Preserving 38 Oxley Road is not about LKY’s legacy. It’s about history.
We have many national monuments in Singapore. They are preserved and promoted for posterity.
Here are some of them:
- Jurong Town Hall
- House of Tan Yeok Nee: built by Teochew towkays (businessmen) in late nineteenth-century Singapore to remember the contribution of early Chinese immigrants
- Hong San See: established by Hokkien immigrants from Nan’an County in Fujian Province, China.
Preserving 38 Oxley Road is not about preserving Lee Kuan Yew’s legacy because his legacy is Singapore.
Preserving 38 Oxley Road is about preserving history for posterity. It is also about preserving the values exemplified by the humble abode of the first prime minister where no heater existed until after his wife fell sick.
Someone said ‘so what if LKY did have a proposal to renovate his house in 2012, that proposal has expired’.
Of course it has expired.
The point is that he took actual steps to meet with his architect, go through plans and approved them to renovate the interior of his house, strengthen its structure while leaving the basement dining room and the exterior structure alone.
Is Mr Lee the sort of man who would waste his time meeting architect, going through proposals and plans to do something he does not believe in? Certainly not!
Was he planning to renovate his house because he envisaged himself living in the house for a long time? Of course not.
The renovation plan was not for himself. It was for Singapore and for his wife – to preserve the basement dining room and to alter the interior and get rid of the private spaces.
Does an expired URA approval cancel out his intention?
Of course the approval permit expired because there were quarrels over the house after his death and things stalled.
People talk about giving LKY his wish.
Then carry out his unfinished work of renovating the house. He did the first part of the work – planning and obtaining approval – and expected the second part to be carried out after his death.
Approval expired?
Get a new one.
