An unnamed blogger in a post published on ABS-CBN wrote the problem in the Lee family’s public battle over Lee Kuan Yew’s (LKY) inheritance was that two of the Singapore’s forefather’s “wills did not specify the demolition of his house.”
However, the blog post said: It seems he (LKY) felt sorry for his neighbors who, during his long political career, could never build up their properties for security reasons.
Demolishing his house would give the neighbors a big financial benefit by being able to develop their properties at last.
“That’s the mark of a considerate man. But there would be a financial benefit, too, for the children: one estimate pegs the value of the property at 24 million Singapore dollars. Making possible such a windfall is the mark of a pragmatic man.”
The blogger said the modest bungalow near Orchard Road which Lee acquired in 1945, became not only his family home, but the nerve center for the leadership of the party that has ruled Singapore since independence.
In contrast to nearly all of Southeast Asia’s founding fathers, Lee Kwan Yew was uninterested in memorializing himself.
The only monument to himself he allowed during his lifetime was an institution –the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. He seems to have genuinely opposed the idea of his home turning into some sort of national shrine after his death.
Third world drama
The blogger likened the explosive Lee saga to a Third World-style drama.
The post summed the situation as follows:
So far, you might think it was all a case of an old father trying to be nice to his spinster daughter, who was then maneuvered out of her extra share by her brothers.
But then, spinster daughter and younger son united against elder brother, alleging, again, Third World behavior: dynasty-building, power-tripping, persecution and promoting personal, versus collective, interest.
But the political angle wasn’t helped when Lee Hongyi –remember him? The grandson of LKY and son of Lee Hsien Long?– said he’s not interested in politics.
So the Singaporean rumor mill obsessed over another twist to the tale: could it all be a battle between the powerful wives? By which point the Prime Minister had issued a public apology to the Singaporean people, said he would take questions in parliament, and hinted he might sue for defamation in the style of his father.
In the end, this whole drama still remains to play out. But what it has done is clearly prove that the era of LKY is over, it said.
“But now, the Lees have proven they’re human, too, and where once there was only awe, for some, there is doubt,” it concluded.