More than 10,000 DVDs on Mr Lee Kuan Yew sold over the week

SINGAPORE — More than 10,000 DVDs on the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew have been sold over the week of April 6 to April 11.

The three-part documentary, Time Nor Tide, was part of a series of special programmes broadcast by MediaCorp to commemorate his life and legacy. The documentary can be watched online, but was made available on DVD due to public request.

Net proceeds of the first public sale will be donated to the Community Chest, said MediaCorp, adding that they will also be releasing other programmes on Mr Lee on DVD by end-April.

These include In His Own Words: A six-part series of his key speeches over the years, and Forging A Nation: A compilation of short stories capturing significant moments and issues in Singapore’s history.

The DVDs have been flying off the shelves since they hit the stores on Monday (April 6) and by the evening of the first day of its release, there were more than 1,000 people on a waiting list across Poh Kim stores.

Video CD store Poh Kim says its customers usually ask for more than one copy with some reserving as many as 10 to 40 copies. Bookstore Popular set a limit of 2 copies per customer due to overwhelming demand.

One lady at Poh Kim told Channel NewsAsia on Monday that she had bought 10 DVDs on the late Mr Lee – both for herself and her friends who live overseas.

“I was very surprised,” she said. “I understand that it is being launched today, but 15 minutes into store opening, I called up several stores — at least five or six of them — everyone told me they were out of stock.”

Another lady at Popular said: “I had already put my name on the waiting list. So I quickly rushed here because I was scared the second batch might be snatched away by the people.”

“I can view at my own leisure and I don’t have to worry about it being taken down anytime soon,” said a man at Popular after he bought the DVD.

One lady at the bookstore said it was expected that there was such high demand for the documentary.

“He is our founding father,” she said. “And everyone will want to keep a copy of that for memory’s sake.” CHANNEL NEWSASIA