#rip lky

Dr M

Lee Kuan Yew. 1923-2015. Pencil on paper.

This one’s dedicated to the late ex-priminister of Singapore Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who passed away on the 23rd of March, and whose funeral procession was held today. Thank you for all you’ve done.

12:47 storm does not still and neither do the people. umbrellas bruised and buoyant gleam like little lights in the same ocean that has scraped flats into mud, yet ceases to reach the heart of the city, let alone extinguish it.

– 12:48 we see it in the air, first, these heralds of the dead. each vulturous arc uproots plates of earth beneath shaking feet, giving shape to our sadness, and filling us outside in – this sound: deaf to silence. loud as hope.

– 12:49 you are scarcely here when we mobilise. even the heaviest bones shake off past injury as red and white flies past, oh our lives go with you to the end of every street, our hands, snapping like flags and our tongues: suddenly every harboured hope is loosed to dim light of day, all that you fought for now welcomes you at the gates, unguarded, smiling, and free.

Mr. Lee, your best is more than enough. If you could see the Singaporeans who queued to pay respects and pen handwritten notes to you, stood in the pouring rain for you and screamed your name in a swell of agony and pride during your procession, you would know. Your best is where we stand upon and where a lot of us, young and old, are proud to call home. Thank you and farewell dearest and most honourable Sir.

I feel like an ingrate because I'm not present at home to see Mr. Lee’s procession. Seeing all the posts, tweets and snippets of the live feed makes my grief feel cheap and bluff. I don’t think this will pass off as proper mourning, especially for someone who toiled through such tough times for Singapore.

Hearing about the procession secondhand through the emotional sharings of my friends and online netizens to the critical rebuttals against the opinions of Western media has made me realise something (which I believe a lot of Singaporeans have too). In this time of grieving, Singapore has come together. And like Mr. Lee’s vision, we have come together as one people, regardless of race, language or religion. Across generations and walks of life, people stepped out to share about the one man who was key in the birth of our nation. We honoured him. No matter we are a nation of grumblers, we braved the heat and the rain anyway because it's nothing compared to what he has gone through to pitch us where we are. It's really heartening to see that we're not that emotionless or apathetic as we appear to be or as outsiders deem us to be.

Lastly, but a point which holds great weight, is that Mr. Lee was a great man full of love. Without love, he wouldn't have chosen this path. Though his softer and approachable side was less seen, let us also remember that he was “a good man, a good husband, a good father and a good grandfather” as Mr. Lee Kuan Yew’s younger son Mr. Lee Hsien Yang puts it.

There’s no need for a small fry like me to list the things he’s done for us, the people of Singapore. All his colleagues, family members and international dignitaries have been praising and speaking of all his remarkable achievements and of the lives he has touched and transformed. They're innumerable. But as a youth growing up in a Singapore that he and his other fellow statesmen have established, I am eternally grateful for his drive and dedication. Mr. Lee, thank you for taking those first steps, thank you for giving us hope and thank you for even giving us an opportunity to be thankful.