SINGAPORE - Arm-in-arm, the loving couple sat on a bench, with broad smiles on their faces.
The wax figures of former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and his late wife Madam Kwa Geok Choo won the hearts of many readers who took part in a Straits Times online poll and voted for the best local wax doppelganger at the new Madame Tussauds Singapore.
The museum at Sentosa's Imbiah Lookout opened its doors to the public on Oct 25. It features more than 60 wax figures of prominent foreign and local personalities, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, and late actor Huang Wenyong.
Nearly 700 readers took part in the poll, and here are their chosen top five:
1. Mr and Mrs Lee Kuan Yew
About a third of the votes went to the wax figures of Mr Lee and his late wife. The museum focused on the couple's loving relationship by placing their wax figures seated side-by-side, against a backdrop of red flowers formed in the shape of two hearts.
Said netizen Rosaline Ng in a Facebook comment: "Mrs Lee has the highest level of resemblance - 99.9 per cent in my opinion."
2. Gurmit Singh
Actor Gurmit Singh came in second, bagging 18 per cent of the votes.
The wax figure of his contractor alter-ego Phua Chu Kang comes complete with his curly-haired wig and signature mole. He was the lead character in Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd, MediaCorp's longest-running sitcom which ended its eight-season run in 2007.
3. Jack Neo
The comedian-turned-director was a close third with 16 per cent of the votes.
Neo's wax lookalike, dressed in a denim shirt with rolled-up sleeves, is seen giving two thumbs up - a pose he has struck previously in several media interviews.
4. Stefanie Sun
The singer-songwriter's wax doppelganger garnered about 13 per cent of the votes. The figurine, dressed in a dramatic black outfit and sporting Sun's funky crop of dyed hair, is seen holding up a microphone to a concert "audience" and listening for its response.
In an e-mail interview with The Straits Times earlier this month, Sun said four staff members took her measurements in a hotel ballroom in Shanghai earlier this year. Using callipers and measuring tapes, they spent four hours measuring the 1.63m-tall star, from the length of her limbs to the distance between her eyes. "Everything was very precise and detailed, down to the shade of the gums... even the size of the eyeballs."
5. Fandi Ahmad
The replica of football icon Fandi Ahmad was in fifth place, with 7 per cent of the votes going to him. The wax figure of the former Singapore skipper is decked out in the victorious 1994 Malaysia Cup and M-League double-winning season kit.
In an interview with The Straits Times earlier this month, the real Fandi said of his lookalike: "He has the same smile as me and looks younger than me. He is definitely more handsome than me now, considering I've dropped all my hair."
