38 Oxley Road offers unique link to birth of independent Singapore, says minister

Upcoming Founders’ Memorial cannot replicate Oxley’s ‘authenticity’, he says

- Isabelle Liew

38 Oxley Road (centre) served as the venue for activities and decisions of Singapore's founding leaders, which profoundly influenced the trajectory of the country's independence movement and subsequent history, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo told Parliament on Nov 6. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

(ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM)

The site at 38 Oxley Road, where the family home of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew is located, needs to be retained because of its historical significance to independent Singapore, said Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo.

Explaining the decision to earmark the site as a national monument, Mr Neo told Parliament on Nov 6 that very few sites here have such a confluence of “people, place and events”.

“As a young nation, we need to retain this unique site, for it bears witness to the birth of independent Singapore, and to key moments in our history,” he said.

Mr Neo also said Singapore is “not memorialising any single leader” in preserving the site.

Rather, such sites and markers will remind Singaporeans of the country’s hard-won path to becoming a multiracial, multi-religious and sovereign nation, in a way that is not “distant or abstract”, he said.

“We are safeguarding the grounds where future generations can stand — to understand where we came from, who we are, and what we overcame together,’ he added.

Mr Neo also said that the Government’s approach to the 38 Oxley Road site was “the most responsible” one.