SINGAPORE, Aug 25 — At least 3,000 people have paid their respects to former president SR Nathan, as a long line formed outside Parliament House where his body lay in state today.
The wait at 2pm was about 45 minutes, down from about two hours at midday.
Sata S, 48, a service engineer, was at the front of the queue, having been in line since 7.30am. He was there “to pay respects to the man who has done so much to the country”.
Others, like Mdm Rohaini, 48, a kidney failure patient, took time off her medical checks to say her last goodbye to Nathan. She cried, recalling how her daughter performed for him in 2004, and when he visited them at a mosque some time ago.
Opposition veteran Chiam See Tong and his wife, Singapore People’s Party chairman Lina Chiam, arrived around 11.20am. Chiam, who suffered from two strokes in recent years, was in his wheelchair, but rose out of it to bow in front of the casket.
A group of 150 Scouts from the Singapore Scouts Association, led by chief commissioner Tan Cheng Kiong, were there to pay tribute to Nathan’s strong support for the group. To honour him, the association will be setting up a fund to raise S$100,000 for needy scouts.
Head of Civil Service Peter Ong led a delegation of about 50 civil servants from the Ministry of Communications and Information, and the Ministry of Community, Culture and the Youth, working at the nearby Treasury Building.
Ong said: “Mr Nathan was a civil servant exemplar. It’s therefore very fitting for me to lead a delegation of civil servants to come and pay our last respects.
“He served in the civil service with distinction, with full commitment always putting the nation before self. He was always prepared to take on difficult challenges... Throughout his entire career as a civil servant, he always served with a human touch.”
As there was no VIP queue, Acting Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung, who arrived just after 10am, reached the front of the queue at 11am.
Ong led a group of 150 students who had recently learned about Nathan. He said: “I think it’s good for the kids to know that we’ve a pioneering leader.”
He added that even though Nathan was not a university graduate, he graduated from the “university of life”. “He held so many positions, from business, to union, security, diplomacy then finally the highest office of the state,” Ong said.
“Even so, whatever he did was full of passion, he was always learning... This is a very good lesson for all of us. Beyond schools, there is always something we can learn.”
Nathan’s body is lying in state at Parliament House until 10pm tonight for members of the public to pay their last respects.
A State Funeral will be held tomorrow for Nathan, Singapore’s sixth and longest serving president. — TODAY
