SINGAPORE’S reputation as a country with exceptional organisational and governance capacity will be under the spotlight when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong takes addresses parliament on Monday regarding the dispute with siblings over the 38, Oxley Road family home.

Dr Gillian Koh, the deputy director  for research at the Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore, wrote in the Straits Times today that  Singapore’s detractors will be looking for evidence that it was the family of founding father Lee Kuan Yew who “called all the shots” the Singapore.

At the centre of the current dispute between the three Lee children is the fate of the family home at 38, Oxley Road, Singapore.

Dr Lee Wei Ling and Lee Hsien Yang are joint executors and trustees of their late father’s estate, and they claim that their older brother, Hsien Loong, is abusing his position in government to secure the home for himself and capitalise on Kuan Yew’s legacy for his political capital

They claim that their father had stated in his will that the home should be demolished upon his death and when Wei Ling ceased to live there.

Hsien Loong denies he is abusing his position and questions the circumstances around the drafting and signing of the will.

He has pledged to answer all queries on the matter when Parliament convenes on Monday.

Hsien Yang has dismissed the parliamentary address as his brother’s attempt to whitewash the dispute.

Koh wrote today that since the Oxley Road house was of great interest and historical value, the government was obliged to asses all options for the house.

“The irony may be that the PM’s siblings seem to be asking for an exemption from the rule of law, acting like they wish for an upfront commitment to the demolition of 38, Oxley Road,” she wrote.

“How citizens respond to the parliamentary debate, online as well as offline, will determine its effect on our self-image and international brand.”

Koh lists out three takeaways from the saga at this point: that there is still a strong obligation in governtment circles to be accountable; that concepts of abuse of power and conflict of interest are complex, and understand them lay in the details of the saga; and the Hsien Loong, as prime minster, has to guide his government to follow due process and rule of law.

“Whether the PM has recused himself from the issue, the Singapore state has the final say within the law and the Constitution,” she said.

“Can the allegations of abuse of power stick if the government’s worst crime, with or without Hsien Loong’s influence, is first, to check on what the late Lee wanted, and second, to consider what the public interest is in dealing with the property; not undermine it?”– July 1, 2017.