furniture was old and mismatched; the family bathed by <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/anydirectionwechoose.com\/2015\/09\/28\/life-in-rural-northern-thailand-how-to-take-a-bucket-shower-with-a-little-pink-bowl\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">scooping water from earthenware vessels<\/a>. Even after the sons had married and moved out, they gathered every Sunday for family lunch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Visitors were quick to notice that only one child\u2019s photographs were displayed: Loong\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHe got the best combination of our two DNAs,\u201d Mr. Lee would tell local journalists. \u201cThe others have also combinations of both, but not in as advantageous a way as he has. It\u2019s the luck of the draw.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHe was the apple of my mother\u2019s eye, and she had ambitions for him,\u201d Yang said of Loong. \u201cI was never antagonistic with him, neither did I have any jealousy or envy of him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2004, Loong became prime minister. Yang at the time was the chief executive of Singapore\u2019s state-owned phone company and said that he harbored no political ambitions. That would change.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-51d94a89\">Demolition Debate<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After Mr. Lee\u2019s wife died, he continued to live in the house with his daughter, Dr. Lee Wei Ling, a neurologist. Mr. Lee died in March 2015, and his children gathered at the bungalow the following month for the reading of his will.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The house was left to Loong, but Ling could continue to live there. Once she moved out, the house was to be torn down. And if for some reason, the house was not demolished, he did not want it to be open to the public.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Loong was blindsided and would later say publicly that he did not know about this final will. When the will was being discussed, he became \u201caggressive\u201d and \u201cthreatening,\u201d his sister wrote in a previously undisclosed email to a friend in May 2015. She added that Loong told his younger siblings that if they pursued the demolition clause, the government would intervene and declare the house a national monument.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was the last time Loong spoke with Ling and Yang, according to Yang.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The next day, Loong raised the matter in Parliament. He said that he wanted to see his father\u2019s wishes carried out, but that \u201cit will be up to the government of the day to consider the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A few months later, it appeared that the siblings had reached a resolution. Yang bought the house from Loong<strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\"> <\/strong>for an undisclosed price.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But soon, the government formed a committee to explore options for the house. That marked the start of Yang\u2019s troubles with the state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-4a8e2bd6\">New Opposition Party<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Loong told the panel that he was \u201cvery concerned\u201d that the demolition clause in the will was \u201creinserted under dubious circumstances.\u201d He asked whether there was a conflict of interest for Lee Suet Fern, Yang\u2019s wife, who had organized the signing of the will.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">To the younger siblings, it appeared that the committee was \u201cconducting an inquisition into the will,\u201d Yang said, pointing out that a court had declared it as binding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a joint statement in 2017, Yang and Ling said that they did not trust their brother as a leader. They said that Loong and his wife were milking \u201cLee Kuan Yew\u2019s legacy for their own political purposes,\u201d and harbored dynastic ambitions for their son.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Loong responded in Parliament, saying that he did not give instructions to the committee and that his only dealings with the panel were his responses to their requests in writing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He has denied grooming his son for office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Then the government accused Yang\u2019s wife of professional misconduct over the will. A disciplinary tribunal ruled against her, saying she and her husband had built an \u201celaborate edifice of lies\u201d during the proceedings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A three-judge panel then ruled that she and Yang had both lied under oath and suspended her for 15 months for misconduct. But it also ruled that she had not been acting as Mr. Lee\u2019s lawyer, and that he had been content with his will.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-12\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For Yang, the People\u2019s Action Party had lost its way. He joined the Progress Singapore Party, a new opposition group, and considered running for president, a ceremonial post.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2022, the police asked to interview him and his wife, saying they had lied in the misconduct proceedings. The couple agreed to be questioned at a later date, but soon left Singapore. It was not until 2023 that a minister revealed in Parliament that they were being investigated by the authorities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In October, Yang organized Ling\u2019s funeral from afar. Loong was not invited.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The walls of 38 Oxley Road are now cracked, and rust has eroded part of the gate. When a reporter rang the doorbell on a recent Sunday, a housekeeper answered and said nobody was home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/11\/world\/asia\/singapore-lee-kuan-yew-house.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The bungalow was built for a Dutch trader in colonial times, but it has become part of modern Singaporean lore. It was where Lee Kuan Yew lived for decades, where he started his political party and where he began building Singapore into one of the richest countries in the world. Mr. Lee had said that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/07\/multimedia\/00singapore-house-01-gkjz\/00singapore-house-01-gkjz-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10686,5919,17,22792,79,44572,167979,167980,7687,137131,6415,50782],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212785"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212787,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212785\/revisions\/212787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}