The legacy of Lee Wei Ling: deceased daughter of Singapore's founding father Lee Kwan Yew

Singapore has been shaken by the sudden news that Lee Wei Ling has passed at age 69. She was the daughter of Lee Kwan Yew, Singapore's founding father, and had played a major role in various disputes involving her renowned family.

Lee Wei Ling was not just the daughter of Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew, but is also the sister of Singapore’s current Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who had also previously served as the country’s Prime Minister, like their father.

Image: leehsienloong / Instagram

Born on 7 January 1955, Lee Wei Ling is the second of three children borne by Lee Kwan Yew and his wife Kwa Geok Choo. Her siblings are Lee Hsien Loong and Lee Hsien Yang.

Image: Dr Lee Wei Ling / Facebook

According to The Straits Times, Lee Wei Ling received a remarkable education, earning a scholarship and top grades in medicine at the National University of Singapore. She eventually decided to focus on pedratics.

Image: Lee Hsien Yang / Facebook

According to AsiaOne, Lee Wei Ling was a remarkable doctor during her time in active service, having helped many of her patients and going above and beyond her responsibilities as a doctor for them.

Throughout her life, Lee Wei Ling made significant contributions to brain research. The National Neuroscience Institute of Singapore recognises her for her focus on epilepsy research, and she left a legacy of "patient-centered care" during her tenure as director of the institute from 2004 to 2014.

Image: ShengwuLi / X

Despite her great contributions to Singapore’s medical field, Lee Wei Ling was more so known for her involvement in one of Singapore’s high-profile political scandals that involved a family feud between her and her siblings after the passing of Lee Kwan Yew.

Reuters reports that in 2016. Lee Wei Ling was involved in a highly-publicised feud between her and her brother Lee Hsien Loong, who was the then-Prime Minister of Singapore. What happened was that she had accused her brother of “abusing his power” and “forming a political dynasty” over other accusations on her Facebook page, a year after the passing of her father.

The accusation was a rather shocking one for Singaporeans to experience: as was mentioned by Reuters, Singaporean citizens “are not used to political spats” and “open criticism of public figures is rare”.

Image: Dr Lee Wei Ling /Facebook

That was not the only time that Lee Wei Ling would openly criticise her family members, as she went on to make several more accusations over the years, even taking shots at Lee Hsien Loong’s wife, Ho Ching, in 2017, reports Mothership.

Image: Dr Lee Wei Ling /Facebook

What can be considered the biggest and still ongoing feud in the Lee family would be the feud over the property on 38 Oxley Road in Singapore, which was once the family home of Lee Kwan Yew and his children.

Image: Dr Lee Wei Ling /Facebook

According to another Reuters article, the feud over the home at 38 Oxley Road arose as a result of this conflict: Lee Hsien Loong did not follow their father's will in demolishing the house, instead leaving the decision up to the government. Whereas the other two Lee siblings desired that the house be demolished and their father's wishes be carried out.

As of today, in 2024, the property at 38 Oxley Road is owned by Lee Hsien Yang, the youngest Lee brother, who retained the property solely out of consideration for Lee Wei Ling, who was residing in the home until her death due to illness, according to Channel News Asia.

Image: Dr Lee Wei Ling /Facebook

Did you know?: Lee Wei Ling was at risk of potentially losing her residence at 38 Oxley Road due to Lee Hsien Yang’s court battle with the Singaporean ministers K Shanmugam and Vivian Balakrishnan?

According to AsiaOne, after the Singapore court decided in favour of the later two ministers, Lee Hsien Yang faced losing his "significant asset" in Singapore, which was the home at 38 Oxley Road, perhaps leaving Lee Wei Ling homeless. To protect his sister, Lee Hsien Yang agreed to pay the two ministers damages per court decision, which totalled more than 600,000 Singaporean dollars.

Tragically, soon after the court resolution on October 9, Lee Wei Ling passed on the same day from complications arising from a “rare, degenerative brain disease”. The Straits Times reports that her death was announced by Lee Hsien Yang on social media.

Image: Lee Hsien Yang / Facebook