celebrity.estateAn EGRET.LAW propertyWorld map3D timeline
Home / Japan and Southeast Asia / Lee Kuan Yew's will asked that his house be demolished, and Singapore made it a national…
Case file s476 · Japan and Southeast Asia · 2015
See 2015 on the timelineSee it in 3D
2015
Lee Kuan Yew: Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore Making a Toast at a State Dinner Held in His Honor, 1975
Lee Kuan Yew. White House Photographic Office. 1974-1977. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
23 March 2015
Place
Singapore
Field
politics · Politics and government on the timeline
Legal tradition
Singapore common law · Common law
Historical event
the feud between Singapore's founding prime minister's children
Religion
Lee Kuan Yew: Atheist and agnostic, Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist (recorded as agnosticism on Wikidata; Singaporean Buddhists, Singaporean Confucianists, Singaporean agnostics on Wikipedia)
Member of
People's Action Party (Wikidata)
Japan and Southeast AsiaNowEast AsiaSingapore

Lee Kuan Yew's will asked that his house be demolished, and Singapore made it a national monument over his son's objection

Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first prime minister, said repeatedly that his house at 38 Oxley Road should be demolished after his death, and his last will included that wish†. His elder son, Lee Hsien Loong, was prime minister. His younger children, Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee Wei Ling, publicly accused their brother of trying to keep the house for political use†. A 2018 Ministerial Committee decided no decision was needed while Lee Wei Ling lived in the house. She died in October 2024, and on 21 October 2024 the Urban Redevelopment Authority received an application to demolish the building. In November 2025 the government announced it intended to make the site a national monument. Lee Hsien Yang filed a written objection on 17 November 2025, citing his father's wishes. On 12 December 2025 Acting Culture Minister David Neo issued a preservation order, making the site Singapore's 77th National Monument. He noted that the objection did not dispute the site's historic importance. The government will acquire the land, keep it from private use and may make it a heritage park. There is no public access in the interim.

What the law took from it

A will can say what should happen to a house, but a state can override it for heritage.

Sources
  1. mccy.gov.sgGovernment record
  2. mccy.gov.sgGovernment record
  3. Internet ArchiveGovernment record
  4. malaymail.comPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Lee Kuan Yew's will asked that his house be demolished, and Singapore made it a national monument over his son's objection,” story s476, https://www.celebrity.estate/lee-kuan-yew-2015, updated 30 October 2026.

Related cases

Each one shares a person, a kind of fight, a subject, a period or a place with this case. The line under each headline says which.

Cambodge-1223: Les vestiges du Prasat Krachap, un des temples du site de Koh Ker - Cambodge2020 · Bangkok, Thailand; Koh Ker, Cambodia; New York, USAA Bangkok dealer died under US indictment for selling looted Khmer statues, and his daughter gave the 125 pieces she inherited back to CambodiaShared: also Japan and Southeast Asia; 5 years apart; also East AsiaDouglas Latchford lived in Bangkok and was for decades a leading supplier of Cambodian sculpture to Western museums and collectors. He published books on Khmer art and was feted by Cambodian officials.ice.gov and 4 moreGeneral Yamashita Surrenders: General Yamashita, Commander, Japanese forces, ‘Tiger of Malaya,” and his staff walk down the trail to U.S. forces in northern Luzon, occupied by Co ‘1993 · Baguio City, Philippines; Honolulu, Hawaii, USAA Baguio locksmith said Marcos's men seized his golden Buddha, and a Hawaii jury valued the gold he never got back at $22 billionShared: also Japan and Southeast Asia; 22 years apart; also East AsiaRogelio Roxas was a locksmith and treasure hunter in Baguio City. He searched for the "Yamashita treasure", war loot that legend says Japanese troops under General Tomoyuki Yamashita buried in the Philippines in 1945.Caselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 4 moreMariano Marcos: Mariano Marcos21989 · Honolulu, Hawaii, USA; Manila, PhilippinesMarcos drew a salary of 100,000 pesos a year, and the Philippine Supreme Court took $658 million of his Swiss depositsShared: also Japan and Southeast Asia; 26 years apart; also East AsiaFerdinand Marcos was president of the Philippines from 1966 to 1986. The official salary record puts his pay at 60,000 pesos a year to 1976 and 100,000 pesos a year from 1977 to 1985.Caselaw Access Project, Harvard Law School and 5 moreSultan of Sulu with others LCCN2014685226 (cropped): Title: Sultan of Sulu with others Abstract/medium: 1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.2017 · Sabah, Malaysia; Madrid, Spain; Paris, FranceMalaysia stopped paying the Sulu sultan's heirs in 2013, and a Spanish arbitrator awarded them US$14.92 billionShared: also Japan and Southeast Asia; 2 years apart; also East AsiaOn 22 January 1878 the Sultan of Sulu signed a grant to Baron de Overbeck and Alfred Dent over his lands on the mainland of Borneo, "for ever and in perpetuity", in return for 5,000 dollars a year to the sultan "his heirs or successors".sagc.sabah.gov.my and 7 moreProcès-verbal for the recovery of the items the Bảo Đại Emperor gave to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam during his ab: A report about the recovery of the ceremonial sword and se1997 · Huế, Vietnam; Paris, FranceBảo Đại handed his gold seal to the revolution in 1945, sued his own son for it in France, and his widow's heirs sold it for 6.1 million eurosShared: also Japan and Southeast Asia; 18 years apart; also East AsiaEmperor Minh Mạng had the seal Hoàng đế chi bảo cast in solid gold in 1823. It weighs 10.78 kg. On 30 August 1945 Bảo Đại read his abdication at Huế and handed the seal and a jewelled sword to the Viet Minh envoy Trần Huy Liệu.voatiengviet.com and 5 moreMuhammad V of Kelantan: Sultan Muhammad V dari Kelantan pada tahun 20132019 · Kota Bharu, Kelantan, MalaysiaKelantan's council made the sultan's son sultan while the father lay ill, and the father asked the Federal Court to give his throne backShared: also Japan and Southeast Asia; 4 years apart; also East AsiaSultan Ismail Petra had ruled Kelantan since 1979. He suffered a stroke in May 2009. On 24 May 2009 his eldest son, Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra, was appointed regent.Internet Archive and 5 more

Where this case sits

Japan and Southeast AsiaNowEast AsiaCommon lawSingapore