Goh
Meng Seng about Lee feud saga (Facebook post, 16 June 2017)
Who do I believe?
My political mentor has always taught me this simple methodology
of Criminology... always look for Motive first before you do anything else.
There are many accusations and counter-accusations flying
around. Now the Pro-PAP-LHL people are saying Lee Suet Fern is a "puppet
master"... manipulating behind the scene of the will... etc. But I ask,
what is her motive, if any?
Allowing her husband to get slightly higher share when LWL's
share is reduced to be equal to the other two siblings? But this will in fact,
benefits LHL as well! So why would LHL complains?
People are not looking at things in proper context. All three
children of LKY are MULTI-Millionaire (if not billionaire), at least tens if
not hundreds of millions net worth. Their families most probably could live for
generations without doing anything! When you are that rich, the marginal
utility of additional wealth is really marginal.
In fact, if it is really about money, LHY won't have agreed to
pay 150% for the Oxley house (50% for charity) to buy it from his brother, just
to have it and allow his sister to stay in this house and later, demolish it!
Thus, I do not believe money is the issue here and Lee Suet Fern has no obvious
motive to gain anything out of all these bickering.
So what's the beef here?
I do not think Lee Wei Ling mind how much she will get from
LKY's estate. Having read her past writings published on newspapers and her FB,
rightfully or wrongfully, she has great emotional attachment to things, to
people, to her parents, especially her father. She is single and has no family.
All she has now, in terms of money, is more than enough for her to live till
the end of her life. But there is only one motive and desire in her, the desire
of living in the old Oxley house due to her emotional attachment. And of
course, she will guard her family's privacy with all force and thus, insisting
that the house should not become a public place whereby other people could throng
in and out of it.These are after all, her precious memories of her life.
Thus, when her relationship with LKY was frosty, for whatever
reasons, she was more upset that she wasn't allow to live in the Oxley house
after LKY's impending death, than having less share of his estate.
Lee Suet Fern just happened to become the mediator between the
father and daughter. She managed to secure the most important part of the will,
to allow LWL to stay in the house and to have it demolished after her passing.
From the emails released by LWL (the one LSF wrote to
Shanmugam), I could see that Lee Suet Fern's only concern is to mend the ties
between the father and the daughter.
Thus, it is totally unfair and uncalled for to make Lee Suet
Fern to look like an "evil puppet master" or "evil
manipulator" of any sort.
To accuse LSF or even LHY to insert that Demolition clause into
the Last Will sneakily without letting LKY know, is totally absurd. For this
Demolition Clause, they gain absolutely nothing! Why would they risk the wrath
of LKY by doing such thing?
LWL is the one who benefits directly and emotionally to have
this Demolition Clause to be reinstated. And this is why she fought so hard
against LHL when LHL tried to preserve it. Even felt sour when this Demolition
Clause, for whatever reasons, was taken out in the two preceding wills.
LHY didn't make noise openly against his brother until now,
which I think is because he and his wife felt THREATENED. LHY didn't even make
noise of his unhappiness known when he was made to pay 150% for the Oxley
house, because basically money isn't really a big problem to him. It is only
when his and his family's lives are THREATENED, he would openly put up such
devastating joint statement.
On the other hand, LHL has been shown to be inconsistent.. as
LHY has put it, saying different things at different times. But one thing is
very clearly consistent, his desire and motive to keep the Oxley house intact,
against his father's wish even when LKY was alive!
For what motive? LWL and LHY had provided the reason: to make
full use of LKY's political legacy to extend his own political agenda. Do I
believe in their assertion? Yes, I do because there isn't any other plausible
reason other than political reasons.
Thus, if you ask me who do I believe? I would say I believe LWL,
LHY and LSF. I empathize LWL's position of wanting to stay in Oxley house for
sentimental value. I believe LSF genuinely wanted to med ties between LWL and
LKY. I also believe that there is no monetary motive on LHY's part to want to
fulfill his father's wish. In fact, he has lost quite a bit of money here but
yet, he felt betrayed by his brother, PM Lee, after paying so much money but
still the brother wanted to use his power to keep the house via administrative
powers.
As to whether Oxley house
should be preserved for "heritage" or "historical value", I
shall comment another day.
[This post is shared here with the kind written permission of Goh Meng Seng. Goh Meng Seng is Secretary-General of the People's Power Party (PPP) and the former Secretary-General of the National Solidarity Party (NSP).]
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