After several months of silence, Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Wei Ling have spoken up again about the house on 38 Oxley Road.

In Facebook statuses posted within minutes of one another on Tuesday, April 3 afternoon, both siblings registered their strong concerns with the Ministerial Committee's report of available options pertaining to the late Lee Kuan Yew's house, which his daughter still lives in.

In a strongly-worded but short post, Wei Ling said it would take an "unbelievable lack of intelligence or determined denial" to fail to understand how "absolutely clear" LKY and his late wife Kwa Geok Choo were about demolishing the house.

"Papa was as direct as me. He made absolutely clear what he wanted done with the house. He and Mama had long decided they wanted it demolished after they were gone. It would require unbelievable lack of intelligence or determined denial to not understand what Pa & Ma so unambiguously wanted. It seems to me my big brother & his committee have achieved that distinction with amazing ease."

Hsien Yang: Ministerial Committee's claims are "misleading"

In two images — screenshots of longer text he had written — Hsien Yang writes that LKY wanted demolition "unwaveringly".

He was chiefly responding to the following section in the Ministerial Committee's report, in particular:

“... it is the Committee’s view that while Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s preference was for the Property to be demolished, he 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. (emphasis ours)”

Hsien Yang said this claim was "misleading", asserting that LKY had never "accepted" the options put out by the Committee — which, he points out, will violate the terms LKY had set out in his last will.

He cited these clauses from LKY's last will dated December 2013, that made the following points:

• He wants his children to demolish the house as soon as Wei Ling moves out.
• If his children are unable to do so, "as a result of any changes in the law", he wanted the house to "never be opened to others except (his) children, their families and descendants".

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"Forced to consider options other than demolition"

He brought up a 2011 email LKY sent to the three Lee siblings, that said "Loong as PM has indicated that he will declare it as a heritage site", concluding that LKY "was forced to consider options other than demolition".

And subsequently, in the December 2011 letter LKY sent to Cabinet, Hsien Yang quoted him as writing that

"if 38 Oxley Road is to be preserved, it needs to have its foundations reinforced and the whole building refurbished. It must then be let out for people to live in".

He also mentioned that LKY had "reluctantly" followed PM Lee's wife, Ho Ching, when she submitted renovation plans for the house to the Urban Redevelopment Authority, concluding from the above that the Committee's position "does not accurately represent Lee Kuan Yew's wishes".

You can read Hsien Yang's statement in full in these two pictures:

And here's his post:

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Top photo collage adapted from file photos