On Thursday, my family and I headed down to the CCK tribute centre to pay our respect to Mr Lee Kuan Yew. We also wrote notes and wrote in the book for Mr Lee. I saw so many notes of appreciation, lots of flowers and gifts for Mr Lee which was really heart warming. Like I said, being the 90s kid, I really don't know how much of a good influence Mr Lee is to the nation and even outside Singapore and how respectful he is to the people. So through all these small yet big actions, it really showed a lot a lot.
Following that, on Friday which was yesterday, my family and I went down to queue at the Padang to again pay our last respect to Mr Lee. We waited for a total of 8.5 hours to get to bow to him. The queuing time was not the main point, it is like an expected thing if you want to pay respect to him.
What's humbling was the whole atmosphere and it kinda shocked me. The whole crowd was very gracious and orderly like wow, since when? Haha no offence but really what, you don't see such patient crowd in our daily lives like the queue for public transport etc. So I was quite shocked by the level of civic-mindedness displayed. There were very minimal pushing and shoving which is the most irritating part when it comes to queuing up for things and people took care of one another. The whole atmosphere just felt very very homely and warm. I was really glad to have experienced this once in a lifetime thing with the other over 1 million(or even more) Singaporeans.
Not forgetting, the army people and volunteers were constantly ensuring our safety, our comfort and our needs. They are constantly checking on us and constantly giving out water, cardboards for us to fan ourselves, bread, biscuits, umbrella when it started to drizzle, packet drinks, cold apples, tissue paper, and on other days even cakes, pens, etc etc. Really a big thank you to them for their effort!! A thousand big thumbs up.
A usual scene of Singaporeans queuing up is pushing and complaining. But none were shown, wow. I believe everybody genuinely wants to queue and go to the Parliament house to pay respect to Mr Lee. Though some gave up and went home. Which brings me to the next point that made me felt angry.
People actually see the whole "queuing up to pay respect to mr lky" as a trend which put them off, what the shit?!?! That is the meanest thing to say!!! WHAT TREND?!?! Think what?!! People want to get popular by queuing 5 hours or 8 hours or 10 hours ah? Who will be so lame?!?! Who so free to waste time?!?! It's not like you are not a Singaporean, will most Singaporeans queue so long for a few seconds thing meh? Will most singaporeans not complain for waiting so long meh? Siao what trend, so disrespectful not only to Mr Lee but also to the people who genuinely want to show their appreciation for Mr Lee. This queuing up to pay respect thing is the minimal we can do as a citizen to say our last goodbye and thank you to someone so important to Singapore. So shame on you dudes, everything good or bad people do, sure got sth to say tsktsk. So sick and tired.
The long wait was really worth it and is nothing compared to the whole life that Mr Lee dedicated to Singapore. The moment when I stepped into the Parliament house and walked past his coffin, a strong surge of sadness overwhelmed me. I was again quite shocked by myself. Because Mr Lee, who I don't know personally had suddenly become someone I knew for a very long time, like my kin and I was really sad that he has passed on. That sadness was indescribable. Seeing so many people kneeling down ,bowing and shedding tears for him was really heart-wrenching and it again showed how successful and how respectable he is as a father of Singapore :( He took his whole life to build Singapore and only one week to unite the whole Singapore. Amazing!! Yes, people will say why only cherish when he is gone? It's because when he is still alive, there were not many documentaries being played about him for us younger generation to see and so we were not aware and took things for granted. But now that he has passed on, clips were being played and we got to know so much more about him.
Also, after watching the news/documentary of Mr Lee and about the queue at the Padang on tv just now, I really got to know more about him and very glad that I get to be one of the few million Singaporeans who went down to sincerely pay respect to him. His speeches were always very interesting and strong, his visions were very clear and whatever he said he want to achieve are all achieved years later. A very very wise, humble and capable man indeed.
So thank you, thank you and thank you to our founding father, the first Prime Minister as well as the architect of Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, for your determination, your contributions and your life in transforming Singapore to how it is right now. No words can suffice and I hope you can see how much admiration, how much respect and how much appreciation we have for you. Rest in Peace and reunite with your wife above, Sir! You will always be in our memory and will always live in our hearts. :')
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