139. MY TRIBUTE

1923-2015

I came to Singapore 5 years after Singapore became an independent Republic. I did not plan it - it just happened. The tumultous years were over so I never experienced the racial riots, high crime, communist influenced labour strikes, gang fights, corruption. These were all the stuff I read about in the local papers, on radio and later, on black n white tv.

I had no idea how long I would stay....6 months later.....I became a long term resident. The Singapore Government welcomed Malaysians. The population was 1.5million.

The island than was going through a building boom. The official 'bird' was the crane. The housing people bragged that a flat unit was being completed every 30 minutes. Everywhere, roads were been dugged up for laying pipes or cables or monsoon drains and traffic congestion was bad. 

The landscape was changing fast and furious with an urban renewal programme. Everything seemed to be implemented one after the other as time was of the essence. Besides the physical landscape, there was the rest of it - education, reining in the bus drivers who would stop driving on route when they were unhappy about something, reining in pilots, reining in corrupt clerks-of-works....so many areas needed attention and fine-tuning. The sense of urgency was palpable.

While the Singapore Government struggled to survive and to look after its people, its large neighbours of Indonesia and the Philippines had currencies that were stronger. Their people were travelling by the planeloads into Singapore on their way to the West. They spent on hotels and shopping like there was no tomorrow. The Japanese came too - like a 2nd invasion. They spent on XO, women, crocodile skin goods and brand names - paying in USD cash like it was going out of fashion. A decade later, their people became quite broke when their currencies weakened considerably and their people struggled to find scarce jobs and their Governments struggled to provide those jobs.

Over the decades, I saw the changes and the differences taking place in Singapore and Malaysia. Especially so in the latter country where the minority Chinese and Indians were marginalised. Many came to Singapore to work and live long term. Others emigrated.

Mr Lee and his team may have been hard taskmasters. They broached no nonsense from those who had agendas to throw a spanner into the works. What he and his team did was SERVICE that was totally selfless - to their country and its people. I am a beneficiary of their labour of love.

I did not queue for hours to honour his memory - that dosen't prove anything once he's gone. But to the rest of the world, the numerous tributes from people overseas, big and small, speak volumes. The many thousands who waited hours in line were not queuing for free ice cream or Hello Kitty...

When he lived, I've always felt affection for him and followed his Public Relations work with great interest as he became a travelling salesman for Singapore and this region after he stepped down as the Prime Minister.

On the day of his funeral, it rained quite heavily and there was a clear, complete rainbow that could be seen clearly across the Bay. To me, it was a spiritual send-off and a big welcome Home. His task on this plane is done and he did it admirably - no apologies.

To Singaporean naysayers - 'champion grumblers' as Mr Lee called them - many have forgotten the holes they crawled out from. Those holes were one room flats where 10 people slept on the floor. Still others grew up in thatched roofed or zinc sheds shared by 3 families with one night-soil bucket toilet and a well. When it rained, it was mud and floods. To these critics who are merely frogs in the well, I ask - what's your contribution to this country you call home? (foreign critics do not have a stake here so they can be ignored). Have you made a difference to the lives of others? How did you get to where you are if the conditions were not there that allowed you to flourish?

Everything come in cycles...every up has a down - good times can end overnight - like what has happened elsewhere...and Singaporeans may just find themselves crawling back into a hole...

 ....and Mr Lee did all this and more...