On Monday (23 March) morning, Mr Lee Hsien Yang (LHY), younger son of Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (LKY), took to his Facebook to share an image of his father’s favourite carpet. This picture was posted on Mr LKY’s fifth year of passing.
The founding prime minister passed away five years ago on 23 March 2015, at the age of 91.
“Photograph of Lee Kuan Yew’s study, taken by Shengwu on the day of his grandfather’s funeral,” wrote Mr LHY in his post.
He added, “The carpet hung over my father’s desk for decades and was of sentimental value to him.”
It is said that this is one of the two carpets that were willed to LHY by LKY in the codicil that the late prime minister allegedly drafted himself.
On 2 March this year, late Mr LKY’s daughter Dr Lee Wei Ling said in a Facebook post that her father had “independently drafted and executed” a codicil referencing his final will as evidenced in an entire correspondence relating to the signing of his final will.
According to Dr Lee, Mr LKY had by his own volition and in his own awareness drafted and carried out an amendment which referenced the final will after signing it in 2013.
He had then forwarded — through his personal assistant — “the entire correspondence relating to his signing of his final will” with a new heading titled “Last Will & Testament & Codicil” to lawyer Kwa Kim Li, his three children including herself and his daughters-in-law.
Referencing an email Mr LKY had written, in which he said that only a copy of the final will was going to be sent to Ms Kwa for her record, Dr Lee said: “This was the one and only occasion when my father wrote to Kwa Kim Li, his children and their spouses on his will in this manner. He included the entire correspondence leading up to the signing of the will.”
“Through all this and the new heading, he signalled finality on the matter of his will. To think otherwise is daft,” she said.
