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‘Time for us to say our last goodbye’

SINGAPORE — The air was so thick with anticipation that when a police car pulled up in Commonwealth Avenue West to close the road to traffic, a cheer rose from the crowd, thinking the funeral cortege carrying Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s body was about to arrive. But they were disappointed.

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SINGAPORE — The air was so thick with anticipation that when a police car pulled up in Commonwealth Avenue West to close the road to traffic, a cheer rose from the crowd, thinking the funeral cortege carrying Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s body was about to arrive. But they were disappointed.

When the cortege finally came within sight, passing the street at around 1.38pm, the crowd cheered, with shouts of “Lee Kuan Yew! Lee Kuan Yew!” reverberating through the air. They continued to clap as the rest of the funeral processing passed by them.

One of the faces in the crowd was Madam Tan, who is disabled and travels around on an automatic chair. She had been waiting since 11am to pay Mr Lee her final respects.

“I feel very grieved. He gave so much to the country,” said Mdm Tan, who had gone to the tribute sites near her home at Choa Chu Kang and Jurong West daily this week.

Another Singaporean, a Mr Lim, took his wife and their four young children to view the procession, and continued to wait for the cortege to arrive even though the downpour left all of them drenched.

“This visit with my family is an appreciation towards him, to thank him for his contributions to the country. I brought all my children along so that when they grow up one day they will remember this moment, remember who Mr Lee was,” said Mr Lim, 50.

Student Syahira Sheikh and her four friends from the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) were so anxious to get a good view of the procession that they came as early as 8.30am. At around 11am, they helped to tie together the flags that were handed to them, adding to the string of flags lined along the street.

“He is a really great man and is really close to our hearts,” said Ms Syahira, 22.

Earlier at Commonwealth Avenue, where another crowd was waiting for the funeral cortege before it moved to Commonwealth Avenue West, several people swung into spontaneous acts of kindness – something which had often cropped up during this week of national mourning – amid the downpour.

A middle-aged man, who declined to be interviewed, went to buy a few umbrellas and distributed them when it started to drizzle. When he later apologised for not buying more because he did not have enough money, people told him it was okay and thanked him.

Then, there was Ms Coris Tan and her group of friends near the bus stop, who had initially held up a tentage to shield themselves from the rain — but later offered strangers near them to share the cover together.

Ms Tan, 36, a former kindergarten cook, who had brought the tentage with her, said of Mr Lee: “He is a great man who helped Singapore a lot. In the past, Singapore is really that poor, that dirty – the things you see on the television are true. Without him, we wouldn’t have the Singapore that we know today.”

Student Choo Jia Fen, 15, said: “Even though I have not witnessed what the young Mr Lee had done for Singapore, I still admire him greatly. By being part of his last journey through Singapore, is really the least that I can do for him.”

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