{"id":73170,"date":"2026-07-31T17:33:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T09:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=73170"},"modified":"2026-07-31T17:33:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T09:33:05","slug":"national-monument-38-oxley-road-acquired-by-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=73170","title":{"rendered":"National monument 38 Oxley Road acquired by Government"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE \u2013 <!-- -->The site at 38 Oxley Road, where key discussions between Singapore\u2019s founding leaders took place, was formally acquired by the Government on July 31.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the National Heritage Board (NHB) said in a statement that the Government has completed the acquisition process and took possession of the site on July 31. The acquisition amount was not stated. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe NHB will undertake a detailed study of the site and the options for how it can be developed into a public space in a manner that respects Mr Lee Kuan Yew\u2019s wishes for privacy,\u201d the agencies said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cIn the interim, necessary maintenance works will be carried out as required, and there will be no public access to the site.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">When The Straits Times visited the site on July 31, NHB officers were seen within the compound.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The site, which includes a pre-war bungalow that was founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew\u2019s family home, was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/38-oxley-road-gazetted-as-a-national-monument?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"inline font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"typography-test-id\">on Dec 12, 2025, gazetted a<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/38-oxley-road-gazetted-as-a-national-monument?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"inline font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"typography-test-id\"> <\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/38-oxley-road-gazetted-as-a-national-monument?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"inline font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"typography-test-id\">national monument<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On Nov 3 that same year, when the Government had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/govt-intends-to-gazette-site-of-lee-kuan-yews-house-at-38-oxley-road-as-national-monument?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"inline font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"typography-test-id\">announced its intention to gazette the site as a monument<\/span><\/a>, it had also stated its intention to acquire the site to safeguard and preserve it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The site\u2019s last owner was Lee\u2019s younger son, Lee Hsien Yang, the younger brother of Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The family home has been at the centre of a<!-- --> <!-- -->long-running dispute between the Lee siblings, with Lee Hsien Yang and his late sister Lee Wei Ling alleging that Lee Hsien Loong wanted the pre-war one-storey bungalow preserved for his political gain against their father\u2019s wishes to demolish it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Lee Hsien Loong refuted their accusations in a ministerial statement in Parliament, after having raised grave concerns over the \u201ctroubling circumstances\u201d around the preparation of their late father\u2019s final will.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In a Facebook post on July 31,<!-- --> <!-- -->Lee Hsien Yang said: \u201cThe compulsory acquisition of his home is a repudiation of his (Lee Kuan Yew\u2019s)<!-- --> <!-- -->values and a flagrant disregard for his long-held wish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On Jan 29, 2026, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/38-oxley-road-to-be-acquired-following-its-gazette-as-a-national-monument?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"inline font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"typography-test-id\">the site was gazetted for acquisition by the Government,<\/span><\/a> with SLA and NHB saying in a statement then that preserving and acquiring the site meant<!-- --> <!-- -->that it cannot be redeveloped for residential, commercial or other private uses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo has said that the Government\u2019s intention is to develop the site<!-- --> <!-- -->after its acquisition into a public space that Singaporeans can access, such as a heritage park.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/national-monument-38-oxley-road-acquired-by-govt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE \u2013 The site at 38 Oxley Road, where key discussions between Singapore\u2019s founding leaders took place, was formally acquired by the Government on July&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/73171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}