From The Straits Times    |

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A Singapore mum writes a tribute to the memory of Founding Prime Minister of Singapore Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. Image: ST file photo

My nine-year-old daughter came home from school on Monday and told me: “They have been talking about that Lee Kuan Yew all day!”

Shocked at how disrespectful she sounded, I told her, “He is Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Do you know who he is?”

“No, but I know he died,” she replied.

How does one condense 50 years of a man’s work into a few short sentences a child can understand? How does one even begin, when that man is Mr Lee Kuan Yew?

Telling her he was Singapore’s first Prime Minister wouldn’t be enough. Neither would telling her that he was a monument of a man who propelled Singapore to do great things.

I have never been much of a historian, preferring to enjoy the present and dream about the future. Because of that, I’ve been remiss in helping my children understand where we come from.

I remember the stories my parents told me as a child. About how frightening it was during wartime, when even the babies didn’t cry. When there was no food to eat and rice was a luxury.

I remember my dad telling us about Singapore’s merger with Malaysia, and how Mr Lee cried when he announced our subsequent separation. I recall my mother telling me how the streets then were riddled with gangs and how people lived in squatters with no clean water or proper sanitation.

It’s now time to tell these same stories to my kids, so they can have a small measure of, not just Singapore’s history, but their grandparents’ as well.

I marvel at how one man’s personality shaped a nation. His values are the ones my generation holds dear, which we strive to pass on to our kids. Hard work, discipline, resilience, a can-do spirit, consideration for others, and the most important one for my family – that there are no one-offs in life, no one-trick ponies.

I tell my kids that if they start something, they have to keep at it, no giving up. Imagine if Mr Lee had given up at the first hurdle or even the 10th or 20th. And if they succeed at something, they should strive to maintain that success.

Chief among the stories that will now make it to our family’s compendium of memories, is how their Gong Gong and Ma Ma are truly saddened by Mr Lee’s passing.

My parents, both in their 70s, lived through the difficult years of nation-building and since Monday, when Mr Lee’s passing was announced, have been sombre and teary-eyed. My father rues how he was just across the road when Mr Lee’s hearse arrived at the Istana. If his legs were stronger, I’m sure my dad would have joined the crowds to pay his final respects.

To see how Mr Lee’s death is affecting my parents touches me more deeply than any tribute or commentary I’ve come across. They had immense respect for him and feel his loss keenly.

Throughout my life, my dad has referred to Mr Lee as “Kuan Yew”. In him, my father saw someone who understood the problems a young Singapore was going through, who wanted to help, and then did so beyond expectation.

Mr Lee provided my parents (and their generation) a place they could call home and they are truly grateful to him for it. They attribute my sister’s and my success to him – the fact that we were able to go to university and then find jobs we enjoyed, so we could create our own histories.

They see how far Singapore has come and attribute it to Mr Lee’s foresight. I want my kids to know these things too, to hear the old stories, and to understand. So it starts tonight, at bedtime, when we’ll talk about why their grandparents are feeling so sad and who that man called Lee Kuan Yew was.

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