On 22 March 2025, marking the 10th anniversary of Lee Kuan Yew’s passing, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing led residents of Tanjong Pagar in a memorial event under the memorial tree at Duxton Plain Park.
Chan, who entered politics in 2011 as a Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC, has served the constituency continuously since then.
Tanjong Pagar was the political home of Lee Kuan Yew for 60 years, from his first electoral win in 1955 until his death in 2015, making it one of the most symbolically significant wards in Singapore’s political history.
The memorial was undoubtedly solemn and heartfelt.
A minute of silence was observed, flowers were laid, and residents gathered in quiet remembrance of the late Mr Lee.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, 22 March, Chan reflected on the memorial and shared three key leadership values that Mr Lee had embodied: putting country above self, practising pragmatism and impartiality, and upholding good governance.
He concluded, “The best way to honour Mr Lee’s legacy is to keep Singapore strong and thriving for generations to come… let’s continue to press on towards SG100.”
It was a message of continuity, strength and unity.
Yet, amid such symbolic remembrance, a deeper question remains: Are we honouring Lee Kuan Yew in the way he explicitly asked?
One of Mr Lee’s clearest, most personal wishes was that his house at 38 Oxley Road be demolished after his daughter, Dr Lee Wei Ling, no longer lived in it.
That moment arrived in October 2024, when Dr Lee passed away. His son, Lee Hsien Yang, applied shortly after to carry out that instruction.
But instead of a decision, a delay followed.
The government initiated a new heritage study despite the issue having been reviewed extensively by a ministerial committee in 2018. No timeline for resolution has been announced.
Lee Kuan Yew was not a man given to sentiment. He stated plainly that preserving the house would go against the very principles he had stood for—a forward-looking, pragmatic Singapore not fixated on the past.
In his Facebook post on 23 March, Lee Hsien Yang made a direct appeal to the PAP government, stating that preserving the house would be “against the principles [Lee Kuan Yew] stood for—a pragmatic, forward-thinking Singapore, unshackled to the past.”
He called on Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to “honour Lee Kuan Yew’s final wish” and to “stop kicking the can down the road.”
Moreover, the house was not one of many wishes. Lee Kuan Yew was known for his clarity and decisiveness.
He had only two known deathbed wishes.
One of Mr Lee’s final wishes was that he not be kept on life support. He had signed an Advance Medical Directive, reportedly witnessed by all three of his children.
Despite this, he remained hospitalised and on life support for over a month following his admission on 5 February 2015, before his death on 23 March 2015.
The other, for the demolition of his house, is now in the hands of the state.
The question, then, is not only whether Singapore will preserve or demolish a building—but whether the nation is prepared to honour the plainly stated desires of its founding leader.
To commemorate a legacy without fulfilling its clearest expressions risks reducing that legacy to symbolism.
If the intent is truly to honour Lee Kuan Yew, then the most meaningful tribute may not lie in monuments or memorials—but in the decision to let Singapore move on, as he had asked.
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