A Love Story

23 March 2015 marks the end of one era with the passing of LKY. Many things have been said of this man on how he brought Singapore to be where we are today. Many stories have been told on how he fought for the unions in his younger days, how he allied with the pro-communists and eventually won his fight against them, and how he survived the communal politics of Malaysia and brought Singapore beyond separation. Indeed, all these can be read in books about him. When I was doing history in NUS, he was almost integral in all the readings about Singapore politics post WW2. And indeed, with his passing-on, I think Singaporeans would have felt that something is now missing from our national life.

However, while I used to admire this man for what he has achieved for Singapore, in latter years, I have learned to admire him beyond that. What he had achieved is great but I believe that his relationship with his wife, Ms Kwa Geok Choo is what really makes him a great man worthy to emulate. His devotion to Kwa is probably unheard of in this modern era, where divorce rates go on a rise and people play marriage without commitment. His commitment to Kwa got me to admire his tenacity to love - emulating the normal marriage vows we read during weddings: till death do us part.


These three stories sum up very well the relationship:
http://mothership.sg/2015/03/the-greatness-of-a-man-is-in-his-capacity-to-love/
http://mothership.sg/2015/03/lee-kuan-yew-wouldnt-have-been-lee-kuan-yew-had-it-not-been-for-his-wife-kwa-geok-choo-true-or-false/
http://mustsharenews.com/lky-kwa-geok-choo-love-story/

But I shall just quote an excerpt from Corrine May's reflection:

I read Mr. Lee Kuan Yew’s daughter, Ms Lee Wei Ling’s column for the Straits Times and read her reflections on her parent’s love for each other. I was moved by the anecdotes she shared, of how Mr. Lee would read poetry to Mrs. Lee at her bedside when she could no longer read for herself, and how, despite being bedridden, Mrs. Lee would stay up to wait for Mr. Lee to return home every evening. I read about how Mr. Lee painstakingly helped to nurse Mrs. Lee back to health after her first stroke. 
Most tellingly, Ms Lee also mentions how Mr. Lee Kuan Yew wrote a little note to his children that read : ‘For reasons of sentiment, I would like part of my ashes to be mixed up with Mama’s, and both her ashes and mine put side by side in the columbarium. We were joined in life and I would like our ashes to be joined after this life.’ (Source: The Sunday Times , October 2, 2011)

This really sums up very well. I mean, how many Christians are able to show such commitment to their marriage nowadays?  And because of this, I believe that their devotion to one another is totally unparallel in our context today.

Even as we join his family in this period of national mourning, I think his life with his wife teaches us well. It is this life that really makes him great, which I admire a lot. For me, I hope that at age 80, if I indeed live that long, I will still show an unparallel devotion to my spouse then.

And to further quote from Lee Wei Ling:


I have great admiration for what my father has done for Singapore – and at age 87, he is still promoting Singapore’s interests. But he being the first-born son in a Peranakan family, I would not have suspected him to have been capable of such devotion as he has shown for my mother, taking care of her so painstakingly. My admiration for him has increased manifold because I have watched him look after my mother so devotedly over the last two painful years.

Here's to this great figure who is no longer with us.

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