SINGAPORE: The youngest child of Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said on Tuesday he would apply to demolish the statesman’s home in line with his wishes, following the death of Lee’s daughter last week.
Lee Kuan Yew’s three children, one of whom is Singapore’s third Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, were split on what to do with their father’s home after his death in 2015, in a public spat that saw the siblings estranged.
Eldest son Lee Hsien Loong, who stepped down as Singapore’s prime minister earlier this year, thought it should be up to the government to decide what to do with the property, including potentially retaining it as a heritage landmark.
However his sister, Lee Wei Ling, who died on Oct. 9, and younger brother Lee Hsien Yang say the single-story bungalow, built in 1898 in central Singapore, should be demolished in accordance with their father’s wishes.
“After my sister’s passing, I am the only living executor of my father Lee Kuan Yew’s estate,” Lee Hsien Yang wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.
“In his will, he wished for the house to be demolished ‘immediately after’ Wei Ling moved out of the house. It is my duty to carry out his wishes to the fullest extent of the law.”
He said he would apply to demolish the house and planned to build a small private dwelling to be retained by the family, adding that it was time for the government to approve the demolition.
The office of current prime minister Lawrence Wong did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lee Kuan Yew told the Straits Times newspaper in 2011 that he wanted the house demolished because it would “become a shambles” if it were opened to the public, and he hoped its removal would improve land values in the neighborhood.
In 2018, a ministerial committee set up to consider the future of the house laid out three options, and said the decision would be left to a future government.
The options were to retain the property by gazetting it as a national monument or for conservation, retain the basement dining room which has the greatest historical significance and tear down the rest of the property, or allow the property to be fully demolished for redevelopment.
At that time, Lee Hsien Loong said he accepted the committee’s conclusion and the range of options laid out.
Son of Singapore’s founding PM Lee Kuan Yew says plans to demolish family home
https://arab.news/n2kcf
Son of Singapore’s founding PM Lee Kuan Yew says plans to demolish family home
- Lee Kuan Yew’s three children were split on what to do with their father’s home after his death in 2015
- Lee Hsien Yang says the single-story bungalow should be demolished in accordance with their father’s wishes
UN’s top court opens Myanmar Rohingya genocide case
- The Gambia filed a case against Myanmar at the UN’s top court in 2019
- Verdict expected to impact Israel’s genocide case over war on Gaza
DHAKA: The International Court of Justice on Monday opened a landmark case accusing Myanmar of genocide against its mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.
The Gambia filed a case against Myanmar at the UN’s top court in 2019, two years after a military offensive forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from their homes into neighboring Bangladesh.
The hearings will last three weeks and conclude on Jan. 29.
“The ICJ must secure justice for the persecuted Rohingya. This process should not take much longer, as we all know that justice delayed is justice denied,” said Asma Begum, who has been living in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district since 2017.
A mostly Muslim ethnic minority, the Rohingya have lived for centuries in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state but were stripped of their citizenship in the 1980s and have faced systemic persecution ever since.
In 2017 alone, some 750,000 of them fled military atrocities and crossed to Bangladesh, in what the UN has called a textbook case of ethnic cleansing by Myanmar.
Today, about 1.3 million Rohingya shelter in 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar, turning the coastal district into the world’s largest refugee settlement.
“We experienced horrific acts such as arson, killings and rape in 2017, and fled to Bangladesh,” Begum told Arab News.
“I believe the ICJ verdict will pave the way for our repatriation to our homeland. The world should not forget us.”
A UN fact-finding mission has concluded that the Myanmar 2017 offensive included “genocidal acts” — an accusation rejected by Myanmar, which said it was a “clearance operation” against militants.
Now, there is hope for justice and a new future for those who have been displaced for years.
“We also have the right to live with dignity. I want to return to my homeland and live the rest of my life in my ancestral land. My children will reconnect with their roots and be able to build their own future,” said Syed Ahmed, who fled Myanmar in 2017 and has since been raising his four children in the Kutupalong camp.
“Despite the delay, I am optimistic that the perpetrators will be held accountable through the ICJ verdict. It will set a strong precedent for the world.”
The Myanmar trial is the first genocide case in more than a decade to be taken up by the ICJ. The outcome will also impact the genocide case that Israel is facing over its war on Gaza.
“The momentum of this case at the ICJ will send a strong message to all those (places) around the world where crimes against humanity have been committed,” Nur Khan, a Bangladeshi lawyer and human rights activist, told Arab News.
“The ICJ will play a significant role in ensuring justice regarding accusations of genocide in other parts of the world, such as the genocide and crimes against humanity committed by Israel against the people of Gaza.”
