NATIONAL MUSEUM (Plans for modernisation)

[Mr Speaker in the Chair]

Mr J. F. Conceicao asked the Minister for Science and Technology what steps have been taken to modernise the National Museum on the lines indicated in the addendum to the President's Speech on 6th May, 1968.

The Minister for Science and Technology (Dr Toh Chin Chye): Mr Speaker, Sir, at the time of the transfer of the National Museum to the Ministry of Science and Technology, there were plans to modernise the public galleries and to modify the existing building to increase the exhibition space from the present 36,000 square feet to 51,000 square feet as well as to provide adequate accommodation for the reference collection, library and research facilities.

These plans were based on recommendations submitted by a UNESCO museum adviser, Dr A. N. J. Vandehoop, and those submitted by the Science and Industry Museum Com mittee set up in 1961. The Government has also obtained the services of a Colombo Plan expert, Mr Y. Takizawa, of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, from September 1967 to June this year to advise on the designs and layout of exhibition cases in the public galleries.

However, Members will be aware that the Museum, as it stands at the moment, is almost a junk-shop containing a hodge-podge of exhibits. You enter one room in which you see snakes and monkeys and you enter the next room and you see old Chinese furniture and sarongs.

Obviously the Museum needs a new policy and, accordingly, a Gallup poll was conducted among Museum visitors to ascertain their preferences for the various categories of exhibits in June this year. The results showed a general preference for exhibits of flora and fauna. In view of this preference and of the limitation of funds which makes it impossible to build up the Anthropological Section of the Museum, it has now been decided to develop the National Museum into a Natural History Museum. In the meantime, the Development Planning Committee has given approval for expenditure of $245,000 to improve the existing building according to plans already made.

Legislation will shortly be introduced to provide for the establishment of a National Museum Board which will advise and assist in the running of the National Museum. There is also a possibility that the services of a Museum expert may be obtained with UNESCO assistance to advise on the setting up of exhibits and dioramas in the National Museum.