More than half of Singaporeans polled in a recent survey support the demolition of 38 Oxley Road, but most respondents feel the controversy surrounding the family home of the country’s first prime minister should be a private matter and not a national issue.
Advertisement
The latest findings from a small pool of 200 respondents interviewed by communications advisory Black Dot Research mark one of a few reference points for public views on a years-long feud between former prime minister Lee Hsien Loong and his estranged younger siblings – brother Lee Hsien Yang and late sister Lee Wei Ling.
The saga resurfaced after the death of Lee Wei Ling at the age of 69 last month, with Lee Hsien Yang, 67, calling on his 72-year-old brother, now a senior minister, and the Singapore government to honour what the younger Lees said was their late father Lee Kuan Yew’s wish to tear down the family home.
The row came to light in 2017 when the younger Lee siblings accused then prime minister Lee Hsien Loong of abusing his power to retain the famed property for political capital, given the reverence most Singaporeans still hold for patriarch Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of the modern city state.
In his latest social media post, Lee Hsien Yang, who has political asylum in the UK, on Tuesday said his son Li Shengwu “never wanted to be prime minister”, accusing the Singapore government of being “politically motivated” to prosecute the younger man.
Advertisement
“My son Shengwu never wanted to be PM. And I never wanted him to be. But the PAP regime is paranoid. The regime’s prosecution of Shengwu has been widely criticised and seen as politically motivated,” Lee wrote in response to an earlier government rebuttal.