The feud among Singapore's ruling family
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- 31 Mar 2023
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A bitter legal fight over the childhood home of Singapore's founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, has come to define Singapore's ruling family.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST: It's been eight years since Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew died. Ever since, his children have been fighting over the family home, and it's a conflict that shows no signs of ending. And it's also one that has exposed the cracks in Singapore's carefully crafted democratic narrative. NPR's Emily Feng reports.
EMILY FENG, BYLINE: Singapore's founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, was clear about what he wanted to see happen to his house, located on a leafy street of the Southeast Asian city-state.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LEE KUAN YEW: I told the cabinet, when I'm dead, demolish it. I have seen other houses - Nehru's, Shakespeare - and it's a shambles after a while.
FENG: Lee also wrote this in his will before his death in 2015. One of the proponents of knocking the colonial-style house down, per the will, is the father of Shengwu Li. The younger Li is now an economics professor at Harvard. However, he says his uncle is opposed to tearing the house down.
SHENGWU LI: But, you know, my uncle being the prime minister of Singapore, he has other ways to get his way.
FENG: That uncle, Lee Hsien Loong, has been prime minister since 2004. His office referred NPR to a 2017 statement, in which he states his belief is his father was open to renovating the property for his sister to live in. And that has meant this family feud over a house has become a matter of national concern. Read More…
