Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, it is with a great sense of gratitude that I paid my final respects to you in the wee hours of 26 March 2015.
The beauty, orderliness and cleanliness of modern Singapore owe their beginnings to you and the capable team that you assembled in our early years.
Empowered with vision, you saw the potential of modern Singapore and worked tirelessly towards building a nation that we are now proud to call our own.
Your strength as a leader has not gone unnoticed by our neighbours or the international community. It was this strength that galvanised a people of diverse backgrounds and beliefs. It is this strength that won you the respect of your people and those around you.
Leadership is, indeed, no easy task. Despite much opposition, you made difficult decisions, many of which you believed were for the good of our island nation. Many of these decisions turned out to be the correct ones. Of course, being as human as the rest of us, there is no doubt that mistakes were made. Some policies were unpopular and some actions were controversial. Nevertheless, it is my belief that these were outcomes that were already weighed and discussed. It is inconceivable that a man blessed with such foresight would not imagine the results of his words, actions and decisions.
Mr. Lee, I believe that you did the best you could with what you had and I am immensely appreciative that we had a leader who was as courageous as you even in the toughest of times. Thank you, Sir, for trailblazing us to where we are today.
Though I have not known you in person, I know that your heart and soul were devoted to the rise of modern Singapore. Though I have not seen you in person, I see the vision you had all those years ago in the fruit of your labour all around me. Though I have not heard you speak in person, I have witnessed the gravitas and power of the words that you have spoken.
In your passing, we are deeply grieved at the loss of one of our great founding fathers. Thank you, Mr. Lee, for all that you have done for us. You have served this nation with your life - a life that will be forever inscribed in the annals of history, never replaced, never forgotten.
#rememberingLKY
