There was an artist, full of zeal and fervour, who raged with burning passion and resounded the voice of its people. He painted not what the artsy fartsy desired, not any superfluous work of art the pretentious and ostentatious bourgeois would deign to admire, but the fruit of popular votes but a masterpiece that stemmed from his heart, that which blossomed from pure sincerity and true grit. This is a man who slogged his guts out for half a century to paint the simplest yet most eloquent piece of art the world has ever known. Not even so much of a stroke did he painstakingly add a little red dot to the map of the world, redefining the geopolitical limits of the world ever since.

I am but 20 years old, embarrassingly multiple decades shy that of the late founding father of Singapore and former prime minister of the state Mr Lee Kuan Yew, and therefore I dare not make any profound claims that I knew what he did or sympathised with the hardship he went through or loved him in any nuance that the word carries. While he did what he did, I was barely alive, still a concept in the making, a baby awaiting the efforts of Mr Lee to bear fruit before he made its silent appearance. And even though I shared only a measly couple of decades with old Mr Lee, I certainly felt the impact of all the honourable deeds he accomplished in the past fifty years, and that is no doubt an understatement. I understand that I am who I am today partly (and perhaps, sometimes almost fully) because of the determination and passion that Mr Lee embodied and relentlessly translated into effort that transformed our city state into the modern day metropolis which is revered and feared by many countries across the globe. And because I have yet to mature in age, I have yet to cross paths with many of the brilliant policies he had a part in enacting. But in the cornucopia of wonders this great man has accomplished, that of National Service remains close to my heart, seeing that I am still an active soldier, and proud one to add.

There is no need for me to reaffirm or ascertain the importance of National Service nor is there an obligation to commend Mr Lee's tremendous foresight in protecting the sovereignty of our nation in our post-colonial era. It is simply worth stating that the fruits of his labour are in full blossom up till this day, a testament to the painstaking effort that has held Mr Lee's vision of our national defence up to standards.

“This small group of men… must be men of great quality. By that, I don’t mean just qualities of the mind because for this job, it is the character, the mettle in a person which determines whether the men you lead have... the confidence, the verve which is only possible, given dedicated and inspired leadership.”

I remain proud to be an officer and to be deemed someone worthy enough to be charged with the duties and responsibilities of safeguarding the nation. My battalion's activation 2 nights back to set up tentages for the public queuing up to pay their final respects to Mr Lee may have been met with initial disgruntlement and unwillingness but the way I saw the guardsmen erect the tentages seamlessly and with little complaint was indeed a sight to behold and a sight worth preserving with pride. It made me swell with pride to know the extents that our soldiers are willing to go to in the name of our late hero and albeit we missed the golden opportunity to pay our due respects at the Parliament house, we offered our condolences in our own unique, heartfelt and certainly sincere manner.