Mr Lee’s furniture, personal effects gifted to the people of Singapore

SINGAPORE — Some furniture and personal effects belonging to Singapore’s late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew have been given to the people of Singapore and will be put up for a planned major public exhibition in August or September.

These items include a brown vinyl bag with Mr Lee’s initials inscribed on it and used for his travels to London in the 1960s, and the trademark Mandarin jacket he used to wear.

Other items include all the furniture from Mr Lee’s dining room, his study room work area desks — including the desk he worked on for many years — as well as clothing worn on a number of historic occasions and other personal effects.

The items were signed off under a Deed of Gift made on Monday by the executors and trustees of Mr Lee’s estate, his daughter Lee Wei Ling and youngest son Lee Hsien Yang.

“We believe that these items would be of keen public interest and would serve as a very meaningful part of the exhibition,” said Mr Lee Hsien Yang in a release sent by their lawyers today (June 11). “In accordance with our late father’s last Will and Testament that his house at 38 Oxley Road be demolished, my sister and I ... believe it is only appropriate that some of his personal items of historic importance, that have been used by him at the house, be donated to the National Heritage Board (NHB) for the people of Singapore who honoured him with their love and respect during our recent bereavement.”

The items had been chosen by NHB, which has collected many of them in preparation as centre-pieces for the public exhibition at the SG50 Tribute Gallery in August or September.

In a statement today, the NHB said there remains some questions about the Deed of Gift, which it is in the process of clarifying with the executors of Mr Lee’s estate.