SINGAPORE - The National Museum of Singapore's exhibition, titled In Memoriam: Lee Kuan Yew, looks set to be extended and might even become part of a permanent exhibit.
Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong posted on his Facebook account on Saturday that he had asked the museum to extend the date and the visiting hours of the memorial exhibition dedicated to the nation's founding prime minister.
The exhibit, which was originally set to run till April 26, saw unexpectedly long queues on Friday; thousands waited for more than three hours on average.
Though the exhibit runs from 10am to 8pm daily, museum staff closed the queue at 4pm on Friday as there was still a four-hour wait. The estimated queuing time dropped to an hour by Saturday afternoon.
More than 23,000 people have visited the exhibition so far.
In his Facebook post, Mr Wong also assured Singaporean that plans are being made for "something permanent for the National Museum to tell the story of Mr Lee and our founding fathers."
"In fact, all the artefacts you see in the current exhibition will be retained and curated in the soon-to-be revamped Permanent Galleries of the Museum. This will be opened later this year around Aug/Sept." he added.
The exhibition includes personal items used by Mr Lee such as a barrister wig he wore for his admission to the Bar and a Rolex watch that the Singapore Union of Postal and Telecommunications Workers gave to him after he successfully represented it in arbitration proceedings over a wage dispute.
Mr Lee's famous red box - where he kept his working documents - was also added to the display just a couple of days ago.
Mr Wong did not specify the new closing date for the exhibit but said that the museum would be making an announcement.
The exhibition is located at the glass atrium on the second level of the museum. Admission is free.
