SINGAPORE — The late Mr Lee Kuan Yew first had concerns about demolishing his home at 38 Oxley Road in 2011, after strong responses from the public who had read about it in a book he put out at the start of the year, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Parliament on Monday (July 3).

Laying out the timeline of events about his father’s thoughts and wishes on what to do with the house, PM Lee said Mr Lee wrote to Cabinet on Oct 27, 2010, after his wife Kwa Geok Choo died, to express his wishes to demolish 38 Oxley Road.

When there was a public pushback against his wish to demolish the house, stated in a book he published in January 2011, the late Mr Lee wrote to newspaper editors to ask for their views.

In the book, Mr Lee Kuan Yew said he did not want the house to “become a shambles”, citing the high cost of preserving an old house with no foundation. He also hoped that the land value would go up if the house was demolished and planning rules changed.

The editors unanimously replied, saying the house should be preserved given its historical importance and heritage value, which PM Lee said were “not the answers my father hoped to get”.

Nevertheless, Mr Lee Kuan Yew maintained that his decision was to “knock it down”,and followed PM Lee’s suggestion to put it on record by writing to the editors.

After stepping down from the Cabinet after the 2011 General Election, Mr Lee Kuan Yew wrote to the Cabinet again on July 20 to reiterate his decision. He then met with the Cabinet Ministers the following day, all of whom except PM Lee – being conflicted as both Mr Lee’s son and the PM – said they did not want the house to be demolished.

After that meeting, Mr Lee Kuan Yew “continued to ponder over how to deal with the house”, and held discussions with his family how to go about demolishing it and redeveloping the site. He also thought about who to inherit the property, whether to demolish the house before or after he died, and whether to donate the proceeds to charity after the site was redeveloped.

At one point, Mr Lee Hsien Yang, the youngest child of the founding Prime Minister, suggested gifting 38 Oxley Road to Singapore, on the condition that it be demolished and a small public park built in its place. PM Lee suggested another option to demolish the house, redevelop the site, sell off the property and donate the proceeds.

“I asked my father between the two which he preferred, and he replied the latter, which is to demolish the house, redevelop, sell off and donate the proceeds to charity,” said PM Lee.

In August 2011, Mr Lee Kuan Yew decided to will the house to PM Lee as part of his share of the estate and he told his family. PM Lee and his wife Ho Ching then began discussing alternatives with Mr Lee Kuan Yew to “see how best we could filfil his wishes”, should the house not be demolished.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew was concerned that the house would “become run-down and dilapidated”, while Mdm Kwa had strong concerns about privacy.

Mdm Ho and PM Lee then proposed to renovate the interior of the house without knocking the house down. The private living spaces would be demolished to keep the family’s privacy and the basement dining room, where the People’s Action Party was started, was to be preserved. Mr Lee Kuan Yew accepted this proposal.

In December 2011, Mr Lee Kuan Yew then told his family that it was best to redevelop the house immediately after he died. He again wrote to the Cabinet on Dec 27, saying that if 38 Oxley Road was to be preserved, its foundations should be reinforced and the whole building refurbished. “It must then be let out for people to live in,” he added.

PM Lee said that he and Mdm Ho “proceeded along these lines”, keeping the family “fully informed” and emailing everyone, including Mr Lee Kuan Yew, his sister Dr Lee Wei Ling, and Mr Lee Hsien Yang and his wife.

“No one raised any objections to the plan,” said PM Lee, noting that his father met the architect, went through the proposal and submitted development applications to the Urban Redevelopment Authority to reinforce the foundations and renovate the house.

“As far as I knew, that was how the family had settled the matter,” said PM Lee. “I heard nothing to the contrary until my father died.”