1015hrs
Listening to: Jay Chou - Shi Jie Mo Ri
(ST photo)
A blast of cool air hit me in the face as I exited Toa Payoh MRT yesterday in the late evening hours. Immediately, I wished that all public places in Singapore were like Toa Payoh interchange and HDB Hub - air-conditioned.
En route to the library to return my overdue books, I noticed there was a huge crowd gathered at the large square in the centre of HDB Hub. "Could it be some Channel U outdoor filming?", I thought to myself. But as I looked up at the huge screen above, I finally realised why there were hundreds and hundreds of people who stopped eating, shopping, and generally just rushing about like all Singaporeans do.
I had arrived during the closing moments of the televised funeral. Our President was presenting the State flag and Mr Wee's medals to his bereaved widow. The TV commentator then called for a minute of silence out of respect for our former President.
And suddenly, the sobre atmosphere became deathly silent. Salegirls from jewellery stores stopped distributing flyers. Staff from Popular Bookstore and The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf came out of their shops to take a look at the proceedings on the Jumbotron. On the central square, people young and old bowed their heads, or had their eyes transfixed up above. The only sounds came from the ST photographers who were capturing the scene for today's paper.
The lone bugler sounded The Last Post, and the live broadcast was over just like that. A pre-produced VT on the life of Mr Wee was put on screen.
And as if the "pause" button on a VCR was pushed, everyone at HDB Hub started moving on with their lives again.
(editor's note: try spotting me in the above picture.)
Listening to: Jay Chou - Shi Jie Mo Ri
(ST photo)
A blast of cool air hit me in the face as I exited Toa Payoh MRT yesterday in the late evening hours. Immediately, I wished that all public places in Singapore were like Toa Payoh interchange and HDB Hub - air-conditioned.
En route to the library to return my overdue books, I noticed there was a huge crowd gathered at the large square in the centre of HDB Hub. "Could it be some Channel U outdoor filming?", I thought to myself. But as I looked up at the huge screen above, I finally realised why there were hundreds and hundreds of people who stopped eating, shopping, and generally just rushing about like all Singaporeans do.
I had arrived during the closing moments of the televised funeral. Our President was presenting the State flag and Mr Wee's medals to his bereaved widow. The TV commentator then called for a minute of silence out of respect for our former President.
And suddenly, the sobre atmosphere became deathly silent. Salegirls from jewellery stores stopped distributing flyers. Staff from Popular Bookstore and The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf came out of their shops to take a look at the proceedings on the Jumbotron. On the central square, people young and old bowed their heads, or had their eyes transfixed up above. The only sounds came from the ST photographers who were capturing the scene for today's paper.
The lone bugler sounded The Last Post, and the live broadcast was over just like that. A pre-produced VT on the life of Mr Wee was put on screen.
And as if the "pause" button on a VCR was pushed, everyone at HDB Hub started moving on with their lives again.
(editor's note: try spotting me in the above picture.)
On the afternoon of April 26, Mr Yeoh set up a simple trap - he left his own handphone on one of the study benches and walked away to a vantage point about 20 metres away.
