Singaporean billionaire plans to build Asian art museum in Vancouver
 

Singaporean billionaire plans to build Asian art museum in Vancouver

Published on: April 19, 2017 | Last Updated: April 19, 2017 4:20 PM PDT

One of Southeast Asia’s richest men, and a part-time Vancouver resident, wants to build a “world-class” museum dedicated to Asian and Buddhist art in the city.

Oei Hong Leong, who is ranked by Forbes as the 19th richest man in Singapore with a personal net worth of $1.2 billion, usually keeps a low profile in Vancouver. But he said in a rare interview Wednesday that he wants to go public with the museum proposal because he believes it could be a significant cultural addition to Vancouver and B.C.

“I love Vancouver,” said Oei, who is currently in Singapore but will return to B.C. in June. “I want to do my part to contribute. The thing about Buddhism is that I don’t view it so much as a religion as it is a personal philosophy, a way by which to live life. It’s about peace and harmony, and it’s a perfect fit to what we have in Vancouver.”

Oei started collecting Buddhist artifacts 40 years ago and now has 50,000 pieces in his personal collection, some of which are housed in a private museum in Singapore. The billionaire said he is not sure if the museum he imagines for Vancouver would house some of his personal collection or pieces from other sources.

He would like to start building in 2018, with completion three years later. No cost figure has been announced.

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http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/...s-to-build-asian-art-museum-in-vancouver

That would be nice. A little bit more culture would be a good thing.

Interesting that his immediate family is largely catholic, but yeah, many people see buddhism as a way of life, especially so when seeing the calming effects of having a buddha statue sitting in garden.

Note that Oei is also the owner of Plaza of Nations. I wonder if the new museum will be located there.

I like what he said regarding this museum:

“I feel that it’s time to talk, to engage the public about how we think we could contribute to Vancouver and B.C. society,” he said. “I’ve found that, if you don’t engage, people don’t understand.

“This is a non-commercial endeavour. If we get to build, we’re not looking to measure the museum’s success by ticket sales or revenue. We are approaching it from the perspective of a public service — the most important thing is that people enjoy it.”