Black or White this Sunday? And What Will Become of Singapore?

I've been so touched by the outpouring of emotions and sentiments on social media over the recent passing of Lee Kuan Yew. The queue for the state funeral, despite being up to 8 hours long yesterday, was orderly. People were helping each other. 

Kind businesses along the riverfront and along the path where the queue meandered, they put out tables with free cold drinks, and some put chairs out for the weary to have some respite along the way. Good Samaritans just bought a load of drinks and food and passed them out to those queuing. No one fighting, pushing, or being kiasu. Kind of like how the Japanese were during the Tsunami aftermath ( I was so impressed with the calm, compassion and order of the Japanese, no looting etc). Honestly, I didn't think we had that in us. So to see (most of) the nation unite. It has made this loss much easier to bear.

pic from ChannelNewsAsia

But on the flipside, social media does not discriminate so every attention seeker, idiot, sheep, shit stirrer, disgruntled and misinformed person gets a voice too. And it's usually an ugly one.

It saddened me to see profiteering, and people who are trying to capitalize on his death.

$29 bucks

 

Hashtag LKY cos you know it's trending. Huat ah!

 



ok, with BreadTalk, they said that proceeds were for charity. Hmm... I think their intentions were good (if really for charity) but still, to churn out a Lee Kuan Yew bun the day after the man dies... is in poor taste.

 

Then there are those who make a show of going to his funeral. Why are a few of them smiling widely like on a fun school excursion???? The inappropriateness baffles me.

click to expand pic

I suppose it makes sense when you rationalize that most of this group are from the flashmob generation. This is just the way they do things... whether it's a movie premier or a funeral. But still... don't smile happily la, aiyoh.



Of course many celebrities, like Stefanie Sun went to the funeral too, but they were mostly low key. They knew that this event wasn't about THEM.



See, even Pierre Png (*swoon*) went, queued up with everyone else so that he could pay his last respects, but declined to pose for any photos with fans.

By the way, when I went back to his Instagram to get this screenshot, I realized eh... he changed his description.. first he said lets all wear black this Sunday... then he changed it to wear WHITE (upper caps).

Le kuah la! People nag until even Pierre Png changed his description.

Someone initially came up with the initiative to Wear Black this Sunday. It went viral.

Then someone started a WHITE version. Black or white, both are colours for mourning, so its ok. It has caught on too and is going viral... which is fine, wearing white is appropriate... but so many who are spreading this 'white movement' is going round saying Not to wear black. LKY wants us to wear white. And that the Black Sunday thingy is Fake (eh? this kind of thing got fake and authentic??).  



For the record, there's no official or non-official colour to wear ok. This is not a communist country.



Even got 'staff' from Prime minister's office tell people not to wear black wor.



Please la, wear whatever you want but don't spread it like it's some kind of mandate (because it's not). Then you even make people feel bad/guilty/wrong about wanting to wear black. (Until Pierre Png change his description some more!)

To me it seems like someone went, "damn it, that black movement thingy is going viral. Why didn't I think of it first! Nevermind, I shall start a wear white movement and challenge the black one."

 

HALLO! This shouldn't be about your ego and how many people you can get on your side.

Is it just me? Or does that shirt look black to you?

I'm not against wearing white or any other colour. It's your choice. But what I hate is when smarty pants people try to convince you that wearing black is WRONG and that you are listening to a Hoax (wtf?) and that LKY would have wanted us to wear white. People's Action Party always wear white. This is LKY's funeral, not PAP event leh! And if black is wrong, why did he wear black to his own wife's funeral then??? Stop spreading nonsense. Full stop.

Our Facebook newsfeeds are filled with praises for LKY. Some even more annoying because the posts come across as self glorifying or like they're trying to outdo everyone else with a bigger tribute. All singing praises etc. I find those posts harmless, and if I've seen enough, I just skip past their posts la.

So I understand how to some, it would seem as if all these people are so stupid that they think that Lee Kuan Yew created Singapore and that all the good things are because of him and him alone. I know it might seem that way when we call him the founding father, and talk about how Singapore is what it is now because of him. But most of us actually do know that there were others before him, along side him, and after him who have also contributed greatly to this nation. But for this week, we just want to celebrate this man.



For those who don't get the sarcasm. This pic is not Raffles Place circa 1959

I like this guy and agree with a lot of his views (on loads of stuff) whenever he posts them on FB. I can imagine how frustrated he must feel when people conveniently 'erase history' but this post is kind of mean. Sarcasm is one thing, but this came across as passive aggressive to me.  :(

Perhaps someone will post info about our other founders and pioneers in the coming weeks. That's a good way of educating the masses about our history. :)

The scariest and saddest posts I've seen though are those who relish LKY's death.

 

Ahhhhhh why are you getting your views/facts/info from TheRealSingapore website???!!! They claim to be a site that provides uncensored socio-political views... but haven't you realized their views are always anti-Singaporean. They are out to disrupt the harmony of our country. It's poison. Please get reliable sources before you believe in any article 100%.

 

I really hope all this hate and spite will blow over and not harm the racial harmony in Singapore. Let us work towards a better Singapore for all of us.

p/s- All the above screenshots were taken from public posts on my Facebook newsfeed and Instagram.