The next time you smell the sweet night-time scent of the tembusu flower, pause for a moment and think of the late Lee Kuan Yew.
It was apparently the favourite tree of Singapore’s founding father, and yesterday PM Lee Hsien Loong, along with 500 residents of Tanjong Pagar, LKY’s former constituency, planted one in his memory at Duxton Plain Park.
“The whole tree is covered with small cream-coloured flowers, which give off a distinctive fragrance. Mr Lee liked tembusu trees. This tembusu will provide shade and beauty for residents and their children for years to come,” PM Lee was quoted in a Channel NewsAsia report.
They also buried a time capsule filled with items like get-well cards for the late LKY, a DVD copy of Time Nor Tide and the book Hard Truths. It is meant to be opened 50 years from now, on the centenary of modern Singapore.
