Singaporeans bid adieu to Lee as nation’s founder lies in state
Print Edition
THOUSANDS of Singaporeans queued yesterday to pay their last respects to former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, who lay in state at Parliament House, waiting for up to eight hours in stifling tropical heat to view his body.
Lee’s coffin was taken by gun carriage to Parliament House in the morning. Lee, modern Singapore’s founding father, died on Monday, aged 91.
His casket, wrapped in the Singaporean flag, was brought from the Istana palace, where the Singapore prime minister’s office is located and the Lee family held a private wake for the last two days. A bagpiper played “Auld Lang Syne” as the procession set off.
Chants of “Lee Kuan Yew” rang out among the crowd as the carriage entered the colonnaded Parliament House in the heart of the city-state’s business district. The funeral is on Sunday.
In a sight rarely seen in Singapore where protests are tightly controlled, thousands of people stood in lines stretching over a few kilometers from Parliament House, over the river, across the financial district, into Chinatown.
Due to the overwhelming response, the government extended viewings to round the clock on Saturday evening.
Lee, Singapore’s first prime minister, is credited with transforming the city-state from a British colonial outpost into one of the world’s wealthiest nations on a per capita basis.
“Many people found he was a bit stern. But in order to lead, you have to be a little stern,” said Mariam Mohammed, 52, who queued outside Parliament House with her family. “This is the last opportunity. I would love to have met him in person to thank him personally. But I hope he knows we are grateful for what he did.”
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Lee Kuan Yew’s eldest son, was shown on television chatting with people in the queue. Some came prepared with umbrellas, paper fans and folding chairs.
A florist at the closest subway stop offered free flowers to people on their way to the viewing and a luxury hotel distributed iced water to mourners. Coaches ferried students and their teachers to Parliament House, and many employers, including multinational companies, allowed staff to take time off to pay their respects.
Earlier yesterday, the central business district came to a standstill when hundreds of people came out of their offices to watch live television coverage of the procession on a giant screen, which normally blasts loud commercials.
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