Parliament House queue closes at 8pm, more than 1.2m pay last respects to Mr Lee Kuan Yew
By Tham Yuen-C, Yeo Sam Jo and Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh, The Straits Times, 28 Mar 2015
More than 1.2 million people have paid their last respects to Mr Lee Kuan Yew at Parliament House and community tribute sites islandwide, as the public mourning period comes to an end on Saturday evening.
About 415,000 people have done so at Parliament House where the queue for mourners officially closed at 8pm, Saturday, as scheduled. Some 850,000 people have also paid tribute to Singapore's founding father at the various community sites, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
"It has been a tremendous experience this week since Mr Lee Kuan Yew passed away. I think the response from all segments of our society, everybody, has been overwhelming," PM Lee told reporters on Saturday evening at the Padang, the starting point of the queue.
"We need to have some time to clear the queue because the queue is still eight, nine hours long and then prepare the Padang for tomorrow's state funeral," he said.
The funeral procession, which commences at 12.30pm on Sunday, will pass significant landmarks like the Old Parliament House, as well as heartland areas.
After the procession, the funeral service will be held at the University Cultural Centre at the National University of Singapore from 2pm to 5.15pm.
"I hope that we will focus ourselves on that ceremony, which is a very important one, and I hope that we will share the moment together, particularly when we have the minute of silence at the end of the speeches and eulogies, when we're going to sound the civil defence sirens, then we'll have the minute of silence, then the sirens sound again."
"We'll say the pledge and sing the national anthem together... so I think we work towards that and make sure that tomorrow, we have a ceremony which will be a fitting tribute and a fitting mourning and celebration of Mr Lee Kuan Yew's life."
As part of the State funeral, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) will be sounding the “All-Clear” signal twice, through its network of Public Warning System sirens, as a rallying call for the nation to observe a minute of silence. This will be a first by the SCDF and signifies the nation’s deepest respect for Singapore's founding father. Upon the first sounding of the signal, members of the public are encouraged to begin observing the one minute of silence. The second sounding will signify the end of the minute of silence.
At the two land checkpoints, all individuals and vehicle checks will come to a halt to observe the minute of silence. Prior to the moment, all MRT trains will pull to a stop at stations and open their doors. Similarly, buses scheduled to depart from bus interchanges or terminals will be held back during the minute of silence.
At the Padang on Saturday, some people were seen dashing towards the starting point of the queue minutes before 8pm.
Madam Eliza Wong was the last person to make it to the line. Madam Wong, who is self-employed and in her 50s, said she had paid her last respects to Mr Lee on Thursday night but decided to make another trip. She said: "Mr Lee means so much to all of us, he is the father of Singapore."
Others, like housewife Charmaine Tan, 54, did not make it in time. "I'm very disappointed that I missed the opportunity. But I am trying to stay positive. I can still wait along the funeral procession route tomorrow."
Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, who also visited mourners at the Padang on Saturday evening, thanked everyone who paid tribute to the late Mr Lee.
“This is a number which we never really expected to be so large, just the huge outpouring of emotion from Singapore people for Mr Lee,” Mr Teo told reporters. “We want to thank everyone who came for their patience and understanding, and their spirit was really a Singapore spirit.”
Mr Teo said Singaporeans who wish to pay their last respects to Mr Lee can still do so at community tribute sites which will stay open round the clock until after the funeral on Sunday.
“In fact I've been there myself to several of the sites, it's a very moving experience as well because three-generation families are there, grandparents, parents and children, and they spend time talking to each other, sharing their experiences and some of them personal anecdotes about Mr Lee himself, how Mr Lee helped them,” he said. “Sometimes the children themselves didn't even know that from the grandparents, so it's a very moving experience.”
The queue at Parliament House earlier in the day appeared to be shorter. As at 5pm, the waiting time was up to five hours. Some people, who took the priority queue meant for the elderly, the disabled and the very young, said the wait was about an hour on Saturday afternoon.
On Friday evening and the early hours of Saturday, the wait was as long as 10 hours at one point. Due to the overwhelming crowd, the authorities had to turn people away from joining the line for safety reasons during the early hours of Saturday. The queue was reopened at 6.15am, after it was closed for eight hours.
Ms Zhou Xin Jie, 32, a marketing executive, joined the line at 2am at the Singapore Recreation Club with boyfriend Yap Wei Jie, 32. Four hours later, she was relieved when the line started moving.
"We want to do it regardless how long it'll take," she said.
Added Mr Yap: "We decided to stay since we're already here. We came to pay our last respects. It's the least we can do, for so much he's done."
The final journey
The procession from Parliament House to the state funeral service will pass through key landmarks and areas of special significance for Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Janice Heng and Zakir Hussain report.
The Straits Times, 28 Mar 2015
WHEN TO GO
The procession starts at 12.30pm and will arrive at the UCC before 2pm. Lines are expected to be longer nearer Parliament and in town.
HOW TO GO
There are several MRT stations along or close to the route: Clarke Quay, City Hall, Esplanade, Raffles Place, Downtown, Telok Ayer, Tanjong Pagar, Outram Park, Commonwealth, Buona Vista and Dover.
WHERE TO STAND
- Some good spots to observe the procession are roads near the Padang, Raffles Quay, and outside the NTUC building and Singapore Conference Hall, though these are likely to be more crowded.
- Those living along Jalan Bukit Merah, part of Queensway and Commonwealth Avenue, and Commonwealth Avenue West can also observe the procession from their blocks.
- Members of the public are advised to stay on public footpaths for their own safety.
Go to www.mytransport.sg, www.sbstransit.com.sg and www.smrt.com.sg for details on bus service diversions.
1 & 2 Parliament House and Old Parliament House
- In the final sitting in the old Parliament House, before the adjacent new one opened in 1999, then Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew said: “The importance of this Chamber did not, and does not, depend upon its size and its grandeur, but upon the quality of the men and women who occupy it as representatives of the people.”
- Built in 1827, the old Parliament House served for many years as the colonial government’s courthouse.
It was repurposed by the Legislative Assembly, to which Mr Lee Kuan Yew was elected as an opposition assemblyman in 1955.
After independence in 1965, it became Parliament House.
3 City Hall and the Padang
The funeral procession will travel the length of the Padang, where audiences heard many a historical speech delivered by Mr Lee from the steps of City Hall.
It was here that he spoke to Singaporeans celebrating the start of self-government on June 3, 1959, and where he read the Malaysia Proclamation on Sept 16, 1963.
The Padang was where Mr Lee saw Singapore’s first National Day Parade in 1966. It returns there this year.
4 Marina Bay
Mr Lee’s vision to build a dam and create a freshwater reservoir in the heart of the city saw the construction of Marina Barrage, which opened in 2008, and the creation of Marina Reservoir, part of his goal of making Singapore self-sufficient in water.
Both were only possible with the clean-up of the Singapore River in the late 1970s under Mr Lee’s leadership. Gardens by the Bay has also been built, and can trace its origins to Mr Lee’s tree-planting campaign.
5 NTUC Centre and Singapore Conference Hall
Mr Lee began his political life by representing trade unions. As a lawyer in 1952, he won a case for postal workers who had gone on strike. He was soon appointed adviser to more than 50 unions, which became his support base in his first election.
The Singapore Conference Hall was originally Trade Union House, completed in 1965 to fulfil the PAP’s election promise of building a headquarters for the trade union movement, and remained the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) headquarters until 2000.
The NTUC Centre is now at One Marina Boulevard.
6 Tanjong Pagar
Mr Lee was first elected assemblyman for Tanjong Pagar on April 2, 1955, and continued representing the area until his death, an unsurpassed record of 60 years.
In 1991, it became part of Tanjong Pagar GRC, which has not been contested since.
The procession will drive past part of the Port of Singapore and the Central Business District.
It will also pass by the award-winning public housing project Pinnacle@Duxton.
7 Bukit Merah and Queenstown
Bukit Merah and Queenstown are home to some of the earliest public flats in Singapore, built both by the colonial-era Singapore Improvement Trust and its successor, the Housing Board. Queenstown is where the first HDB flats were sold under the Home Ownership For The People scheme, introduced in 1964.
Mr Lee sought to turn Singapore into a nation of home-owners as a way to give citizens a stake in the country. “It is the foundation upon which nationhood was forged,” he said.
8 CPIB Headquarters
The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau was set up in 1952 by the British, but it was Mr Lee who gave it greater powers and tightened laws against corruption when he took over in 1959. Known for his fierce defence of integrity in the public service, Mr Lee set up systems and processes to ensure that every dollar was properly accounted for, and any wrongdoing was swiftly addressed.
9 Schools and Singapore Poly
The funeral procession will pass educational institutions, including Gan Eng Seng Primary, Henderson Secondary, Bukit Merah Secondary and Singapore Polytechnic, before entering the National University of Singapore campus for the state funeral. Mr Lee saw an educated workforce as key to Singapore’s future. As he put it in a speech on the eve of National Day in 1967: “It is the quality of our youth that will determine our future. And we have to invest in them more than any other sector.”
10 University Cultural Centre
The University Cultural Centre was the venue for the Prime Minister’s annual National Day Rally speech from 2001 to 2012, and although the late Mr Lee did not deliver any rally speeches here, he spoke at students’ forums and other events.
The funeral service will take place from 2pm to 5.15pm.
Civil service head Peter Ong is the master of ceremony and 10 eulogies will be delivered. Among those who will be delivering the eulogies are Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, President Tony Tan Keng Yam and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.
SAF's highest honours
By Jermyn Chow, Defence Correspondent, The Straits Times, 28 Mar 2015
THE Singapore Armed Forces will give Mr Lee Kuan Yew the highest honours on land, air and sea.
In a Facebook post, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said four ceremonial 25-pound guns at the Padang will fire the 21-gun salute at the start of the funeral procession.
At the same time, four F-16 fighter jets from the Republic of Singapore Air Force aerial display team, the Black Knights, will fly in a "missing man" formation, an aerial salute to honour dignitaries who have died or fallen soldiers.
The aircraft will fly in a "V" formation and, as they approach City Hall, one jet will leave and head west, signifying a final flight towards the setting sun. The gap it leaves symbolises the missing man. This is only the second time that the team will perform this tribute. It did so at the 2008 Singapore Airshow to honour a teammate who had died of cancer.
<< SAF’s final farewell to Mr Lee Kuan Yew>> The outpouring of love and respect for the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, our...
Posted by Ng Eng Hen - Defence Minister on Friday, March 27, 2015
As Mr Lee's body crosses the Esplanade Bridge, naval patrol vessels RSS Dauntless and RSS Resilience will perform a ceremonial sailpast off the Marina Barrage. Referring to a Chinese poem Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had shared with him, Dr Ng said: "Mr Lee Kuan Yew would encourage us to continue to live life to its fullest, to take Singapore further and make the world proud of what more we can accomplish from what he had started."
Sirens will sound for nation to observe a minute's silence
Funeral procession will pass landmarks that represent Mr Lee's lasting legacy for Singapore
By Zakir Hussain, Deputy Political Editor, The Straits Times, 28 Mar 2015
SINGAPOREANS are expected to line the streets in large numbers tomorrow afternoon as the country bids a solemn final farewell to its founding Prime Minister after a week of mourning.
Sirens will also sound nationwide at about 4pm to signal the start and end of a minute of silence for Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who died on Monday at age 91.
The 15.4km-long state funeral procession route will pass by several historic, as well as more recent, defining landmarks of the country Mr Lee had shaped in his career.
These include the NTUC Centre and Trade Union House, which reflect Mr Lee's beginnings as a lawyer defending workers, the Port of Singapore and his Tanjong Pagar constituency, as well as Bukit Merah, Queenstown and Commonwealth housing estates, the State Funeral Organising Committee said.
A rehearsal for the funeral procession was also held early yesterday morning.
The casket bearing Mr Lee will be lifted from its catafalque at Parliament House, where his body has been lying in state since Wednesday, by eight officers from the army, air force, navy and the police shortly before 12.30pm.
They will place the casket on a gun carriage that consists of a 25-pounder howitzer gun on which a tempered glass case is mounted, in which the casket will rest. The carriage will be driven by a ceremonial Land Rover.
As it leaves the Parliament porch, eight former and serving MPs will be in this group of pallbearers to send him off, including NTUC's first chairman, Mr Mahmud Awang, former Government Whip Chan Chee Seng and former opposition MP Chiam See Tong.
Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong, Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport Josephine Teo, Minister of State for National Development and Defence Maliki Osman and Nominated MP K. Karthikeyan will also be pallbearers.
The cortege will be led by four guard-of-honour contingents from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF). The SAF Military Band will play a funeral march.
As the gun carriage leaves the Parliament driveway, some 48 men from the SAF and SPF in ceremonial military trucks will escort it.
The procession will then turn into Parliament Place as the first round of a 21-gun salute is fired from four ceremonial howitzers on the Padang.
The vehicle will make its way to St Andrew's Road and past City Hall, from whose steps Mr Lee once spoke on many a historic occasion.
As the procession passes City Hall, the Republic of Singapore Air Force's Black Knights will fly a Missing Man Formation - with one aircraft leaving the group - as an aerial salute for Mr Lee.
Two Navy vessels will do a sailpast in the waters off Marina Barrage.
About 1,700 students from various secondary schools and junior colleges will line the procession route.
The 21st volley will be fired as the procession travels out of sight of the Padang and heads to the University Cultural Centre (UCC) for the funeral service.
The procession will travel at around 25kmh, and take about 37 minutes to cover the route. It is expected to reach UCC by 1.45pm, where the casket will be carried in a slow march to the tune of Dead March From Saul, performed by the SAF Military Band.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and family members will follow the procession into the UCC Hall, where the casket will be placed on a bier for the service.
At the end of the service, a lone bugler from the SAF band will sound the Last Post, and the Singapore Civil Defence Force Public Warning System siren will sound nationwide for 15 seconds to rally everyone in Singapore to observe a minute of silence.
The Rouse, a symbolic callback to duty, will then be sounded, and all citizens are encouraged to join in the recitation of the Pledge and the National Anthem.
The funeral procession will then make its final journey to Mandai Crematorium for a private cremation service.
Massive crowds at Padang, so queue temporarily halted
Safety concerns led organisers to call for suspension to clear backlog
By Rachel Chang Assistant Political Editor, The Straits Times, 28 Mar 2015
Public urged to pay tribute at community sites
AS PEOPLE continued to arrive at the Padang through the day to endure waits of up to 10 hours for their turn to pay their last respects to founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in person, the crowds swelled beyond control last night.
At about 10pm, the organisers announced that they were "temporarily suspending" the queue to clear the backlog of people who were even spilling over into the MRT station at City Hall.
Policemen at City Hall MRT Station told the crowd: "The Padang is full. Please go home."
A statement from the organising committee said that the decision was made "to ensure safety of individuals due to the large crowds, and to limit the physical discomfort of the long wait, especially for the elderly and young children".
"We would like to accommodate as many as possible in this overwhelming outpouring of respect and love for Mr Lee Kuan Yew," the statement said.
"We are appealing for patience and understanding as we work to ease the situation. We will inform the public when the queue is open again."
As of press-time, the queue had not been reopened.
Mr Jeremy Ng was trapped with his wheelchair-bound mother Lee Khar Lee outside the Padang, as people did not heed calls to exit the line.
"We can't go forward, neither can we go backwards," he said.
Others, like Dr Tang Yao Liang, 31, decided not to join the queue at all, once the suspension was announced.
"We decided to cut our losses. We really wanted to show our respect as it's quite a historical moment, so I'm disappointed. But we tried our best," he said.
Mr Lee's body is scheduled to lie in state until 8pm today.
But since Wednesday, the number of people streaming in has defied expectations and forced organisers to expand the scope of their plans repeatedly.
More than 290,000 people have visited Parliament House in the last three days.
Mr Lee, who was Singapore's Prime Minister from 1959 to 1990, died on Monday at age 91.
Throughout the day yesterday, the organisers issued advisories asking members of the public not to join the queue at the Padang. Instead, they were told to visit one of the 18 community tribute sites across the island.
Meanwhile, a live-stream of proceedings at Parliament House began broadcasting at noon yesterday, and people were encouraged to watch it.
But few seemed to have heeded the call to stay away.
Organisers are bracing themselves for another surge today - the last time that visitors can file past Mr Lee's casket with a bow, a prayer or a silent word of farewell - as the final hours tick by and the weekend begins.
Even after the suspension is lifted, it is unclear what time the organisers will close the queue to Parliament House today.
They declined to confirm whether those arriving at the queue's start point after 8pm will be turned away.
Mr Lee's funeral procession is to start at 12.30pm tomorrow, and the set-up for the 15.4km procession to the University Cultural Centre, where his funeral is to be held, will require a substantial amount of time.
"I knew they were telling us not to come," said Singapore Polytechnic lecturer Fan Ay Deng, 34. "But there is only one chance to see his casket, it's as simple as that. And I think a long wait is worth it to pay my respects to the founding father."
The sight of hundreds of thousands of Singaporeans, taking time off from work to stand in line for up to 10 hours, for a few fleeting moments next to Mr Lee's casket, is one that will likely never be witnessed again in Singapore's history.
From 10am on Wednesday, the first day of the lying in state, the authorities have had to change their plans in reaction to the unceasing flow of people.
Originally scheduled to end at 8pm, the viewing became a round-the-clock affair, and public transport services were extended as well.
Organised groups were no longer allowed to skip the queue, and mourners were asked to speed up past the casket instead of stopping. Priority lines birthed priority lines as the elderly, disabled and the very young showed up in force.
But the sheer numbers meant that there was inevitable chaos, especially in the priority queue on Thursday night.
By early yesterday morning, barricades had extended the priority queue to six times its length to aid the flow, and a new filter was created for those in wheelchairs and strollers.
The line abated in the late morning but swelled again from the late afternoon yesterday and through the night.
Inside Parliament House, former Indonesian presidents Megawati Sukarnoputri and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono numbered among the mourners.
Opposition veteran Chiam See Tong came and, despite his political differences with Mr Lee, he said: "Singapore is very lucky to have Mr Lee as her first Prime Minister."
Additional reporting by Chong Ziliang and Lim Yan Liang
LONG QUEUES TO PAY TRIBUTE
11-hour wait - yet they kept coming
Organisers warn people about long wait but they persevere anyway
By Tham Yuen-c, Andrea Ng And Chong ZiliangBy Rachel Chang Assistant Political Editor, The Straits Times, 28 Mar 2015
TOLD to stay away, they came anyway.
People continued to turn up from midnight yesterday into the day to queue outside Parliament House to pay their last respects to Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
This was despite the fact that from Thursday night, the state funeral organising committee advised people not to join the queue until further updates, warning the wait could get as long as 11 hours.
However, most of those on the ground reported waiting a much shorter time - although this was before the crowds surged again last night.
Engineer Veron Koh, 37, who was there at 4am yesterday because she was "scared of the sun" and had to work, but still wanted to pay her respects, was told that she would be waiting for eight hours. But she was done in four.
She said: "I was prepared to take urgent leave if I had to but they were very organised, and I waited only a while at the Padang, then our whole group walked straight to Parliament House."
The difference between the estimated and actual times was due to the different organisation of the queue system yesterday compared with the first two days of public mourning on Wednesday and Thursday. Instead of one long queue around the Padang, people were broken up into groups, with each group assigned a holding area at the Padang.
The groups could expand or contract, depending on the number of people. When there were fewer people, each group moved quicker.
For some, the faster flow of the general queues was still not fast enough - financial analyst Dawn Huang, 32, left the Padang at around 8am, after waiting about two hours.
"I have to go to work but I plan to come back later," she said as she hurried off.
On the other hand, retiree James Chan, 64, was undaunted when he arrived at midnight yesterday and was told that it would be an eight-hour wait.
He decided to stay, saying: "That's the least I can do to repay the debt of gratitude that generations in Singapore owe to Mr Lee."
Others who had gone there at around the same time gained a small respite in the end - the waiting time was more like seven hours.
Nanyang Technological University student Lee Jing Shen, 23, was one, emerging from Parliament House at 6.45am.
Asked why he waited, he said pragmatically: "The MRT and buses had already stopped running when we got here and found out how long it would take."
However, university mate Kee Han Chong, 23, said: "Based on my calculations, the queueing times would only get longer from Friday, so I had to do it. Mr Lee is a very important part of our history."
Those who arrived not long before daybreak yesterday persevered for the same reason.
Counsellor Diane Choo, 31, who got there at 5.30am, said she got into the hall where Mr Lee's body lay in state after a wait of "only" five hours.
"It was only right that I had to put in that energy and effort to say thank you," she said.
Amid the large turnout in the wee hours yesterday, there was confusion about where to start queueing. Some joined in at Raffles City to make their way to the Padang, while others did so at Esplanade Park, unwittingly cutting the queue.
Meanwhile, those in the priority queue - for the elderly, disabled, pregnant and those with children below six years of age - had a much shorter wait, after the system was changed on Thursday night so only parents could go with their children, and just one adult could accompany an elderly person.
Childcare centre principal Angela Ang, 57, who was there at 6am with her 77-year-old mother Nancy Wu, "breezed through" in about 45 minutes. She said: "I would've come even if the queue was long because I'm a beneficiary of his legacy."
For teacher Sally Chew, 37, in the priority queue with her husband and sons aged five and 11, it was her second try.
The first time, she had to go and pick up her children from school, and was not allowed to rejoin the queue where her husband was waiting.
Just to be safe, her husband took leave yesterday and her children skipped school.
She said: "I came mainly for the education of the kids. They can read a lot about Lee Kuan Yew but it's nothing like going through (this)."
Throughout the day, people continued to stream into the area, even when it rained for a spell in the afternoon, and with the sun beating down afterwards.
Ms Joyce Khoo, 30, got there at around noon with her husband, just as it started to drizzle.
The Singaporean pilates instructor, who now lives in Jakarta, had flown back yesterday for a day, specially to pay her respects to Mr Lee.
"Living overseas makes you very conscious of how lucky we are as Singapore citizens... It's all due to the dogged determination of Mr Lee and the first generation of Singaporeans. I would have regretted it if I hadn't come back," she said.
As night fell again, the crowd grew larger, backing up to Raffles City. Public transport operators extended their hours yesterday, with buses and MRT trains to operate overnight.
Father-and-son pair Albert and Alex Lim were among those who arrived by public transport.
The older Mr Lim, 54, and his son, 24, came prepared to wait through the night. They said they "will be here as long as it takes".
S'pore lucky to have Mr Lee, says Chiam
His contributions to S'pore outweighed the criticisms made by the opposition
By Rachel Au-Yong, The Straits Times, 28 Mar 2015
MR LEE Kuan Yew's contributions to Singapore outweighed the criticisms made by the opposition, said old adversary Chiam See Tong in a touching tribute yesterday afternoon.
"Singapore is very lucky to have Mr Lee as her first Prime Minister," the leader of the Singapore People's Party told reporters, after paying his last respects to Mr Lee, who is lying in state at Parliament House.
Recounting the first time he met Mr Lee, Mr Chiam said he was struck by how stern he was.
"He said, 'Who is this oppositionist?' I don't think he knew me at that time. And he said, 'Mr Chiam, I'll see you in Parliament.'
"But the way he said it, it was as if he said, 'I'll see you in the boxing ring.' "
An emotional Mr Chiam also acknowledged that Mr Lee was a "great debater", but one who never humiliated him, even during their frequent clashes in the House. "In Parliament, he clobbered me. But... I never lost my dignity or decorum."
Looking back into the hall, where several hundred people were filing past Mr Lee's casket, Mr Chiam murmured: "This is where he worked."
Earlier in the hall, Mr Chiam, who celebrated his 80th birthday two weeks ago, got out of his wheelchair and walked slowly towards Mr Lee's casket.
Supported by his wife, Non-Constituency MP Lina Chiam, and Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, he climbed a few steps towards the casket to bid Mr Lee a final farewell.
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