Singapore, the Nation That Lee Kuan Yew Built, Questions Its Direction

nytimes.com - SINGAPORE — Among the many orders that Lee Kuan Yew issued during his five decades as leader of Singapore was the razing of his home.

“I’ve told the cabinet, ‘When I’m dead, demolish it,’ ” he told an interviewer several years ago.

Pragmatic even about death and averse to a cult of personality, Mr. Lee, who died Monday at age 91, said the house would cost too much to maintain and would become a shambles when “people trudge through.”

There was no wrecking ball on Mr. Lee’s quiet street on Tuesday, and the official memorial does not begin until the public viewing of his coffin in Parliament on Wednesday.