PM Lee visits Tanjong Pagar, meets well-wishers
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was at the Tanjong Pagar Community Club yesterday afternoon to join well-wishers leaving cards and gifts for his father, who remains critically ill.
On a large banner saying "Get well soon, Mr Lee Kuan Yew", PM Lee wrote: "Dear Papa, Hope you get better!"
PM Lee's wife, Ms Ho Ching, also added her signature to the message.
More than 500 people visited the art gallery at the community club, which has been set aside for the public to place their gifts and messages for the former prime minister, who is also an MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC.
Senior Minister of State for Law and Education Indranee Rajah, a fellow Tanjong Pagar GRC MP, was among those who signed the banner on Saturday.
TECK GHEE
Meanwhile, a similar space has been opened in PM Lee's Teck Ghee ward in Ang Mo Kio GRC.
The Teck Ghee Community Club has set aside its wellness centre as a special corner for such gifts.
It was opened at 3pm yesterday. A spokesman for the community club said they got the idea from Tanjong Pagar.
"Since we're under PM Lee's ward, we thought we would do the same to wish his father well," The Straits Times quoted him as saying.
Many people also visited the Singapore General Hospital, where Mr Lee, 91, is being treated. He was admitted there with severe pneumonia on Feb 5.
The Prime Minister's Office said yesterday that his condition had worsened.
The hospital has designated a public area outside Block 7 for well-wishers to leave cards and gifts.
There were more than 100 bouquets as well as handwritten cards and notes, balloons, soft toys and a box of paper cranes there yesterday.
PHOTOS: Ariffin Jamar/The New Paper
Some came to pray silently for Mr Lee to get well.
Madam Lim Kwee Lian, 85, a wheelchair-bound retiree who lives in Boon Keng, had taken a taxi to SGH and was seen outside Block 7 with tears in her eyes. "Singapore is very lucky to have such a wonderful leader," she said.
At the Singapore Sports Hub, more than 6,000 people took part in activities to mark World Water Day. Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, who flagged off a dragon boat race, lauded Mr Lee, for pushing the country towards water self-sufficiency.
"Right here on this river in the 60s and 70s where the water was black, oily and dirty, he had the vision to think of this place as a beautiful bay that we could clean up and enjoy," Mr Teo said, referring to the Kallang River next to the Sports Hub.
"With cooperation from everyone, this is what we have today - a beautiful bay with life-giving water.
"Let us all wish Mr Lee strength for his recovery."
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