A Great Loss

We woke up to a different  Singapore yesterday. A Singapore without our founding father -Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

Mr Lee had passed away peacefully on 3.18am on Monday morning (23rd Mar 15) as per the official press release. This ends nearly 2months of suffering for him as he was warded for severe pneumonia in early Feb causing him to miss Lunar New Year celebrations.

The days leading up to his death, reports came out that his health is worsening and at 1 point there are even fake reports of him passing on.

All these happen while we are still holidaying in Korea and we keep checking our Facebook for updates about his health. As much as we hoped that Mr Lee Kuan Yew will be here to celebrate SG50 with us, we also hoped that he would not have to suffer by holding on. I recalled he once said that he wanted a quick death in an interview. By praying that he will hold till Aug is like hoping he will suffer more with his poor health. It's a tough choice of what we should  pray for.

While I may be unhappy about the general policies of the political party that Mr Lee Kuan Yew founded and lead and advised till a few years ago, I believed strongly that he did us good.

Without him, I will not be entitled to a world class education though its stressful.

Without him, I will not get to enjoyed the world class public transport system although now its worsening.

Without him, I will not know how important racial harmony is and learnt how to coexist with people of different races&religion. There is no Chinese, Malay or Indian. We are Singsporeans and are all treated equally.

Without him, I will not be able to travel so freely with our ever so recognised passport. He put our little red dot on the world map and made us famous be it of the correct or wrong reasons.

Without his iron fist ruling, we wouldn't be as safe as we are now. It is when we travelled then I realised how much Singapore had shaped me into a fine person with my education and the laws.

Whenever others knew we were from Singapore, they treated us with more politeness knowing that we will reciprocate. This, I believed takes a long time to let the world know.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew dedicated his whole life to build the Singapore where I grew up and called home. He had visions of what many didn't have and that brought us this far in our achievements. He had a stronger will power than us commoners and thus earned him of his status as our founding father.

As his life comes to an end on this very sad day, I hope he finally have time to rest and joined his beloved wife in heaven for some much needed couple time.

Dear Mr Lee Kuan Yew, thank you for building us the Singapore that we are proud to call home. There will never be another man who will have the same good vision as you, same fighting spirit as you and as selfless as you to contribute to our country. I hope you will be well wherever you are :)