The Passing Of A Statesman

Ever since the passing away of  Lee Kuan Yew on March 23 2015 till his funeral on March 29 2015, many friends of mine have asked me why I have not written anything about the former prime minster of Singapore.  I just told them, I simply do not know him well enough to write anything on him except that he was a determined person to bring Singapore to what it is today.  That we must admit, was a great success and therefore attributable to this great man.

Other than this, I only met him once, in 1962, when I was only 14, and it was at the old Sungai Besi Airport where I was there to see a relative flying off to London to further his studies.  While waiting for the embarkation call, I suddenly felt the need to pee and went to the toilet.  As I was doing my thing, in came, a tall Chinese gentleman and immediately I recognised him as Lee Kuan Yew because of his broad forehead.  We stood side by side at the unrinals and he even gave me a quick smile.  When I returned to my parents in the lounge, I just had to tell them I saw Lee Kuan Yew.

The next day, I read in the Straits Times that he was in town with his cabinet colleagues for a series of meetings with the Tunku with regard to the impending merger.

As a mark of respect, I have posted two videos here, one is the announcement of his death and the other, an eulogy by Lee Hsien Loong of his father at the funeral.





Here below, are some of the books written by Lee Kuan Yew in my collections.  'The Battle For Merger' was a book I bought in 1962 and have kept it until today. 'Ousted', authored by Patrick Keith, was the struggle by Lee Kuan Yew in the post-Malaysia days and the events that led to Singapore being ousted from the federation.