SINGAPORE — The late Lee Kuan Yew was “forced to consider” alternatives to the demolition of his family home at 38 Oxley Road but did not accept them, his younger son Mr Lee Hsien Yang said on Tuesday (April 3) in critcising a ministerial committee’s report for being “misleading”.

Dr Lee Wei Ling, Mr Lee Hsien Yang’s sister, also weighed in with harsh words for the report. In a Facebook post, she wrote that “it would require unbelievable lack of intelligence or determined denial to not understand what” the founding Prime Minister and his wife wanted to be done for the Oxley Road property.

Responding to the criticisms, the committee said in a statement on Tuesday night that it had relied on “three key objective documents from Lee Kuan Yew which gave concrete expression to his thinking and wishes regarding” the Oxley Road house.

The three documents are: The demolition clause in Mr Lee’s Last Will dated Dec 17, 2013, Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s letter to the Cabinet dated Dec 27, 2011, and the renovation/redevelopment plans for 38 Oxley Road which Mr Lee Kuan Yew submitted to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in March 2012, and obtained approval for.

The latest exchange over the disputed bungalow came a day after the committee released a 21-page report laying out three possibilities for the property, ranging from gazetting it as a National Monument to letting it be fully demolished and redeveloped.

The committee, which was set up about two years ago to weigh various options for the Oxley Road property, assessed that the house has historical and heritage significance, but did not make any recommendation regarding its fate.

The Oxley Road house has been in the centre of a public spat between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his two younger siblings.

Acknowledging the differences in views within the Lee family, the committee noted in its conclusion: “(The late) Mr Lee had further reflected on the matter and was prepared to accept options other than demolition, provided that suitable arrangements were made to ensure that: (i) the Property was refurbished, and kept in a habitable state; and (ii) the family’s privacy was protected.”

Mr Lee Hsien Yang, however, said this was a “misleading” claim, adding that his father had not endorsed the alternatives to demolition.

The late Mr Lee was “forced” to consider such options, he alleged, due to PM Lee and his wife Madam Ho Ching’s “insistence that the government would not respect our father’s dying wish”.

In his Facebook post on Tuesday, Mr Lee Hsien Yang claimed that Madam Ho had submitted renovation plans for 38 Oxley Road to the URA in March 2012, and that the late Mr Lee “reluctantly went along only because he believed the government already intended to thwart his hopes.”

He added: “Our father had never ‘accepted’ these options, he merely set out what he wanted if the government prevented his house from being demolished.”

Mr Lee Hsien Yang also criticised the committee’s report for relying “extensively” on submissions on the matter by PM Lee.

The committee, in its report on Monday, noted that Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee did not respond to its request for clarifications — first sought in April last year — on the circumstances in which Lee Kuan Yew’s Last Will was prepared. Mrs Lee Suet Fern, the wife of Mr Lee Hsien Yang, also did not respond to its invitation to clarify her role in the drafting of the document.

In its statement on Tuesday, the committee said it would lodge its latest exchange with Dr Lee and Mr Lee Hsien Yang, as well as their Facebook posts on Tuesday, with the Cabinet Secretary “so that these too can be referred to by a future government”.

On Monday, PM Lee — who had recused himself from the matter — said he accepted the committee’s conclusion on the late Mr Lee’s wishes regarding their family home, and the options it has laid out.

He added: “As the Committee pointed out, there is no need to make a decision now. My sister is still living there, and is likely to continue doing so for the foreseeable future. I hope that when the time comes to decide on what to do with the house, this report will help the Government of the day to make an informed decision that both respects my father’s wishes and is in the public interest.”