Shintaro Tay

The Father We Share (Singapore, 2015) remembers the public grief over the loss of our founding father, who paved the way for a better tomorrow.

On March 23. I woke up at around 6:30 a.m. and reached for my iPhone, as most teenagers would do. As I browsed through my social media accounts, I came across a video that was posted on CNA’s Facebook page.

In a saddened, croaky voice, the reporter broke the news about the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

At that moment, it felt as though something pierced through my heart. It was a piece of news that many of us didn’t want to hear because everyone had been hopeful that he would pull through, to see Singapore’s golden jubilee celebrations.

After taking in what I saw on television and on social media, I embarked on a journey to document people’s reaction to his passing. I felt that the raw emotions of the people were an important piece of the whole sequence of events.

My friend mentioned that Singaporeans don’t easily express our emotions publicly. But over the next few days, all over Singapore, many were crying their hearts out.

More so, it was the older generation of uncles and aunties that seemed to feel so much more than I did, and I wondered why.

This slowly became a journey of discovering who Mr Lee truly was. As a 19-year-old, I was born in a country which was already so developed. I guess that may be why I don’t see the impact he made.

When I began to talk to some older people, I realised how Mr Lee’s actions spoke louder than his words. These people had first hand experience of transiting out of their kampung homes to modern HDB flats. They saw how he worked tirelessly to make our tiny nation known on the world map.

Ultimately, these people witnessed the transformation of Singapore from an undeveloped nation into a bustling metropolis.

It then dawned upon me that the term ‘founding father’ means so much more than what I had read in my history textbooks. A father is there to care, support, and bring out the best in his children. Mr Lee embodied these qualities and touched many lives. He did all that he could to ensure we had the best environment to live in and united us all.

He is the father we share.

This writeup and some photographs were published in Thank You, Mr Lee , a book project initiative by PLATFORM to put together the works of photographers to remember the week of mourning of Mr Lee Kuan Yew.