Factsheet on Pallbearers

05 JAN 2022

Sending off from Sri Temasek

A group of personal staff who have served and worked closely with Mr Lee at various points in his life will send him off from Sri Temasek.

The eight pallbearers are from the Istana Household and Mr Lee’s Private Office. These eight represent the many who served him loyally over the years, including in the most tumultuous of times.

Representing the Istana Household staff are:

  • Mrs Foo Su Bang, the Istana Comptroller who is in charge of the Istana Household. Her duties included preparing for courtesy calls on Mr Lee;
  • Istana Butlers, Mr Amran Bin Ghani and Mr Ismail Bin Rahim, who took care of Mr Lee’s daily needs while he worked at the Istana, and served during the many receptions he hosted;
  • Mr Wong Shang Hoon, a chef who has been with the Istana since 1963, serving almost throughout Mr Lee’s time in government.

Representing Mr Lee’s Private Office are two former Principal Private Secretaries:

  • First, Mr Lim Siong Guan, Mr Lee’s first Principal Private Secretary and former Head of the Civil Service.
  • Second, Mr Chee Hong Tat, Mr Lee’s last Principal Private Secretary before he stepped down as Minister Mentor, and currently Second Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Also serving as pallbearers are two other long-serving members of his Private Office:

  • Ms Wong Lin Hoe, one of Mr Lee’s faithful Private Secretaries; and
  • Madam Yeong Yoon Ying, Mr Lee’s loyal Press Secretary since 1993.

Receiving at Parliament House

The eight pallbearers receiving the casket of the former Prime Minister at Parliament House represent the three branches of our government: the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary.

The pallbearers embody the varied responsibilities of each arm of our government, including grassroots organisations.

Representing the Legislature are two members of the Parliament Secretariat:

  • First, Mr A Palaniappan, who has provided simultaneous translation for parliamentary sittings and other events such as the National Day Rally since Mr Lee’s days as Prime Minister;
  • Second, Ms Owyong Chuen Song, a long-serving member of the Official Reports Department which compiles the verbatim official records of parliamentary proceedings.

Representing the Executive are three public servants:

  • Mr Benny Lim, concurrently Permanent Secretary (National Development), Permanent Secretary (National Security and Intelligence Coordination) and Permanent Secretary (Prime Minister’s Office);
  • Mr Aaron Maniam, a Lee Kuan Yew Postgraduate Scholarship recipient, and currently Director of Industry Division at the Ministry of Trade and Industry; and
  • Mr Stanly Tan Seng Chuan, a Senior Constituency Manager with the Buona Vista Constituency Office.

Finally, representing the Judiciary are:

  • Mr See Kee Oon, Presiding Judge of the State Courts of Singapore, and a Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court; Madam Masayu Norashikin, a District Judge of the Family Justice Courts; and
  • Ms Marina Wang Meng Si, a Mandarin interpreter at the Supreme Court of Singapore.