Lee family’s Oxley House feud turns into a satirical board game by Singapore comic artist

Image: Sonny Liew/Facebook
Image: Sonny Liew/Facebook

We know family drama can get complicated but if you happen to be the prime minister of a country that is feuding with your siblings, then the feud is news – literally. 

If you haven’t already read about it, the former residence of former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew is central in dispute among his children about its use and demolition. Long story short, the senior Lee had willed the house to Lee Hsien Loong, with a clause asking for its demolition after his daughter who was staying there moved out.

It was later sold to his brother Lee Hsien Yang in 2015 at market price – on the condition that both of them would donate half of the value to charity. However in 2017, Lee Hsien Loong’s siblings made a statement on Facebook, alleging that he had abused his power as prime minister to prevent the demolition and wished to move into the house to inherit the political capital of his father. 

On top of that, they had also dragged in several government bodies on being involved in the plan. Yeah, it’s messy and even in 2022, the feud is still ongoing. 

Recently, Sonny Liew, the artist behind the graphic novel The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye decided to get a little creative.

In a post on social media, he collaborated with everyone’s favorite exam-failing AI robot ChatGPT to churn out the brief for his latest piece. 

All he did was to key in a specific prompt: “Create a satirical board game for 3-5 players about the struggle over the fate of Lee Kuan Yew’s house at 38 Oxley Road.”

The results? Content gold. 

“Each player is given a set of cards representing their character’s interests and motivations. These may include “political ambition,” “family loyalty,” “public opinion,” and “property development,” the post read. 

The player is then responsible for stating their case according to their “interests and motivations.”

Ultimately at the end of the game, one person gains control of the “fate of 38 Oxley Road”. The winner then decides if they want to sell it to a developer or run the house to the ground. Amazing. 

We have a chat with ChatGPT

Curious, we also took a stab at the prompt ourselves and it looks like ChatGPT is the robot that keeps on giving – it came up with a new game.  

Though slightly similar, it also offered some funny aspects like the “unexpected endorsement from Lee Kuan Yew’s ghost”. 

We’re liking this pitch so far, any takers to actually make this happen? 

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