SINGAPORE (The Straits Times\/ANN): The site at 38 Oxley Road \u2013 where key discussions between Singapore\u2019s founding leaders took place \u2013 has been gazetted as a national monument, said the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) and National Heritage Board (NHB) on Dec 12.<\/p>\n
The gazette for the site takes effect on Dec 13. It houses a one-storey pre-war bungalow which was founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew\u2019s family home from the mid-1940s until his death in 2015.<\/p>\n
Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo had considered a written objection submitted by Lee Hsien Yang \u2013 the site\u2019s owner \u2013 to the Prime Minister\u2019s Office and the board in his decision to proceed with the preservation of the site, said the authorities in a statement.<\/p>\n
Neo noted that Lee\u2019s objection letter did not challenge the site\u2019s historic significance or national importance, nor the evaluation process for identifying potential national monuments, they said.<\/p>\n
He also did not dispute an advisory board\u2019s assessment of the site\u2019s preservation worthiness, they said.<\/p>\n
Lee, the younger son of Lee Kuan Yew, had until Nov 17 to submit any objections to the Government\u2019s intention to gazette the site as a monument, which was announced on Nov 3. The NHB had said then that the advisory board assessed that it has historic significance and national importance.<\/p>\n
MCCY and NHB said on Dec 12 that in Lee Hsien Yang\u2019s objection letter, he stated, among other things, that Lee Kuan Yew was \u201cclear and unambiguous\u201d throughout his life that he wanted his home at 38 Oxley Road to be demolished.<\/p>\n
Referencing a study by a ministerial committee tasked to study future options for 38 Oxley Road, MCCY and NHB said the committee\u2019s 2018 report \u201cclearly documented\u201d that while Mr Lee Kuan Yew\u2019s personal preference was for the building at 38 Oxley Road to be demolished, \u201che was prepared to accept options other than demolition, provided that suitable arrangements were made to refurbish the building and keep it in a habitable state; and protect his family\u2019s privacy\u201d.<\/p>\n
MCCY and NHB said that preserving the site does not mean that the building and structures within must be kept in their original state.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe appropriate treatment of the building and structures will be subject to further study, once the Government has access to the site,\u201d the agencies added.<\/p>\n
\u201cNevertheless, to respect Mr Lee\u2019s wishes, the Government has committed to removing the private living spaces from the interior of the building to protect the privacy of Mr Lee and his family under all eventual options.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was in the bungalow\u2019s basement dining room that the founding members of the People\u2019s Action Party began meeting in the 1950s to consider the feasibility of forming a political party.<\/p>\n
Besides Lee Kuan Yew, these individuals \u2013 of whom many went on to become key leaders of independent Singapore in the 1960s \u2013 included Dr Goh Keng Swee, Dr Toh Chin Chye, S. Rajaratnam, and K. M. Byrne.<\/p>\n
An NHB spokesperson said on Nov 17 that the agency had received written objections from Mr Lee Hsien Yang, who had also posted his objections on Facebook on the same day.<\/p>\n
In his objections, Lee said 38 Oxley Road \u201cwill be a monument to the PAP\u2019s dishonour of Lee Kuan Yew\u201d, citing his father\u2019s wish for the home to be demolished.<\/p>\n
Under the law, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo would consider all objections, but could still decide to make a preservation order on the site thereafter.<\/p>\n
Neo told Parliament on Nov 6 that if the site is preserved as a national monument, all options will be considered, including those proposed by the ministerial committee in 2018.<\/p>\n
The committee, led by then Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, had set out three suggestions for the 38 Oxley Road site and the bungalow: retain the entire building, retain only the basement dining room, or demolish the bungalow for redevelopment \u2013 either for residential use or for alternative uses like a park or heritage centre.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Neo said the site needs to be retained because of its historical significance, adding that it bore witness to pivotal events in the 1950s that marked Singapore\u2019s transition from a colony to an independent nation. — The Straits Times\/ANN<\/p>\n
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