PM Lee Hsien Loong thanks all who attended Mr Lee Kuan Yew's funeral service - LKY Final Journey State
Funeral
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he and his family were deeply touched by the thousands of people who lined the
streets in the heavy rain yesterday to bid farewell to former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO
SINGAPORE - Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong late on Sunday night thanked all the guests who attended the state funeral service held for his father, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
"Our heartfelt thanks to our guests, especially those who travelled miles to attend today's service,"
PM Lee said on his Facebook page, addressing the 2,200 people who attended the ceremony on Sunday, March 29.
Referring to the funeral procession that took the late Mr Lee's body through Singapore on his final journey, PM Lee said: "As the procession made its way from Parliament House to the State Funeral Service at the University Cultural Centre, 100,000 lined the streets in heavy rain, to bid farewell to my father. My family and I are deeply touched."
Today’s ceremonies were an emotional farewell to my father. But they also honoured his life, and what he has achieved in Singapore, with us, his people.
As the procession made its way from Parliament House to the State Funeral Service at the University Cultural Centre, 100,000 lined the streets in heavy rain, to bid farewell to my father. My family and I are deeply touched.
Our heartfelt thanks to our guests, especially those who travelled miles to attend today’s service. – LHL
We used to hold the lying-in-state in the Istana. But when Mr Rajaratnam died in 2006, my father told me that he felt Parliament was a much more appropriate place. It is where MPs, the representatives of the people, meet; and the people are the source of the government’s legitimacy and power. So we switched to Parliament. I have no doubt that when my father told me that, he was thinking also of himself.
So this is a poignant picture. My father lying-in-state in Parliament, with the crest of Parliament on the wall, and in front of his portrait on the yellow stand our Proclamation of Independence, in which my father declared Singapore forever “a sovereign democratic and independent nation, founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of her people in a more just and equal society”.
A last few quiet moments with my father before the ceremonies began.
100,000 lined the streets to send my father off. Thank you all for your support this past week.
The skies opened up as the gun carriage left Parliament House. Reminded me of the National Day Parade in 1968, when a downpour drenched the parade after we had formed up (I was there).
PM Lee also shared the above five photos accompanying his post on Facebook.
The first was of his father lying in state in Parliament. He explained that when Mr S. Rajaratnam, one of Singapore's founding fathers, died in 2006 and was lying in state at the Istana, the elder Mr Lee said that felt Parliament was a "much more appropriate" place. PM Lee said he had no doubt that his father was also thinking of himself when he said that.
"It is where MPs, the representatives of the people, meet; and the people are the source of the government's legitimacy and power," he said.
His other photos were of him having a "last few quiet moments" with his father before the ceremonies began, of the 100,000 people who lined the streets to send Singapore's founding father off, of the rainy weather, and of everyone at the service singing the national anthem Majulah Singapura.
"Perhaps I imagined things, but it sounded more rousing than I have heard before," he said.
He later also shared a video of his eulogy at Mandai, where his family had a private cremation for the late Mr Lee.
The Straits Times / Top of The News Published on Monday, 30 March 2015
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