Lee Kuan Yew home acquired by Singapore government

Singapore's government has taken possession of Lee Kuan Yew's longtime home, officials said Friday, ending a nearly decade-long family dispute over whether the property should be preserved or demolished.

The Singapore Land Authority and the National Heritage Board said the government took possession of the site to preserve it because of its historic significance and national importance. The heritage board will study options for developing it into a public space while respecting Lee Kuan Yew's wishes for privacy, they said.

Lee, credited with transforming Singapore into a wealthy city-state in a little over 30 years, lived at the eight-bedroom, two-storey bungalow from the mid-1940s until his death in 2015.

The property was the site of significant events in the 1950s during Singapore's transition from a British colony to an independent nation and hosted meetings of key leaders before independence in 1965.

Two years after Lee's death, his children publicly clashed over the property. His oldest son, former prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, favoured preserving it. His siblings, corporate executive Lee Hsien Yang and the late neurologist Lee Wei Ling, pointed to language in their father's will calling for its demolition.

Estate agents in 2024 said the property had a prospective value of about Sg$30 million, or $23 million, in land-scarce Singapore. Lee Hsien Yang has lived in self-imposed exile abroad since 2022, citing political persecution, which the government has denied.