Remembering Lee Kuan Yew

Remembering Lee Kuan Yew: Not one, but 10 bronze busts for 'Mr Toilet'

The founder of the World Toilet Organisation, Mr Jack Sim, is internationally renowned for crusading for better sanitation. So when he wanted to mark Singapore's golden jubilee, the go-getter really bust out.

He is getting 10, half-a-metre tall bronze busts - head-and-shoulder sculptures - made of his hero, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, costing a total of $10,000.

One is already complete and sits in the garden at his home, a bungalow in Katong.

When it arrived last month, Mr Sim liked it so much he decided to order more.

He is not sure where to put them, but he is donating three to the Institute of Technical Education colleges. As for the other six, "I'm dreaming that (they) could go to every Singapore embassy around the world."

Mr Sim, 58, first sketched what he wanted based on portraits of the former Prime Minister, sent the sketches to a bronze workshop, and then went through several rounds of refinement over three months.

He said: "I wanted to get the feeling of a robust, rugged, strong and brave person. I took his past pictures, and interpreted it in an artistic manner that showcased his character."

On his choice of subject, he said of the late Mr Lee: "(He) is our biggest hero. I was born in the 1950s in a slum and I didn't know the country could be what it is now. But through the whole journey, life just became better and better for us. I felt it was a privilege to have had such a leader."

KOK XING HUI

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