Ministerial Committee says it has "already weighed" views from Lee Hsien Yang, Lee Wei Ling

tl;dr version: 'Noted with thanks'.

Jeanette Tan | April 03, 2018, 09:04 PM

In a quick turnaround, the committee of ministers convened to look into the tricky issue of the fate of the late Lee Kuan Yew's house on 38 Oxley Road has responded to sharp criticism of its report by Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Wei Ling.

The Committee released a statement, shared with Mothership, that said it notes the comments published by the two younger Lee siblings, and adding that their views "had already been carefully weighed by the Committee", together with other "Parties in their personal capacities".

Essentially, it concluded, all this correspondence — the Committee's report, Hsien Yang's and Wei Ling's responses and their latest statement on Tuesday night — will be lodged with the Cabinet Secretary for the reference of the future government that will have to decide what to do about the house.

When will that be? When Wei Ling decides to vacate it.

Here's what the siblings said earlier Tuesday:

And here's the ministerial committee's response statement in full:

MINISTERIAL COMMITTEE’S RESPONSE TO MR LEE HSIEN YANG AND DR LEE WEI LING’S STATEMENT ON 3 APRIL 2018

1. We note Mr Lee Hsien Yang (LHY) and Dr Lee Wei Ling’s (LWL) response to the Report, together with all its Annexes, that we issued yesterday.

2. These views expressed by Mr LHY and Dr LWL had already been carefully weighed by the Committee, together with other submissions from the Parties in their personal capacities, including those in the form of statutory declarations, and objective evidence in the form of documents signed by Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

3. As we have said, the Committee relied on three key objective documents from Mr Lee Kuan Yew which gave concrete expression to his thinking and wishes regarding the Property:

a. The Clause in Mr Lee’s Last Will with both parts read together;

b. Mr Lee’s letter to the Cabinet dated 27 Dec 2011;

c. Mr Lee’s application to (dated 29 Mar 2012), and approval from URA (dated 17 April 2012), for renovation/redevelopment plans for the Property.

4. The Report laid out the options for the property, ranging from preservation at one end, to demolition and redevelopment at the other. As we noted in our Report, there is no need to decide now. The various options in the Report are meant to help a future government make an informed and considered decision when the need arises.

5. Both Mr LHY and Dr LWL’s earlier statements, as well as their response dated 3 April 2018, will be lodged with the Cabinet Secretary, together with this statement, so that these too can be referred to by a future government.

Ho hum.

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Top photo via Ministerial Committee report on 38 Oxley Road