38 Oxley Road gazetted as a national monument
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The site at 38 Oxley Road houses a one-storey pre-war bungalow which was founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew’s family home.
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
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SINGAPORE – The site at 38 Oxley Road – where key discussions between Singapore’s founding leaders took place – has been gazetted as a national monument.
The preservation order for the site – published in the Government Gazette on Dec 12 at 5pm – takes effect on Dec 13. It houses a one-storey pre-war bungalow which founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew lived in from the mid-1940s until his death in 2015.
This decision comes several weeks after Mr Lee Hsien Yang – the site’s owner and younger son of the late Mr Lee – had submitted a written objection to the authorities
Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo had considered the objection in his decision to proceed with the preservation of the site, said the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) and National Heritage Board (NHB) in a statement on Dec 12.
Mr Neo noted that Mr Lee’s objection letter did not challenge the site’s historic significance or national importance, nor the evaluation process for identifying potential national monuments.
He also did not dispute an advisory panel’s assessment of the site’s preservation worthiness, they said.
MCCY and NHB said on Dec 12 that in Mr Lee Hsien Yang’s objection letter, he stated, among other things, that Mr Lee Kuan Yew was “clear and unambiguous” throughout his life that he wanted his home at 38 Oxley Road to be demolished.
Referencing a 2018 report by a ministerial committee tasked to study future options for 38 Oxley Road, MCCY and NHB said the report “clearly documented” that while Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s personal preference was for demolition, “he 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’s privacy”.
The NHB has also reviewed the objection letter, and maintained its recommendation that the site is worthy of preservation, they said.
Mr Lee submitted his objections on Nov 17, within the two-week allocated period after the Government announced its intention to gazette the site as a monument on Nov 3. The NHB had said then that the advisory board assessed that it has historic significance and national importance
In his objections, Mr Lee said 38 Oxley Road “will be a monument to the PAP’s dishonour of Lee Kuan Yew”, citing his father’s wish for the home to be demolished.
The panel, formally called the Preservation of Sites and Monuments (PSM) Advisory Board, assesses sites that have been identified as potential monuments before providing a recommendation to the NHB.
If the NHB concurs with the advisory board’s assessment, it in turn submits a proposal to the Culture, Community and Youth Minister for the site to be preserved, which the minister must then evaluate.
MCCY and NHB said that preserving the site does not mean that the building and structures within must be kept in their original state.
“The appropriate treatment of the building and structures will be subject to further study, once the Government has access to the site,” the agencies added.
“Nevertheless, to respect Mr Lee’s 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.”
In a Facebook post at 7.44pm on Dec 12, Mr Lee Hsien Yang reiterated claims he had previously made that his father was misled to believe that 38 Oxley Road had already been gazetted.
The Straits Times has contacted Mr Lee Hsien Yang for comment.
It was in the Oxley Road bungalow’s basement dining room
Besides Mr Lee Kuan Yew, these individuals – of whom many went on to be coming key leaders of independent Singapore in the 1960s – included Dr Goh Keng Swee, Dr Toh Chin Chye, Mr S. Rajaratnam, and Mr K. M. Byrne.
Mr Neo had told Parliament on Nov 6
The committee, led by then Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, had set out three suggestions for 38 Oxley Road site and the bungalow: retain the entire building, retain only the basement dining room or demolish the bungalow fully for redevelopment – either for residential use or for alternative uses like a park or heritage centre.
On Dec 12, MCCY and NHB said that Mr Neo concurred with the PSM Advisory Board’s assessment that the site “has strong national significance worthy of preservation as a national monument, as it bore witness to pivotal events in the 1950s that marked Singapore’s transition from a colony to an independent nation”.
“It was also the venue for conversations, activities and decisions by our founding leaders and other key individuals, which profoundly shaped the trajectory of Singapore’s independence movement and our subsequent national history,” the two agencies added, citing discussions among these individuals in the lead-up to the Legislative Assembly elections in 1959.
The PAP won that election, and formed Singapore’s first fully-independent government.
Describing the site as a “unique and foundational part of the story of Singapore’s independence”, MCCY and NHB said that the decision to preserve it “is made in the public interest, and goes beyond the personal preferences of any individual”.
“Preserving the site will allow current and future generations of Singaporeans to reflect upon significant events in our nation’s history that took place there, and the ideals and values that have shaped Singapore,” they said.
MCCY and NHB said that the Government intends to acquire the site “to safeguard and preserve it in keeping with its historic significance and national importance”.
“Preserving and acquiring the site means that it cannot be redeveloped for residential, commercial or other private uses,” said the agencies.
They added that the authorities will assess the condition of the buildings and structures within the site after it is acquired, and undertake a detailed study to consider the next steps.
