Lee Hsien Loong told Lee Kuan Yew he wanted Oxley house to be heritage site: Hsien Yang
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told the late Lee Kuan Yew in 2011 that he had decided to declare their family home in Oxley Road a heritage site, said Lee Hsien Yang on Wednesday (21 June).
In his latest Facebook post, Hsien Yang claimed that PM Lee had said this to the late Lee in his capacity as prime minister, even though PM Lee’s personal lawyer later said the Government had not made a decision regarding the house at 38 Oxley Road.
Hsien Yang added, “Lee Kuan Yew stated this in an e-mail on 3 Oct 2011. LHL was copied on this e-mail, and did not reply. LHL could have objected to the statement, but did not.”
The post included a screenshot of what appears to be an e-mail from the late Lee addressed to PM Lee’s wife Ho Ching and copied to the Lee siblings, including Lee Wei Ling. In the e-mail, the former prime minister apparently said PM Lee had told him he would declare the house a heritage site.
Citing a message from PM Lee’s then-personal lawyer Lucien Wong, who is now the Attorney-General, Hsien Yang said Wong had written to him on 23 July, 2015 to say that PM Lee had not informed the late Lee or anyone that the house would be gazetted as a national monument. He added that Wong also said the Government had not made any decision on what should be done with the house.
On Tuesday (20 June), Hsien Yang said that he and his sister Wei Ling had had no interaction with Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean in his capacity as chair of the ministerial committee on the Oxley Road house, since the forming of the committee.
DPM Teo said earlier that he had shared options for the house with the Lee siblings. The options that the committee had been studying included demolition, preserving just the basement, and opening up the house to visitors.
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