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Friday, June 23, 2017

Who Was GIVEN 38 Oxley Road in its Entirety?

Fact #1
In October 2011, LKY informed his younger children on a topic related to "architect" that rebuilding on 38 Oxley Road was not possible because LHL, as PM, had indicated that he would declare 28 Oxley Rd as a heritage site. See HERE.

This shows that LHY already knew, in October 2011, that rebuilding could follow the demolition of the house. Indeed, rebuilding was discussed even before LKY died.

Fact #2
In December 2011, LKY wrote a letter to cabinet stating, "Cabinet members were unanimous that 38 Oxley Road should not be demolished as I wanted. I have reflected on this and have decided that if 38 Oxley Road is to be preserved, it needs to have its foundations reinforced and the whole building reburbished." See HERE.

This shows that LKY was ok for the house to be preserved.

Fact #3
Despite knowing that...
(1) LHY would not be averse to rebuilding on the site...
(2) LHL was looking at preserving the site for the benefit of the whole country...
... LKY still bequeathed 38 Oxley Rd to LHL in its entirety. See HERE.

LKY knew that LHL wanted to preserve the house for the whole country. Yet, he bequeathed the house to LHL entirely. What does that tell you about the choice LKY made between his 2 sons?

Since LKY bequeathed the house entirely to LHL, LHL could actually have...
(1) ... used his political power and influence to change the zoning laws of the area to allow high rise buildings...
(2)... used his political power and influence to prevent the government from declaring it a heritage site...
(3) ... exercised his personal right to demolish the house...
(4) ... personally develop the land into high rises...
(5) ... personally pocket hundreds of millions...

He could have abused his power for personal gain, but he DID NOT.

For those Singaporeans who jubilate at the attacks on LHL by his younger brother, I think you have placed your allegiance in the wrong party. LHL chose to dedicate his life to Singapore.  LHY CHOSE to leave the civil service. He preferred the more profitable private sector. Even today, LHY is uncaring to the damage he is inflicting on Singapore and Singaporeans.

Now that LHY has bought 38 Oxley Road from LHL, he stands to gain hundreds of millions.


What About 5 Generations Down?
The way I see it, the government MUST gazette 38 Oxley Road. It has no choice. The day will come when every Singaporean old enough to have personally known a living and breathing LKY will die. There is no guarantee that an enterprising future Singaporean will not rebuild the house based on archived photos and plans.

I remember that when LKY passed away, enterprising folks in his old village in China, designated a house as LKY's ancestral home and charged entrance fees for a visit... never mind that LKY never ever spent a night there.

As long as the land belongs in private hands, hundreds of years down the future, a Frankenstein of a monument WILL rise to LKY. Only if it belongs to the government and today's government sets down laws and regulations in perpetuity with regard to the house, can we honour LKY's wish for privacy.


Challenge Will in Court
I think it is unseemly to have a public to and fro about LKY's will. I wish they would settle the matter in court in camera.









2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're being a bit 转牛角尖 with this one.


Re: This shows that LHY already knew, in October 2011, that rebuilding could follow the demolition of the house. Indeed, rebuilding was discussed even before LKY died.

You meant to write, "LHY already knew, in October 2011, of LHL's intent, that the house will eventually be gazetted, hence rebuilding could NOT follow"? Basically, the linked email suggests that LKY was actively coordinating a rebuild, and Ho Ching appeared to be uninformed of LHL's intent to gazette the house. It can be inferred that it was a bomb being dropped on LKY, if not LHY and LWL inclusive.


Re: LKY wrote a letter to cabinet stating, "...I have reflected on this and have decided if 38 Oxley Road is to be preserved, it needs to have its foundations reinforced and the whole building refurbished." This shows that LKY was ok for the house to be preserved.

It's like asking your domestic helper to buy you takeaway food from stall A in the event that stall B is closed, and she went straight to stall A without checking out stall B at all. Why so when stall B is nearer with 77% approval rating, is up to anyone's guess. Wonder if you would be ok with it if you had known.


Re: LKY knew that LHL wanted to preserve the house for the whole country. Yet, he bequeathed the house to LHL entirely. What does that tell you about the choice LKY made between his 2 sons?

Maybe LKY had wished to maximally preserve the value of his estate (heirloom) and so gave the house to LHL as part of his equal share to galvanise the rest of his assets? Now what does LHL selling the house to LHY tell you about the former's disposition? Why couldn't he just settle with his own share of the estate and had to act like all need to be donated to the state?

To this end, let me quote you Hitler's last will and testament, "what I own, as far as it is worth anything, belongs to the party. Should this no longer exist, the German state. Should the state also be destroyed, there is no need for a further decision on my part".


Re: He could have abused his power for personal gain, but he DID NOT.

The worst kind of abuse is not of monetary gains, just saying.


Re: As long as the land belongs in private hands, hundreds of years down the future, a Frankenstein of a monument WILL rise to LKY. Only if it belongs to the government and today's government sets down laws and regulations in perpetuity with regard to the house, can we honour LKY's wish for privacy.

The government does not need to own the land for restrictions on commercial exploitations to apply.


Re: I think it is unseemly to have a public to and fro about LKY's will. I wish they would settle the matter in court in camera.

I concur. It's not about suing but talking to a platform where records can be set straight.






Anonymous said...

Typo: *taking to a platform where records can be set straight.