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Lost days, pictures fade.
#rememberinglky
Monday, 23 March 2015

Taking the morning train, watching commuters heading to work and school as per normal. But something was off, the atmosphere was relatively more solemn. Radio stations are not playing their usual music to help kickstart our Mondays by fighting off Monday Blues. Scrolling through social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to know what happened, it's really sad to even read the tributes to our founding father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

He was one who strongly believed that we could survive as a small nation. True that he was strict and sometimes some of his visions sounded overly ambitious, but he has proved skeptics wrong. He held on firmly to his beliefs and help to build Singapore from scratch.

Though I have never met him in person before, I am glad to have benefited indirectly from all his contributions and policies that shaped Singapore. Some examples would include our top-notch education system. It's tedious and we have to go through the compulsory 10 years of education, take up bilingualism and work hard to strive in a stressful environment. But it's a fact that those who underwent Singapore's stringent education system have also benefited - there are many job opportunities, not just limited to Singapore, but across the world. Bilingualism has also proved to be very useful when you can communicate with other people in different languages other than our native language. 

Living in Singapore for the past 20 years, you can also see how has Singapore grown aesthetically, and how our standard of living has improved over the years. Also listening to people from the older generations, we know that he has really put his heart and soul into it to "construct" Singapore. Our parents and grandparents used to stay in kampungs without water and electricity, but he has painstakingly built a garden city for us and a roof for everyone to stay in. 

There are so many merits about his governance and leadership that Singaporeans know of, even though the younger generations are not appreciative of. Yes, he may have made decisions that we may not agree with, but under those circumstances I believe he did his best already. Without this influential leader, without his guidance, we would not even be here today, complaining about train breakdowns, COE hikes, etc. And if you look at what he has done for us in the past few decades, nobody would challenge the fact that he has indeed made Singapore successful - from "nothing more than a small red dot on the map" to being a first world state recognized by many.

Though I've been on exchange and been missing the laid back life in Taiwan and called it my second home - Singapore will always be the first. "Home is where the heart belongs." - I might have been physically away,  but I would miss my life in Singapore and feel very fortunate to have been born and raised in Singapore. I grew up here, enjoyed Mr LKY's fruits of labour over the years to live comfortably today in a very safe environment.

Even in Taiwan, when people asked about my nationality, they all would mention LKY when describing what they know of Singapore and praise us as a whole. They would feel envious about our exemplary education system and governance.

I still remembered when we talked to 邱先生 at Hi-life back in Kaohsiung, he mentioned that he has seen LKY on TV and he was admired him as a good leader who brought Singapore to great heights. Or when I talk to my Taiwan friends and they ask, "where are you from?", knowing that I'm from Singapore they would say things like "it's a beautiful city, I would like to visit someday." or "wow it's a great country with many positive attributes." At times like that I feel really proud to be a Singaporean.  
"I have spent my life, so much of it, building up this country. There’s nothing more that I need to do. At the end of the day, what have I got? A successful Singapore. What have I given up? My life."
He may not be physically here with us to celebrate SG50, but he has fought long and hard enough to watch how we gained independence since 1965 and prospered into a developed country in the past 50 years. I believe he'll continue to watch over us from above, together with his beloved wife, and watch how we continue from where he left off and prosper in the years to come.

He deserves all my respect for what Singapore is today, Without him, Singapore would not be what she is today. Singapore = Lee Kuan Yew. Thank you for dedicating an integral part of your life to developing Singapore, a place where I'm always proud to call home. Thank you for placing Singapore before yourself. Today, we may have lost our nation's father, but your legacy lives on. You'll always be remembered in the generations to come.

"50 years ago, this man wept for the nation. 
50 years later, today, the nation weeps for the loss of this great man."

RIP, Mr Lee. (1923 - 2015)


"There's no need to build a monument for Mr Lee; Singapore is his monument. #word"

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