The Day MM cried

The Day MM cried

Many Singaporeans remember this historic moment. This story is told umpteenth times as part of history lessons of Singapore in schools and over the internet.( Just google search “Lee Kuan Yew cried” ) MM cried when he had to announce that Singapore was going to be separated from Malaysia. It happened on 9 August 1965 at a TV Press conference in the black and white television studio at the old broadcasting centre, Caldecott Hill. Two technical operators of the TV equipment (Lim Sho Shiaw and Goh Kee Chai)witnessed the moment and when I talked to them last week, they said they were shocked to watch him cry in the studio in front of cameras.
Chandra Mohan a young producer then producing this event said he was stunned for a moment.And against all the rules of production that such shots of him should be avoided he instructed the cameramen to dolly in to get a close- up of him . This footage proved to one of the most popular in the history of local media. It was a moment only television was capable of capturing. The TV camera that caught the emotion of this historic moment is shown elsewhere on this blog. The producer said he could feel the anguish and pain from the TV monitors in the production room and for him and the TV crew this was to have lasting impression that could never be forgotten.
Many watched him on national TV when emotionally MM Lee Kuan Yew said “For me, it is a moment of anguish. All my life, my whole adult life, I have believed in merger and unity of the two territories.’And this incident became a pivotal point of Singapore’s history….the day Singapore entered the brave new world….I joined the department of broadcasting two years later. When the separation was announced I heard MM on radio whilst having coffee in a sarabat stall along Prince Edward Road, after classes at the Singapore Polytechnic nearby.

View Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIy2EtmX95o