Detailing the reasons behind the government’s intention to preserve 38 Oxley Road as a national monument, Neo told parliament on Thursday that the space and its importance could not be replicated elsewhere, including the coming S$335 million (US$256 million) Founders’ Memorial.
The National Heritage Board (NHB) and Singapore Land Authority (SLA) on Monday said that the home was of historic significance and national importance, and worthy of preservation as a national monument “with one possible outcome being a heritage park”.
Neo said in parliament: “The focus of this education therefore is on the pivotal historical events that happened there, one that brought us from colonial to self-rule, to independence, rather than the lives of those people who lived there.”
Lee Hsien Yang, who claimed he had received asylum protection in the United Kingdom and who still owns the property, on Monday night posted a statement on social media saying the Singapore government had “chosen to trample on Lee Kuan Yew’s unwavering wish to demolish his private house”.
