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Remembering Lee Kuan Yew

Clementi: site of prime educational institutions NUS and Singapore Polytechnic

Longer wait, but they stayed to bid farewell

Many reassembled to wait
for cortege to leave UCC
for Mandai Crematorium
Yvonne Lim and Kelly Ng

yvonnelimsy@mediacorp.com.sg

eing on the final stretch of the

route for the State Funeral
procession for Mr Lee Kuan
Yew, those in Clementi had to wait the
longest to bid farewell to Singapores
founding Prime Minister.
Still, many not only arrived early
and waited under the rain for Mr Lees
cortege to pass, but also waited for the
funeral service at the University Cultural Centre (UCC) to end so they could
say one last goodbye.
From residents from blocks in
the vicinity to National University of
Singapore undergraduates and many
from the Japanese community living
in the area, crowds lined Clementi
Road hours before the funeral procession started at 12.30pm from ParliamentHouse.
As the gun carriage bearing
MrLees body approached at about
1.45pm, a melancholic lull fell over
thearea.

The brief silence was soon broken by

chants of Lee Kuan Yew and frantic
waving of the Singapore flag, similar
to scenes along the entire funeral procession route.
A 26-year-old engineer, who wanted
to be known only as Kit, was visibly
emotional, sobbing as she watched
the live telecast of the procession on
hersmartphone.
(Mr Lee) is our founding father. He
built a place that we can call home,
she said, choking back tears. She had
travelled from her Punggol home with
a friend, a 29-year-old who wanted to
be identified only as Ling.
Full-time national serviceman Zikry
Zailani, 22, had waited to pay his last
respects since 11am, together with his
mother, sister, brother and cousin.
Mr Zailani, who was unable to visit
any of the community tribute sites or
Parliament House because he had National Service duties, said Mr Lee was
an irreplaceable leader.
He helped the Malay community
with their education and building of
mosques. Without him, we will not be
living so safely here, he added.
Japanese Yukiko Sato, 49, a housewife who has lived in Singapore for
three years, said Mr Lees commitment

to forgive Japan for its role in World

War II touched her heart.
When so many neighbouring
countries held a grudge against Japan, MrLee chose to say that Singapore would forgive, but not forget,
she said.
While the crowds dispersed after
the cortege entered NUS, some people
stayed back to watch the funeral service
proceedings from their mobile devices.
Shortly before the service ended
at about 5pm, the crowd reassembled along Clementi Road to wait for
MrLees cortege to leave the UCC for a
private wake at Mandai Crematorium.
Many shouted We love you, Lee
Kuan Yew and Thank you, sir, while
a group was heard reciting the pledge.

Tributes
from readers

(Top) Crowds formed up in Clementi, the final stretch of the route

for Mr Lees funeral procession, hours before it started yesterday.
(Above) A homemade tribute left behind by those who turned up
to watch the procession on Clementi Road. PHOTOS: YVONNE LIM

Steve Yong Kui Sen: In gratitude for all

they did tdy.sg/ltrlky0330
Johnny Tan Hung Ming: Tribute or
veiled sarcasm? tdy.sg/ltrlky0330a
Tay Yong Hong: A show of the
Singapore spirit tdy.sg/ltrlky0330b
Somasundaram Sandiran:
Parents stayed because of Mr Lee
tdy.sg/ltrlky0330c