SINGAPORE, July 3 — The ministerial committee set up to weigh options for 38 Oxley Road was an “extra-judicial secret attack” aimed at undermining Lee Kuan Yew’s last will and “unwavering wish” to have the house demolished, iLee Hsien Yang said yesterday on Facebook.
He added that his elder brother, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, sought to “bypass the court system” by taking his “grievance on a ‘private family matter’ to a committee of his subordinates”.
The younger Lee’s comments come a day ahead of a ministerial statement that PM Lee will deliver in Parliament to address allegations lobbed against him and the Government by his younger siblings.
Lee, who on Saturday refuted claims that he was pushing for the site of his late father’s house to be redeveloped for profit, reiterated that the “mysterious” ministerial committee refused to list the options being considered for the house.
This was despite repeated requests from Lee Kuan Yew’s estate. He and his sister, Dr Lee Wei Ling, are the estate’s executors.
The younger Lee said a paragraph from an email exchange with National Development Minister Lawrence Wong, dated Aug 24, 2016, was the “closest hint” given in any discussion about options for the house.
In the email, Wong cited an example: Were the property to be converted into a park, the committee would like to examine the implications for other properties nearby — including zoning and planning options — and the extent to which the treatment of the neighbourhood would be consistent with the late Lee’s wishes.
Wong had highlighted this by “way of illustration”, and the younger Lee noted in his Facebook post that this paragraph “avoids confirming” whether the possibility of converting 38 Oxley Road into a park was under sincere consideration.
“The option is discussed only ‘by way of illustration’ — without confirming or denying that this is a concrete option on the table,” he said.
Lee also highlighted two subsequent e-mails he had sent to Wong, on Dec 20 and Feb 28, asking the committee to state the various options under consideration relating to 38 Oxley Road and the time frame within which the committee will perform its work.
However, Lee said the committee did not respond to those queries, and instead spent most of its time repeating PM Lee’s “relentless attacks on our father’s demolition wish”.
Lee said: “It was an extra-judicial secret attack, through a committee of Hsien Loong’s subordinates, aimed at undermining our father’s last will and his unwavering wish.
“Whether or not Lee Hsien Loong ‘recuses’ himself, his own subordinates cannot be his secret judges.” — TODAY
