SINGAPORE - Happy Mother's Day! That was the message of appreciation trending on the Internet in social media posts from Singaporeans, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and even MacDonald's.

Mr Lee wrote on Facebook: "Mothers are our patient teachers, our trusted confidantes, and our lifelong role models. They give their love freely, asking nothing in return. We owe so much to their quiet toil and sacrifice."

He attached a video made by mall Jurong Point which went viral this week. In it, shoppers were filmed as they made touching phone calls to their mothers to express their love.

Other Ministers, like Minister of Information and Communications Yaacob Ibrahim and Minister of Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin also put up posts to thank the mothers in their lives.

Actress Xiang Yun offered an anecdote about her mother on Facebook that was liked more than 1,600 times.

She wrote in Chinese: "My mother is very cute, she is the optimistic sort, hasn't studied much, but reading the newspapers is not hard for her. iPhone, iPad, she mastered them all, fb and the Internet is child's play."

She then related how her mum had to see a doctor after hurting her toe. When she was at the doctor, the doctor asked her if she needed a medical certificate (MC).

Her mum jumped at the chance to get an MC for the first time in her life, Xiang Yun said: "My mum asked, 'I can get an MC? Great!'"

The 52-year-old mother of two went on to wish all mothers 'Happy Mother's Day'.

MacDonald's also posted a Mother's Day advertisement online that celebrated not just mothers, but nannies and helpers who help mums take care of their kids.

While a little unconventional, the reaction to it was more positive than an earlier video by Workers' rights group Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), which implied that maids in Singapore knew their wards better than their own mothers.