Farewell Mrs Lee

IN life, Madam Kwa Geok Choo was a quiet, dignified cheongsam-clad presence by her husband Lee Kuan Yew’s side. In death, she leaves behind a void that not only her husband, but also the entire island nation, will feel.

Madam Kwa, known to the world as the wife of Singapore’s first Prime Minister Kuan Yew, died Saturday evening at her Oxley Road home. She was 89.

Her husband of 63 years was in hospital with a chest infection.

Elder son Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 58, cut short an official visit to Belgium where he was to attend the Asia-Europe Meeting summit.

The wake will be held tomorrow Monday and on Tuesday at Sri Temasek, the official residence of the Prime Minister located within the Istana grounds. Mrs Lee had spent many hours watching her children, and later her grandchildren, play at Sri Temasek, while their father went about his business or exercised.

Visitors may pay their respects there from 10am to 5pm on those days. A private funeral will take place on Wednesday at the Mandai Crematorium.

In a moving tribute, President S R Nathan said: “To know Mrs Lee’s greatness, one has to listen to what has not been said of her until now. Mrs Lee was great in many ways - as a legal luminary, as a mother of an illustrious family, and more than that for her stoic presence next to Mr Lee Kuan Yew during times of turbulence and tension in the many years of his political struggle.

“There was not a single important event or development that she was not an intimate witness of. Indeed she lived a life that had its fair share of pain and uncertainty, which was not evident in public.”

Prime Minister Najib Razak and Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou also conveyed their condolences to the Lee family.

Mrs Lee had been ill for some time. A stroke in 2003 had left her frail, with weakened peripheral vision, but she remained bravely active, accompanying Mr Lee on numerous official functions here and overseas.

On one trip to China, she gamely donned a long-sleeved swimsuit with long pants, and swam in the hotel pool, never mind zig-zagging across the lane. Her gait was uncertain and she needed a supporting arm, but she continued in good cheer, her sharp wit intact.

In 2005, on a visit to Temasek House in Kuala Lumpur, Mr Lee pointed out a photograph on the wall and described the picture to her: “This is a picture of you doing the joget.” Her swift retort: “Put it in the furnace.”

She suffered another two strokes in 2008 which left her unable to walk or speak. Nurses cared for her at the Lees’ Oxley Road home.

In the last two years, Mr Lee has spent many hours by her bedside, reading from her well-thumbed copies of English poetry and novels and telling her about his day.

In an upcoming book to be published by The Straits Times in January, Mr Lee revealed that in her last days, “I’m the one she recognises the most. When she hears my voice she knows it’s me.”

Theirs was a lifelong love story.

Mrs Lee, a brilliant student who came out top in her Senior Cambridge year, and who went on to build a successful law practice at Lee & Lee, was the intellectual equal of Mr Lee, but she saw herself first and foremost as a wife and mother, in keeping with her upbringing in a conservative Straits-Chinese home.

In public, she was a traditional Asian wife who metaphorically walked two steps behind her husband, as she once quipped.

In private, she was a devoted mother, a caring, gentle woman, and a quick-witted conversationalist who loved literature, classical music and botany. She was a ‘tower of strength’ to her husband and family, emotionally and intellectually. She believed in the same causes as Mr Lee did - independence from colonial rule in the early years, and later, a multiracial, meritocratic Singapore.

She saw Mr Lee through the nation’s toughest moments in 51 years in office, 31 as Prime Minister, girding him for battle the way only a wife can. She helped him through the anguish of separation. She shared with him her instinctive grasp of character among the people they met. She helped him draft and polish his speeches, memoirs and even legal documents.

She engaged him in heated debate on policy matters like the rights of women and was wont to chide him if she thought him too demanding of others.

An intensely private woman who shunned the limelight, Mrs Lee trod softly through Singapore’s history. She was a pioneer in her own right, but she chose to remain on the sidelines in public, content to play a supporting role.

But her imprint on Singapore was no less significant for being so gentle. Her quiet dignity and self-discipline, her selflessness and modesty, were unique. The nation will not see the likes of Madam Kwa Geok Choo again.