#ThankYouLKY

The passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's founding father, must be the most talked about topic today.

Official statement from the Prime Minister's Office.

Since I was young, my aunt has always told me that Mr Lee Kuan Yew is her hero,
because he changed Singapore and enabled us to live in a secure and safe environment.

Every National Day Parade, as we gathered around the tv to watch,
my da gu gu would always anticipate the moment where Mr Lee would appear on the Grandstand.
Without fail, she would stand up and clap enthusiastically when he finally made his presence.

I didn't fully understand this excitement, until I actually studied Social Studies.
Merger, everyone knows.
A clean and green Singapore, that was also his vision too.

Singapore has been very fortunate because our founding Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew was a pragmatic environmentalist even before green became fashionable. He understood and pursued a philosophy of growing our economy whilst protecting the environment.

- Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, 2014.

For me, he is a great man, who gave up much of his youth fighting for his ideals, for his country.
Singapore is a small dot on the world map.
People scoffed at him, but he stuck on to his principles and proved that he could transform Singapore.
Through his iron fist and determination, Mr Lee did many things and allowed us to stand out.
Geographically our size is the still same, but our presence internationally is more than that dot.

I remember, on the train in Seoul, a Korean man asked us which country were we from.
When we said Singapore, the first thing out of his mouth was this:

Singapore? GOOD. Lee Kuan Yew is a very good man. 

He then proceeded to talk to his neighbour about Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew.
#ProudToBeSingaporean

Read this on SGAG and I thought it was a meaningful pun.

There was a time, where people said Singapore couldn't make it, but Yew did. 

Of course, he was not perfect, and had his own critics.
There's no denying that some of his policies and actions were harsh, but politics is as such.

Mr Lee was fully aware of it.
In an interview in 2010 with The New York Times, he said this:

Let me give you a Chinese proverb: Do not judge a man until you've closed his coffin.

I may still do something foolish before the lid is closed on me.. The final verdict may not be in the obituaries. The final verdict will be when the PhD students dig out the archives, read my old papers, assess what my enemies have said, sift the evidence and seek the truth. I'm not saying that everything I did was right, but everything I did was for an honourable purpose. I had to do some nasty things, locking fellows up without trial.

Right now, this quote is especially powerful and poignant, because the coffin has indeed closed.
The man that is our founding father, how will the future generations remember and honour him?

I hope that we are able to learn from not just his wisdom and tenacity, but also his faults.

For someone so powerful to admit that he did wrong, takes courage.
He was said to be arrogant, but perhaps he did earn that right.
He had an authoritarian personality, but if not for his absolute beliefs, would Singapore have progressed?

No matter what is being said of him, I believe that actions speak louder than words.

I have never been over-concerned or obsessed with opinion polls or popularity polls. I think a leader who is, is a weak leader... And that's not what I am in this for. Between being loved and being feared, I have always believed that Machiavelli was right - If nobody is afraid of me, I'm meaningless.

Without him, I believe that Singapore would not be how it is today.
Maybe we would still be able to succeed, but how far and how different?
No one really knows,
but the fact remains that our current state of success is attributed to the far-sighted wisdom of our founding father.

He has also touched me with his devotion to his wife.
Here's a link to an article that his daughter wrote, after Mrs Lee passed away:
Love does indeed spring eternal - Dr Lee Wei Ling

It shows that no matter how powerful a man, he has emotional moments of vulnerability as well.
It is a reminder that Mr Lee Kuan Yew is only human, and not just a ruthless political giant.

So, although it's extremely sad that Mr Lee Kuan Yew could not see Singapore reach its 50th year of independence,
it is also a kind of relief that he is not suffering anymore.
It is a form of release, because he can finally be reunited with his beloved.

I would like to end off with my favourite quote of his, which I came across a few months ago.

Good or bad, justified or ruthless, 

there's no denying the contributions Mr Lee Kuan Yew has made for Singapore.

RIP Mr Lee Kuan Yew, and .thank you.

You will always be remembered.

#thankyouLKY

As I record my thoughts, here's a random one:
For us, the younger generation, it's the dawn of a new era.
Especially with the rising power of social media, and in the age of free speech and liberal thinking,
how will we carry on LKY and all our previous leaders' hopes, dreams, and legacy?

It's a question worth pondering.