Singapore bids adieu to Lee Kuan Yew

Singapore, March 29

Tens of thousands of people today braved heavy rain to bid a teary adieu to Singapore’s founding leader Lee Kuan Yew in a grand funeral attended by many world leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi who described him as one of the “tallest leaders of our times”.

91-year-old Lee, the city-state’s Prime Minister for 31 years and widely respected as the architect of Singapore’s prosperity, died of severe pneumonia on March 23.

Global dignitaries, including monarchs, Presidents, Prime Ministers and former leaders, joined hundreds of thousands of Singaporeans in a state funeral service which was telecast live and streamed on various social media.

Prime Minister Modi arrived in Singapore this morning and attended the service.

Defence sirens were blown throughout Singapore’s housing estates for a minute of silence to pay respects as the last post was played on by a military bugler.

Earlier, Singaporeans lined up amid heavy downpour along a 15.4-km route on which Lee’s coffin, draped in red-and-white Singapore flag and protected from the downpour by a glass casing, made a journey from Parliament House to the University Cultural Center at the National University of Singapore, where the service was held.

Lee’s body had been lying in state at Parliament for the public to pay respects to the leader. More than 4,50,000 people had paid their last respects to Lee during the week.

The Singapore Armed Forces, which was established by Lee, gave the highest honour to the leader with a 21-gun salute, a fly-past by the air force planes and sail-past by naval boats.

A 21-gun salute is normally reserved for sitting heads of state but an exception was made for Lee.

Lee’s son Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong led the eulogies read out at the service, giving an emotional tribute to his father. Prime Minister Lee said his father had “lived and breathed Singapore all his life”.

“The light that has guided us all these years has been extinguished,” he said.

Soon after his arrival here, Prime Minister Modi lauded Lee as a “global thinker” and said India deeply valued his friendship and his support for its economic progress.

Modi, who had earlier visited Singapore as Gujarat Chief Minister in October 2006, said the former Singapore Prime Minister was “among the tallest leaders of our times”.

Apart from Modi, several world leaders attended Lee’s funeral, including former US President Bill Clinton, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, Malaysian King Abdul Halim Shah and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.

Lee is widely credited with transforming Singapore from an impoverished third-world nation into an advanced first- world economy within just a generation. — PTI