Goodbye

I want to make clear that this post has no political opinion at all and it's really just personal opinion all the way. 

No words needed - Mr Lee passed away at 3:18AM and now the nation's in mourning for a week.

There's no one in Singapore who doesn't know who Lee Kuan Yew is - as a child I heard his name, as a student I learned about what he did for the country and why we so often referred to him as the father of our nation.

We all know how he was the one who took our little red dot and turned it into what it is today - most of the world knows who we are because of him, and it really says something that prominent leaders have all paid tribute to him.

I used to hear quite a few people grumble about him and his policies, but no one really spoke up against any of it because well, who could deny all that he'd done for us? Love him or hate him, you couldn't deny that the country was all the better because of someone like him.

Speaking of loving and hating, it seems that everyone only has nice things to say after his passing. In a way, it makes one wonder about how we're all hypocrites, no?

But that's not the point. The point is that we've all hoped against hope, gossiped and speculated and wondered if he would make it through Chinese New Year, the rest of this year after CNY, worried and gossiped some more after the fake media release scare (someone doctored a media release last week with details of LKY's passing, and it's kind of ironic how it's actually real now)... And now he's really gone.

It's odd, it really is. For all that we've talked about it, I suppose no one really expected that such a human thing as death could touch him.

Mum says he was never the same ever since his wife passed away about two years ago, and I have to admit that it's very likely for the best that he's gone on when he has instead of suffering even more. Being the man he was, I'm sure he'd have wanted to leave with dignity.

In a way, I'm fascinated by the coverage - all media outlets have been preparing for this for ages now, and I remember how we all knew that tributary reports were being prepared for cases like these when we were interns. It's really fascinating if you take a step back from the grieving because of the knowledge that no other media tribute will ever be this big or this significant.

I'm going to pay my respects with mum this Thursday after class - not sure what else to say, but I suppose all that's really needed is this:

From the bottom of our hearts - thank you, sir, for everything you have done for our country. It's true that we wouldn't be where we are today without you, and it'll be difficult for both your family as well as the nation to deal with having to walk on without you at our side to help us up should we fall. As a friend put it today, it'll be odd having a nation without the feeling of security that you brought to it - everything felt alright knowing that you were still around, but we definitely need to learn how best to cope now that you're not.

In a way, you really were a father to us all - but now we have to be strong, no? Just like every child has to learn how to cope when his or her parents pass on, we have to learn how to take care of ourselves as a nation - you helped us grow up, and now we are the figurative adult making sense of the world around us.

Thank you, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. May you rest in peace.