Thank you, Mr. Lee!

Credit

This week has been a life changing week for me. And I believe it is the same for all Singaporeans. Our founding father Mr. Lee Kuan Yew passed away on 23 March 2015, 3:18am.

The media have been broadcasting documentaries about him, his powerful speeches, his tireless work, his decisive actions, his undying passion for Singapore, his vision and leadership, what people say about him, etc. It was like the whole history lesson of Singapore and Mr. Lee presented in high dosage.

It just struck me that this Singapore we have, this stability and peace, the job I have, the roof over my head, the family I build, the education I received, and everything I have blindly taken for granted would not have been possible if not for what Mr. Lee and his team of pioneers did. Here's an online article which I thought was a good read for our generation might not know: What our generation doesn't know about Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

Having born and lived in times when Singapore was already on stable tracks of progress, it is easy to overlook what how much Mr. Lee has done and sacrifice to get Singapore to where we are now. A small and new country, with no natural resources, migrants with no sense of belonging, and with only a strategic location has its upper-hand, it wasn't really much to begin with.

And yet in half a century, Mr. Lee transformed it into an advanced first world country, where people of different races lived together in harmony, where everyone receives education, where they try to give everyone a roof over their head and opportunities to blossom. And a country that other countries envies and applauds.

But what really changed me was learning how selfless Mr. Lee is, in his pursue to make Singapore better. I believe every moment for Mr. Lee has been thinking about how to make Singapore better. And when I learnt how much Mr. Lee has sacrifice to always try to make the Singapore we have now better, I appreciate, treasure and now want to guard and build on what he has given us.

Sadly, it takes this unfortunately event to wake me, and I believe many other Singaporeans of my generation, to really drill in the fact that what we have achieved should never be taken for granted. In fact, we should try our very best to make Singapore even better, just like how Mr. Lee have done. This is really what SG50 should be about, recognising how far we have come and cement why we need to fight whatever difficulties we face to make our country a better place for our children and future generations to come. I feel the unity of Singaporeans this week, and a proud sense of belonging.

One of Mr. Lee's many famous quotes was "I have spent my life, so much of it, building up this country. Theres nothing more that I need to do. At the end of the day, what have I got? A successful Singapore. What have I given up? My life.".

Thank you Mr. Lee, for everything. Thank you.

Tok Kong Movers - Sibei (very) Tok-Kong (superb)

We moved recently. We took a week off work to pack before the move and even then, we were still packing and sealing the boxes when the movers came. My advice for those moving soon: Pack early, sort early, throw early.

Thankfully, we had Tok Kong Movers helping us with the move. I asked for quotes from three movers whom were recommended by friends and their quote was the cheapest. By how much? Well the most expensive mover quoted me almost double the price. But to be fair, the most expensive movers did have value-added services (like packing services) and special carton for clothes (so your clothes will not crease that badly compared to packing into normal boxes).

Tok Kong Movers on the other hand are your usual mover. They will come for assessment of the items to move and give you a quote for the move. After you confirm them as your mover, they will provide the boxes, masking tapes and a roll of bubble pack. What I like about them is their flexibility and their service that wow us.

Our move involve packing two-third of our stuff to Extra Space for storage and the balance to my parent's place.

Extra Space storage filled to the brim.

Usually moves that involves two places are more expensive but the quote David (the sales executive) gave me was tok-kong. And when I needed to add a third location one day before the actual move, he was happy to do it for us for a nominal fee (even when I highlighted that it will involve a long flight of stairs).

On the actual move day, their bigger lorry was not available due to gearbox issue and they had to make do with a smaller lorry. My whole move took longer then it was suppose to be as they needed to make more trips to complete the move. But they remained professional, cheerful and positive throughout. We felt bad that they worked till 8pm to complete our whole move and gave them a bigger angpow.

So if you are looking to move, I highly recommend the sibei tok-kong Tok Kong Movers.