In closing the 2-day parliamentary debate on the Oxley Road feud, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong teared up as he recalled his father’s wish for him to take care of his siblings in his place.
He added that he did not expect tensions between the siblings to enfold so explosively and said that he hopes he can reconcile with them in the future:
“When I was about 13, my father had told me, ‘If anything happens to me, please take care of you mother, your younger sister and brother.’
“Singapore was then part of Malaysia and we were in a fierce fight with the central government and the communalists. My father didn’t tell me but he knew his life was in danger.
“Fortunately, nothing happened to my father then. He brought up the family and I thought we had a happy family and he lived a long, full life.
“Little did I expect that after my parents died, these tensions would erupt with such grievous consequences – and after so many years, I will be unable to fulfill the role which my father hoped I would.
“So I hope, one day, these passions will subside and we can begin to reconcile.”
WATCH: PM Lee Hsien Loong tears up in Parliament recounting how his father told him to take care of the family.RECAP: https://cna.asia/2tkKGT4
Posted by Channel NewsAsia on Tuesday, 4 July 2017
In their latest post discussing the integrity of PM Lee however, the younger sister and brother of PM Lee painted a picture of him which was at odds with that of a caring older brother who took to heart his father’s instructions to him to take care of his younger siblings.
https://theindependent.sg.sg/lee-hsien-loong-wears-two-faces-lwl-lhl-reinforce-allegations-and-offer-ceasefire/
The siblings claimed that sometime after their father’s death in 2015, PM Lee became very angry when he found out that their father left his sister an unfettered right to live at the Oxley Road house, and that he stopped speaking to them after shouting and intimidating them over their father’s decision. PM Lee engaged a lawyer to communicate with his siblings from then on.
The siblings’ post further suggested that they were in pain that at the first Chinese New Year reunion after their father’s death, their elder brother invited all relatives except them.
According to the Chinese custom, PM Lee being the oldest and most senior member of their family, would have become the main root of the family after their father’s death. And the reunion dinner is a tradition where every family member is expected to do his best to return to the family home for the dinner.