Friday 27 March 2015

he mood in the august Chamber was solemn and sniffles

could be heard. Where the late
MrLee Kuan Yew once sat was a bouquet of white flowers.
I kept looking to my left (where
Mr Lee sat) ... Somehow we just felt he
should have been there. That was what
was on my mind, said Emeritus Senior
Minister Goh Chok Tong, describing
the mood of the House yesterday after
parliamentarians gathered for a special sitting in memory of Mr Lee. Also
present were former Cabinet ministers
Othman Wok, Ong Pang Boon and Jek
Yeun Thong some of the remaining
members of Singapores first-generation of leaders and senior civil servants, grassroots leaders, students and
other invited guests.
Twelve members spoke, including
Leader of the House and Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, Workers Party chief
Low Thia Khiang and Speaker of the
House Halimah Yacob.
After the session, all those present,
including Prime Minister Lee Hsien
Loong, made their way to Mr Lees
casket near the main entrance of the
building and paid their respects, some
of them for the second time.
Speaking after the sitting, Mr Baey
Yam Keng, Member of Parliament (MP)
for Tampines GRC, said the presence
of the Old Guard was a reminder that
it took a team to build Singapore. Although MrLee was the leader, he had a
very able team that helped him. I think
that by having everybody who could be
there together, its also honouring people
who had in their lives contributed towards the success of Singapore, he said.
Mr Inderjit Singh, MP for Ang Mo
Kio GRC, said the sitting was very emotional. Were now all busy with the
tributes and all, but when things settle

Old Guard pay their last respects

Members of the
PAP Old Guard
paying their last
respects to Mr Lee
Kuan Yew at the
Parliament House.
Photo: Don Wong

down, well realise that a big person is

missing from our lives, he said.
He added: There will not be another
Lee Kuan Yew again in my lifetime so
we just have to work harder to protect
what he built.
Mr Ang Wei Neng, MP for Jurong
GRC, said that for him, Nominated
MP (NMP) Chia Yong Yongs speech
stoodout.
She said shes the girl born with a
disability and from a poor family. And
because of the system we have, shes able
to rise up, do well in her studies, become
a lawyer and now, an NMP. So that was
a very powerful thing, even though she
has never met Mr Lee Kuan Yew, but because of the system he has created, she
has become a living testimony, he said.

Commentary

Hint of steel underlies

MPs teary tributes
Jason Tan
Associate Editor

jasontancc@mediacorp.com.sg

ne by one or in small groups,

they filed in. There was little of the usual banter that
precedes regular Parliament sittings.
Then again, yesterdays sitting was
different from almost any other that
has been held in the august Chamber.
The muted hues of clothing suggested
as much it would be a sombre, serious, teary session.
The old hands, those for whom a parliamentary sitting has been a monthly
routine for decades, tried hard, but
failed, to keep their emotions in check.
Leader of the House Dr Ng Eng Hens
tone was less even than usual, his inflections suggesting a man struggling
to get the words out. Former Deputy

Words fail me.

And today, all
I can say to
you, my first
Prime Minister,
is what I
never had the
opportunity
to tell you in
person: Thank
you, Mr Lee.
Ms Chia
Yong Yong

Nominated Member
of Parliament

Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng fared

little better and had to blink back tears
several times.
If the old hands had to struggle, what
chance would the new ones have? Nominated Member of Parliament (MP) Chia
Yong Yong provided the answer: Her
halting, tearful and heartfelt delivery
had the House in a vice-like grip, a sadness that refused to leave.
And so it was at yesterdays special
sitting of Parliament, held to pay tribute to Mr Lee Kuan Yew. The mournful mood was infectious: In the public
gallery, filled with members of the Old
Guard, civil servants, grassroots leaders, unionists, students and the media,
the mood was thick with grief.
But while mourning was the order of
the day, a spirit of steel and a celebration
of Mr Lees ideals marked the proceedings. Speaker of the House Halimah
Yaacob set the tone at 4pm, reminding

Former National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, who is MP for

Tampines GRC, told reporters that
MrLees death left him at loss for
words. He said Mr Lee gave Singapore
tremendous courage at a time when the
Republic was facing serious problems.
He never stopped worrying for Singapore. He told us basically it is your job
to worry, he never stopped caring. He
never stopped thinking about how to
solve problems, not just big problems,
but small problems as well.
Mr Peter Ong, head of the Civil
Service, said Mr Lees personal values
have shaped public service. His values
of incorruptibility, of high standards
of integrity ... this has guided the way
we have gone about teaching our officall who gathered of Mr Lees admonishment years ago to parliamentarians:
Make no mistake in this Chamber,
we are playing for keeps. The future of
Singapore and its people is not a question for light-hearted banter.
The marker she set down was duly
followed by each of the 11 MPs who followed. Mr Wong, fighting through emotion, gave a reminder of the values that
have made Singapore successful and
challenged all to build on the foundations
so securely laid by Mr Lee. This means
upholding the values of meritocracy,
multiracialism and non-corruptibility
core values that MrLee strongly
believed in and which have now become
our national ethos, he said.
Let us continue to do this and stay
cohesive as one people. Then Mr Lee
would not have toiled his whole life in
vain for Singapore.
In remembering Mr Lees lifes work,
several lauded the multiracial, multireligious society that Singapore is now
as it stands on the cusp of turning 50.
Senior Minister of State (Home Affairs
and Foreign Affairs) Masagos Zulkifli,
Minister of State (Education and Communications and Information) Sim Ann
and MP for Sembawang GRC Vikram
Nair, who all spoke in their mother

ers that they too must have very high

standards of integrity, he said.
Mr Goh, who was speaking to reporters at the community tribute centre in Kembangan later in the evening,
said that since the send-off for Mr Lee
from the Istana, he had begun to feel
a sense of upliftment.
There is this inspiration watching
the way the country has come together,
he said. This is a sad moment for all of
us ... knowing that Singaporeans felt so
much for Mr Lee Kuan Yew, I felt a bit
easier in my heart. So the heaviness
became a little lighter ... I was being
lifted by overwhelming support and
love Singaporeans had for Mr Lee.
LAURA PHILOMIN, TAN WEIZHEN and
VALERIE KOH

tongue, were among those who touched

on this theme.
Of course, no tribute to Mr Lee would
be complete without a nod to his allconsuming zeal to improve Singapore
and the lives of Singaporeans. It fell to
Dr Ng to remind us of this and he recalled how, in 2013, Mr Lee had defied
doctors orders to attend a Parliament
session on his 90th birthday, because
he had given his commitment to do so.
At age 90, frail and dehydrated,
MrLee kept his word to be here, he said.
But for all of the experience in attendance, all of the institutional memory
contained herein, it fell to one of the
least experienced to bring the House
down, in a manner of speaking, and cut
to the chase. Ms Chias tribute to a man
she said she had never met was simple,
heartfelt, to the point and steely. Did he
do well for Singapore? Look around us.
Words fail me, she continued. And
today, all I can say to you, my first Prime
Minister, is what I never had the opportunity to tell you in person: Thank
you, Mr Lee.
The House thumped armrests in
approval.
Mr Lee was never one for personal
accolades, but he would have approved
too, I am sure.