\n<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE \u2013 Spaces in 38 Oxley Road that have been documented in different forms of media, including the historically significant basement dining room, are considered \u201cless private\u201d by the Government, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo said on Nov 6. <\/p>\n
Responding to Mr Ang Wei Neng (West Coast-Jurong West GRC) about what constitutes private living spaces on the site of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew\u2019s family home, Mr Neo said that there are spaces, such as bedrooms, that \u201cdo not have any association with the historically significant events that took place at the site\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Neo had earlier repeated the Government\u2019s position that it will respect Mr Lee\u2019s wishes for his family\u2019s privacy to be maintained by removing all traces of their private living spaces from the house at 38 Oxley Road.<\/p>\n
To respect Mr Lee\u2019s wishes, said the acting minister, personal spaces such as bedrooms are likely to be \u201creconfigured or removed\u201d.<\/p>\n
This could \u201crange from removing furnishings, fixtures or any objects still left, to potentially also tearing down such spaces\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n
The acting minister on Nov 6 spent 50 minutes in Parliament responding to clarifications from 12 MPs on a 20-minute speech he had delivered.<\/p>\n
In the speech, Mr Neo laid out the <\/p>\n thinking behind the Government\u2019s intention to gazette the site<\/p>\n <\/a> at 38 Oxley Road as a national monument.<\/p>\n Noting that public officers have yet to gain access to the site, Mr Neo said that the structural integrity and safety of buildings on the site will have to be ascertained before a decision is made on what can be removed.<\/p>\n The basement dining room is widely regarded as the most historically significant part of the house, and was where key players in 1950s politics \u2013 including the late Mr Lee \u2013 <\/p>\n discussed their ideas for Singapore\u2019s future<\/p>\n <\/a>.<\/p>\n The National Heritage Board (NHB) and Singapore Land Authority (SLA) had said on Nov 3 that if the site is <\/p>\n gazetted and subsequently acquired by the Government<\/p>\n <\/a>, 38 Oxley Road will be converted into a public space such as a heritage park.<\/p>\n A written notice of the Government\u2019s plan to gazette the site was issued to its owner, Mr Lee Hsien Yang, on that day.<\/p>\n Other MPs, including Ms Joan Pereira (Tanjong Pagar GRC) and Mr Alex Yam (Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC), asked whether residents in the area and members of the public will get opportunities to give feedback on plans for the site.<\/p>\n Residents had earlier told The Straits Times that <\/p>\n traffic congestion and illegal parking<\/p>\n <\/a> were among their concerns over the proposed national monument.<\/p>\n