the final farewell

it was perhaps fitting that the sky mourned alongside many of us.

it poured and many stood, solemnly and patiently, as they awaited the final view of mr lee's hearse. 12.30pm came and the final farewell started. the guards of honour from the uniformed services from both the police and the armed forces marched ahead of the hearse, and with his family and pall bearers walking behind. all these as the rain continued pouring. it was heartbreaking. the military gave a fitting farewell march where the army honoured him with a 21-gun salute, the air force with a fly-past and the navy with a sail-past. crowds lined the streets, all of the more than the 15km-journey and shouted "lee kuan yew" as the hearse passed them. and just as it seemed to have been pre-planned, the sky cleared up when the hearse arrived at the university where the final eulogies were delivered.

the 7-day mourning period building up to this final hours had been most useful, useful for a fact that it provided the space for the nation to mourn and to grief. it was necessary, given that the nation and him shared a very strong and very special bond. over the last 2 days, i am beginning to see people composing light notes about their thoughts about his passing and some even were able to talk about moving forward and continuing with his legacies. the slow transition of the moods of the postings in the social media suggest to me that many are coming to terms with his passing.

and above all, i admire pm lee for being able to continue to show resilience and composure as he went about thanking singaporeans for their support, despite his own loss and the fact that he had just recently undergone an operation for his prostate cancer.

thank you pm lee, both the first and the current.