Arriving home by battleship? PM Lee’s story about Lee Kuan Yew’s telegram
A little over a week after Lee Kuan Yew’s funeral, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong shared a lighthearted story about finding an old telegram sent by his father to his mother back in 1958.
While still a practicing lawyer, the elder Lee set a telegram from Sarawak to his law firm, Lee & Lee in 26 September 1958. The message intended for his wife read “ARRIVING TODAY BATTLESHIP = LEEKUANYEW”.
Mrs Lee did not understand the message. A check with the British Naval Base indicated there was no battleship coming from Sarawak.
“My father did arrive home that day, but not by battleship. He explained that he wanted steam boat for dinner, but as ‘steam boat’ was two words, and telegrams were charged by the word, he wrote ‘battleship’ instead, to save words and money!” explained PM Lee.
Alas, that change in one word meant that there would be no steam boat for dinner at the Lee household.
The elder statesman passed away on 23 March after a long battle with pneumonia.
The story and photo of the telegram was posted on PM Lee’s Facebook on Monday afternoon. Within two hours, it got over 35,000 likes and 3,000 shares.
“Gosh! Im so craving for battleship tonite (sic),” wrote user Sylvia Yong.
Another comment was particularly poignant. “Dear PM, your father went to Sibu to help with my father's (deceased) case. My family has mostly moved to Singapore since 1969!!! This case was mentioned in your father's book and makes us feel so honoured,” wrote a Facebook user by the name of Rosemary Lau.
A user named Brian Raynard Ho, meanwhile, added some snark to the comment section by asking, "Why cannot write STEAMBOAT?" while another user, named, Adrian Lim, decided to christen the "RSS Lee Kuan Yew" in the former PM's honour.
Many users said they too will now refer to steamboat as 'battleship'.
Looks like a new word has been added to the Singlish lexicon.
