28 Mar 2015 - I have finally managed to pay my respect to Mr Lee Kuan Yew at the Parliament House, the last day before he sets off his last journey. After many days of "struggles" and "procrastination" due to the extremely long hours of queue for the past few nights. I did not sleep well for 2 consecutive nights as I woke up every 2 hours to check the status of the queue at Padang, hoping that the crowd get lesser in late nights and I was totally wrong! In fact, the queue hours got longer at night than in the day when everyone is working. On Friday evening, the was even a closure of queue until 6.15am the next day, I was worried as I know there will be many people who are like me who did not manage to make their way down from Wed to Fri and Sat is the LAST DAY to do so. Therefore, I made up my mind to make my trip down alone after meeting my ID to handover my new place in the morning. No regret for this decision and I am glad I did not miss this chance to express my gratitude to Mr Lee personally. Though I have never met him before, he is certainly someone whom I respect a lot since young.
Honestly, I felt so much at ease after my visit to pay my respect to this great Founding Father personally. The process to Padang was not easy, I have arrived at Padang at 1.40pm and took a super long route from Padang to Floating Platform then Singapore River before arriving at Parliament House. The distance is one thing, the humidity and crowd was really quite horrible. I was especially irritated by some ignorant uncles who kept talking non stop about anti-govt issues under then hot sun and a bunch of young teenagers who were busy discussing what to eat for dinner after the queue. In my mind, I was wondering if they are sincere about paying respect to Mr Lee? Without these people, probably the queue will be faster and more bearable. I paid my respect to Mr Lee at 4.30pm, about 3 hours in total, not as scary as what was stated on FB of 5 hours. Phew....Thankfully, I have made it there and no regret for queuing for 3 hours to pay my respect to Mr Lee. The advantage of visiting alone is the ability to walk faster and squeeze through the crowd at my own speed. I was literally speed walking and enjoy the sceneries along the way, coupled with very friendly volunteers and military folks who was ushering, offering food, drinks and umbrellas to everyone. I must say they are the most amazing organizing committee who have sacrifice so much time under the hot weather for long hours to make this possible.
As of 10pm, 442,297 people have paid respects to Mr Lee Kuan Yew at Parliament House. 125,450 condolence cards were collected..Truly an amazing record which Mr Lee has created even at his departure. Thank you Mr Lee for uniting the nation once again and proves that we all appreciate your lifetime devotion to create Singapore from a fishing village to a first class country in 50 years. No amount of words can express my gratitude for Mr Lee for his brilliant vision and effort to make this happen. Without Mr Lee, there will not be a country call Singapore in today's world map. The entire week national mourning is also a reflection week for me as I have taken time to watch the historical documentaries which share what Mr Lee and his team has done to create Singapore. Mr Lee has cried on national TV when Singapore was separated from Malaysia and 50 years later, the whole nation mourn for his demise. Frankly, the 24/7 reports and documentaries on Mr Lee and his achievements and life stories were quite overwhelming but I must say it was also a crash course of Singapore's history and how we have evolved over the years. Personally, I did not know so much about his efforts in many areas such as HDB, education, bilingual society, green city, world-class airport, non-corrupted govt etc...the list goes on but I believe not many Singaporeans of my generation and beyond know all these achievements of Mr Lee. Maybe MOE could set Mr Lee's story as a history chapter to allow the future generations to know him better from now on. His legendary stories and admirable determination should be passed on to everyone Singaporean.
Beyond those national matters, I have also got to know Mr Lee better in terms of his true love towards his wife and family. He once replied to a report's question of what matters to him most, he said "My Family and My Country". This shows how much he cares for Singapore, he take Singapore as his big family and he's responsible for everyone's well-being in the country. Such a heavy burden he has got on his shoulders indeed. Total salute him for his sense of accountability for the country. Even though he was the top most respected man in Singapore, he remained frugal and stayed in a simple house instead of Istana. He lead a simple family life with his wife, 2 sons and 1 daughter, who are all very respected people today. His personal life stories really amazed me of how he has led his 91 years and remain concern of the country even before he was admitted to hospital on 5 Feb 2015 in SGH due to pneumonia. Based on his officer, he refused to get admitted to the hospital in the middle of the night as he did not want to wake the senior doctors up to treat him. It is indeed very thoughtful for a top leader to think so much for everyone including his doctors, he has shown so much love to the people around him. Not forgetting sending birthday cards to his regular cobbler and anyone who has served him long enough to establish a relationship with this most respected Founding Father. He has taught me one important thing: Never take anyone for granted. Everyone regardless of which level should be treated with respect and care, which make one more sincere and happier in life. Truly, if everyone could learn this attribute from him, Singapore will definitely become a happier and more gracious country to live in. Thank you Mr Lee for being such a role model to us and teaching us the basics of life. :)
This week of readings on all media platforms really exposed so much worthy information of Mr Lee, which is rarely talked about in the past. It is a pity that we only know him better after he is gone. I have been reading faithfully on his FB and CNA this week, I must say I have gained so much knowledge and good values from Mr Lee. His extraordinary life has definitely made an impact to me in one way or another. I hope to be as resilient as him to handle challenges in life and always have courage to be different to create an impact in any aspect. Some good reads about Mr Lee can be found on his dedicated page: RememberingLeeKuanYew and His 10 most significant speeches and The Soft Truth of LKY. There are too many meaningful articles and videos of this great leader but let's take time to digest his stories and apply his values in our daily lives. I am sure he will be glad that we adopt his positive values and help to make Singapore a better place for everyone.
Lastly, I would still like to thank Mr Lee Kuan Yew for devoting his whole life to Singapore. We will be forever grateful to your contributions and sacrifice for the nation. Though you may have become history today, your spirits will remain here to spur us on, we will continue to improve Singapore and make you proud wherever you are. We are so blessed to have you as our leader, globally recognized and known to be a great man. May you rest in peace now after working so hard your whole lifetime, hope you will rest well and reunite with your loving wife Mdm Kwa in another world. Once again, big thank you for everything that you have done, Mr Lee.
