Thank You, Mr Lee, Sir
I hoped this day would not come but waited with resignation for its eventuality. When the news broke of his passing, my heart grew heavy, then the tears flowed as I watch PM giving the live address to the nation, struggling hard to keep his emotions in check.
I was a child of the 60s, growing up in an age when Singapore herself was a newborn, grappling with issues of racialism, political divide, nation building, trying to find her feet in a rather hostile neighborhood.
I remember the clashes over race, questioning the rationale learning Malay as our “National Language” ( why isn’t it English? ), experiencing the sights and smells of pig swill and farms, my carefree childhood without tuition or enrichment classes, running around barefoot along HDB corridors with my cousins, enjoying school, gawking at the first screen shot on a color TV, catching longkang fish in a canal, listening to Lei Tai Sor telling stories in Cantonese on Rediffusion….
Those were the halcyon days when Mr Lee Kuan Yew was the face and figure of Singapore. He was the driving force behind his party with the lightning rod symbol and his every word was the people’s command. We obeyed and followed, without question, like children under an authoritarian parent. Upon reflection, I reluctantly concede it had been good for us and we, as a nation with teething problems.
Then came the turning point when the inconceivable happened- we got ourselves an opposition with more to follow later. Mr Lee was fiercely protective of the Singapore he had nursed from her birth. The opposing voices were quickly bankrupted, imprisoned, discredited with deft strokes.
We felt sorry for the underdogs. We wanted to believe that they could offer an alternate platform.
We got restless, as teenagers in transition, and we started to question many things.
Mr Lee did not hold on to the reigns as Commander in Chief but graciously stepped aside when he felt it was time to do so. Over the next decades we saw signs of his mellowing, and more of his human side as a husband and father.
I cannot forget the scene of his farewell to his beloved and soulmate – a picture of a man who suffered a deep, deep loss and unimaginable grief.
As we turn 50 this year, we have grown up somewhat. I have been upgraded from a 3- room HDB flat to a more solid roof over my head. Prices of car, real estate, consumables have risen by a lot. But we also have more opportunities to travel , explore and discern for ourselves. We now have bragging rights that this “little red dot” could and did outdo others to become what it is today.
My children do not have much of an impression of Mr Lee but they are the beneficiaries of the legacy he left behind. Every son and daughter of Singapore owe a large part of who they are and what they are to you, Mr Lee, our Founding Father.
So as I pen this tribute, I just want to say ” Thank You, Mr Lee, Sir “for giving your entire life for Singapore. It was a life truly well lived and you have left such a footprint in the annals of history which no other can emulate.
Rest in eternal peace and dance with your beloved . We will remember you always.
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