The long-awaited arrival of our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (Guest-of-Honor of the Kaki Bukit Family Carnival 2008) at the Kaki Bukit Neighbourhood Park - greeted by loud cheers & clappings from the HUGE crowds!

Wow, my first impression of our Prime Minister was that he looks a very Nice man, just like my Dad the very Good Kind, Sincere, Caring type of guy! I immediatley liked him alot!!

Our Prime Minister officially kicked off the Kaki Bukit Family Carnival 2008.

There were radio-controlled lighted Kites of Flying Fowers & Butterflies high up in the sky over our heads!! It was so beautiful!!

Hey, it was my very first time seeing so many Bodyguards, & a few so Handsome too! They were carrying either big Backpacks some in Rifle-shaped or Sling bags across their shoulders - I bet there must be real guns in there ha?!

Our Prime Minister was surrounded with Bodyguards, at least 2 directly infront of him & a few behind him. Led by a few policemen & followed by the Grassroots Leaders of Marine Parade GRC, our Prime Minister started walking towards the top of the Park where the Carnival was held. People of the neighbourhood were crowding by the sides of the pavement (on which they were walking on), trying to get glimpses of our Prime Minister & shaking hands with him & the Grassroots Leaders as they were walking.

There were at least a few hundreds of people in the Park that night! Young & old of different races all with huge happy smiles were all there to welcome & greet our Prime Minister.

Most of them holding the mini Singapore flags, the crowds waved & cheered & took photos & videos of the Prime Minister & Grassroots Leaders as they were walking towards the top of the Park.

Our Prime Minister & the Leaders arrived at the Carnival centre & stopped to watch an exciting Life Band performance.

Our Prime Minister next went to the nearby Skate area where he met & chatted with the Skatesports members.

I was surprised when I realised (when I was editing these photos after the Carnival) that Mandy (the girfriend of my nephew Daniel) was among the Bodyguards & Leaders posing for the many cameras & videographers! She was really daring!!

There Mandy was again below - walking among the Bodyguards & Leaders & beside our Prime Minister, as though she was one of them hehehe!! Mandy’s actually a Malaysian who’s been studying & staying in Singapore for several years now & she adores our Prime Minister as much as everybody else! Thank you so much Mandy my dearie for supporting Singapore our beloved country, our Prime Minister & the Grassroots Leaders!

Arriving soon at the 3G (3-Generations Family) Games spot, our Prime Minister raised his hands & sounded the Horn to start the games.

It was good to see our Prime Minister mingling with the fellow citizens of our public, & laughing together & enjoying the races between the 3G families.

(P/S : Above is a very very short video I took of our Prime Minister (standing in the middle) watching the 3G Games :)) )

I stopped watching the 3G (3-Generations Family) Games & went looking for my Mom & Dad who were seated at the Performance Viewing Gallery infront of the Stage. And I was just in time for a grand Orchestra performance - how Wonderful!

Out of fun & excitement & for double triple evidences & good old memories of that eventful special night, I took photos of our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s VIP Seat on the 1st Row 2nd Seat - SMART of me right?!!

And guess what?! See below - as Mom (in Red dress) & Dad (in Dark strip shirt) were the 1st Prize winner of the 3G (3-Generations Family) Competition, they got to sit on the 3rd Row (1st 2 Seats from Right below) from where our Prime Minister would be seated, right bebind of him - that was so so COOL!!

In fact I’d been keeping tabs of the wereabouts of our Prime Minister ever since he arrived at the Carnival (by either trying to follow him to wherever he went, or asking about his whereabouts from Dear or my sisters or nieces or nephews, & of course not forgetting Mandy the girlfriend of my nephew, who’s always very active & fast & so near him)!! And as my family is so huge & most of our members were at the Carnival that night, I was able to track him pretty easily & fast & I would often run back to Mom & Dad informing them of his whereabouts.

Well, you must be wondering why I was so keen on our Prime Minister’s movements ha?! Well, it was because since before the start of the Carnival, Dad especially was already looking very much forward to meeting our PM. Dad had thought that we, as a Family, would be taking the Family Portrait photo (which was part of their 1st Prize in the 3G Competition) with our Prime Minster - But NO, never, our PM was not even there yet then at 7pm! So Dad was very disappointed…….Then he thought he, together with Mom, would be receiving their Prize from our Prime Minister on Stage - But NO again, when I found out & told Dad that our PM would not be involved in any Prize giving for that night. And again, Dad was really disappointed…….

And then I told Dad that it was alright cos Mandy or I would our best to approach our PM & ask if we could take a photo of him with Dad & Mom, & for that instance, Dad was pretty convinced & happy & even suggested that we as a Family should take the photo with our PM altogether, & not just with himself & Mom!! Hahaha, Dad was asking for the SKY ha?! Cos from what we saw that night, no commoner citizens like us were able to even go too near to stay long enough to take photos with him - except for those Skatesports members or Community members & Officials. So I told Dad we would try…………And actually, Mandy did try asking one Bodyguard if she could have a photo with our PM, & she was told “May be later!” But of course I didn’t tell Dad this cos I didn’t wan him be more disappointed!

And not forgetting that before that night, I’d never shaken hands with our Prime Mnister!! So practically throughout that whole night, I’d been running here & there trying to catch hold of our PM near enough to extend my hands towards him, so did my Dear, sisters, nieces & nephews who had all tried now & then, here & there to try to be near our PM to shake hands with him! And some of them had succeeded very well cos they’d even shaken hands 3 times with him that night!! I did try hard too since he first arrived but as I was short & there were just far too huge a crowd infront, beside, behind & all around him, I never had the chance to……..till much later after he visited the Skatesports members as he was walking out of the Skate Area!! Heeheehee “YES!!! I did it!!!” I screamed out loud jumping with joy to Dear as he suddenly saw me in the centre of the Carnival!

Well, thanks to the so-near locations of Dad & Mom’s seats to our Prime Minister, I assured Dad that they would be able to get the attention of our PM - I even taught Dad to remember to show him our Family Portrait (the one that came as part of the 1st Prize gifts) & to tell him that Mom & he had just won the 3G 1st Prize & that who knows, our PM would agree to taking a photo with them! So I did think & try very hard……. 

After telling Mom & Dad that our Prime Minister would be at the Veiwing Gallery & be seated soon, I was on my way to the back wanting to take more photos of our Prime Minister mingling with the public at the Games etc when I saw my Twin sisters (above & below photos in the middle blocked by the front “white” girl/”Maroon Blue Bags” woman). My Twin sisters were looking up at the Sky at the Lighted flying radio-controlled Butterflies & Flowers. That was when I realised there was a 2nd such performance after that 1st one when our Prime Minister 1st arrived at the Red Carpet & kicked off the Carnival earlier on!

This time I tried taking a Video on it but aiya…………..Me so Blur…….forgot that videos taken from my Camera (Old & New alike as my current’s one’s NEW) must always be Horizontally, & never Vertically, or else the Videos would end up being side down!! So So silly of me so I ended up with the below pretty good clear (though very short still) but side down video - heehee wish we could turn our monitor screens side-way down then we could view & enjoy the Video well ha!!! Pardon my lousy & inexperienced videography :))

Mom & Dad’s long-awaited arrival of our Prime Minister at the Viewing Gallery where they’d been sitting the whole night since the begining of the Carnival - Crowds cheered & clapped their hands when our PM approached the Gallery. Everybody was so happy to see the PM!!

Finally…..Mom & Dad got to meet “The Big Man” our Prime Minister face to face! Dad was BEAMING with SMILES all over as I remember he used to tell me “If there’s NO Lee Kuan Yew, there weren’t be Singapore & we won’t be here today!” And Dad has always respected the Lee Family & that night was a very special night for him cos he got to meet the Son of the Founder of Singapore, our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong!

That night, Dad finally got to shake hands with our PM (blocked by the below Yellow shirt guy)! Unfortunately the photos below were very blur but if you could look closer carefully at my Dad (in Dark strip shirt), I’m sure you would see his big White Teeths on his Wide Happy Smiles!!

Our Prime Minister (right infront of Mom below in Red dress) raising both his arms up clapping & cheering on the huge crowds infront of him!

More handshakes for Happy Mom & Dad before they were seated.

See, I did try so hard in trying to capture our Prime Minister with Dad & Mom seated so near just behind him (as can be seen from my above & below photos) as promised to Dad that I would try to get our PM for a photo with Mom & he. But since I couldn’t get too near enough at the right timing to ask our PM for the permission, I thought I might as well try snaping photos of them this way hahaha!! Though the photos somehow look blur, to me they captured the most precious moments of Mom & Dad with our PM!

Hahahahah, the below photo was my last try of Mom & Dad with our Prime Minister before I got chased away by some Malay girl personnel (whom I wonder who she was cos she didn’t look like any Bodyguard!! Aha, even the real Bodyguards that night just let me mingle around for a long long time & never even said a word!)

There was the Cultural Dance troope performing on the Stage just when our Prime Minister arrived at the Viewing Gallery. And once seated, all were enjoying the performance, just like Mom & Dad below :

After the Cultural Dance, the MC welcomed our Prime Minister, the Grassroots Leaders of Marine Parade GRC, the Kaki Bukit Community Centre Chairman & all distinguised guests etc.

The theme of the Kaki Bukit Family Carnival 2008 that night was entitled “Connecting Generations, Respecting Diversity”. Being a cosmopolitan Singapore, we should thrive at connecting & interacting with, & respecting, the different levels & generations of people at all times so as to grow into an even better & richer community in terms of social, financial & cultural stability. And that night, my huge Family of 21 members (actually there’re 36 of us in total but some could not make it that night!) young & old, & attending the Carnival together & enjoying ourselves so much & supporting my Mom & Dad winning the 3G (3-Generations Family) Competition showed everybody that we”re a very good example of “Connecting Generations, Respecting Diversity”.

Below are 2 Videos I took of the Night’s Welcome Speech by the MC :

And today, I’m very proud to say that I am a Singaporean & that I am very Lucky & Proud to be a Singaporean. And no matter how often & where I travel to or stay in overseas, or how long I am away from here, Singapore shall always be my Homeland. Singapore shall always be my One & Only Precious.

Now, to further demonstrate the importance of the Carnival’s theme “Connecting Generations, Respecting Diversity”, the MC invited the different groups & Generations of people (such as the fellow Commoner Citizens, the Expatriates & the Permanent Residents of the Kaki Bukit Community) on Stage to sing the “Singapore My Homeland” song together. Each & everyone of them was carrying the mini Singapore flags & they waved & sang the Song together in harmony :

Next, our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was called upon the Stage to join the groups of local Citizens, Expatriates & Permanent Residents.

Below Video shows our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong being invited on Stage :

Once on Stage, our Prime Minister & the Grassroots Leaders were asked to immerse each of their palms onto different colored paints & press them against a huge Singapore Map attached to the Board standing in the middle of the Stage.

The following Video shows the moment our Prime Minister put his colored painted Handprint on the huge Singapore Map, with loud cheers from the crowds :

The huge Singapore Map on the Board with all the different colored painted handprints as follows. Could you guess which is the handprint of our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong?

It’s the one in the middle at the utmost top of the Map!!

The Red colored handprint of our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong :

All the people including our Prime Minister & the Grassroots Leaders soon left the Stage to go to the “Diversity” white canopy tent I guess to interact & chat with one another. And we too, were about to leave the Carnival with Dad looking very disappointed cos he still hasn’t got the chance of having a photo with our Prime Minister. You could see the sadness on his face below :

But well, as I never seldom usually give up easily, I told Dad to wait & not go home yet cos I wanted to try for the last time to catch hold of our Prime Minister for the photo. So off I went to the “Diversity” tent; looked at what our PM was doing (well, as guessed, he was interacting & chatting with those groups of people who were singing on Stage with him earlier eg. expatraites, Permanent Residents), & I quickly ran back to Dad & Mom & told them (with all my other Family members) to go to the “Diversity” tent cos there might just be our last chance of being able to have a photo with our PM!

So I was right cos we did manage to meet up with our Prime Minister again, this time really close!! In fact Mandy was the very 1st of us in time to catch hold of our PM (when he was about to leave the “Diversity” tent) for a close-up photo of herself with him (thanks to Dennis’s quick snapshot!)! Look at her Huge smiles above - Mandy was at the Top of her World at that instant!!

Mom & Dad fared pretty well too! Earlier on, I’d told Dad to remember to show our Prime Minister our Family Portrait & to tell him that Mom & he had just won the 3G Competition if he’s got the chance & this time round before meeting our PM, I’d not forgotten to remind Dad again. And besides going to ask myself, I’d also told Mom to ask our PM personally……..And YES Hooray!!

Just when our Prime Minister stepped out of the “Diversity” tent & was about to walk to leave the Carnival with the Grassroots Leaders & Bodyguards, Mom was so Smart on she quickly grasped our PM’s hand by the wrist to stop him from leaving asking him “Sir, can I take a photo for you?” Hahhaha, Mom was so cute in her excitement she’d said “Sir, can I take a photo for you” instead of “Sir, can I take a photo with you”!! So funny, & my eldest sister who was just behind her was correcting her by saying “with you, Not for you”!! At the same time, Dad quickly showed our Family portrait to him.

Heeheehee…….come to think of it now, guess Mom was not wrong at all cos Dad showing our PM our Family portrait could actually mean Mom was saying to the PM “Sir can I take a photo for you” meaning “Sir can I show you a photo?!” Mom’s really intelligient ha!!

Dad at that moment had happily told our Prime Minister “Sir, today you’re here I’m very Happy cos I can take photo with you!”

And at that instant we (myself & my family members who’d all gathered behind Mom & Dad) immediately asked our PM if we could take the photo with him & one rather old-looking Bodyguard (funny thing was we’d never seen him around at all earlier that night!) shoved us off by telling us off shouting “NO NO we’ve to go, we”ve to go now!!” But our kind Prime Minister was not even parting his footsteps at all but firmly stood there to chat with us! In fact, Dear (who was just beside & slightly behind him) heard him kinda hinting to his Bodyguard that it was ok & he would like to have a photo with us…..& anyway, at that moment, I could hear almost all my Family members (epsecially my eldest sis & 2nd sis-in-law) shouting that “it’s ok la Sir, can la Sir, can la Sir”!!

And well, our Prime Minister did stop & chatted with Mom & Dad for quite a while! He held our Family portrait in his hands & asked Mom how many kids she has. And Mom being so excited with joy, told him that she has 16 grandkids!!! Instead of saying she has 9 kids!!! Hahahah Mom is unbelievable heheheh!!! Then I heard our PM asking how many of us are there in our Family & I answered wrongly too hahahah cos I told him there”re 32 of us instead of 36!!

And finally we won the battle against that old-looking Bodyguard cos somehow after hearing so many “shoutinig” pleas from my Family, our Prime Minister must have somehow given the signal that it was ok cos after that, we all turned to face the front cos all the cameras & videographers started clicking away at us!!! Hooray Hooray we finally did it!!! Dad finally was taking a photo with our Prime Minister, best of all besides just Mom & himself, our Family was with him too which was what Dad had wished for since the Carnival even began!! Dad was so so full of Joy & Happiness during those moments!!!

Wow Wow!! I felt like a Celebrity at that instant from the so much & so bright lights from so many cameras & videographers all clicking & shooting at us so many many times……..suddenly, it was as though my mind has gone blurry & the whole wide world around me has gone still & silent - at the spilt second, I felt like a Star!!

Peace Signs form Mandy & my Twin sisters who were right behind Mom & Dad!!

Shortly after, it was time for our Prime Minister to move on……..I quickly told him “Thank you Sir for making my parents’ dream come true!!” Indeed the truth, cos I’d never seen Dad more disappointed than that night earlier on when he could not have the chance to have any photo with our PM! In fact, Dad’s someone who dislikes taking photos, but that night was an exception cos he for once wanted to, so so much!!

We started shaking hands one more time with our Prime Minister before he started walking off.

And guess what?! Our Prime Minister really touched my heart that night - cos I was about to shake hands with him when he started walking off since we all started walking beside him trying to shake his hands. The 1st time I was blocked by my 2nd sister-in-law when I extended my hand to our PM, & the second time when I extended my hand as we walked beside him, I was again blocked by others……..& cos I remember I’d shaken his hand once earlier on & that was already good enough, I was about to give up on the 3rd time when our PM actually extended his hand for me to shake! Wow, at that instant, I was really touched cos guess he either has got a photographic memory that could see & remember that I was blocked the 1st 2 times, or that he heard very clearly my “Thank you” to him for granting my parents’ wish & making their dream come true………..either reason, I was really touched by him! He really has my most deepest respect after that night!

Below is the photo showing me trying to shake our Prime Minister’s hand but I was blocked by my 2nd sister-in-law.

The below photo showing again I was blocked by others when I tried shaking his hand for the 2nd time.

This photo below was the one that I finally got the chance to shake our Prime Minister’s hand when he extended his hand towards me when I was about to give up! Hehehe, could you see my “Touched” expression on my face??!!

Looking at the photo taken by Dennis with his Camera - we were so happy we literally jumped & shouted when we saw this snapshot on Dennis’s camera, cos none other of us took any photo of those moments with our Prime Minister!! Except for quick-witted & smart Dennis who managed to take in fact not just this below photo in his camera, but several other shots which were all already shown to you above!! I’d thought that night this below was the only shot, & was I so pleased when I found out there were actually the rest!! Good boy Dennis!! Thank you Dennis we love you!!

Dad & Mom chatting with us on the whole earlier meeting, chatting & photography session with our Prime Minister - we felt so proud that night cos we were the only commoner citizens being able to take photos with our PM as a Family.

Dad was the happiest after that & you could see it all over him, & my sisters were all laughing & praising Mom for being so clever & quick to grasp our Prime Minister’s hand to stop him from walking off!!

And I especially felt happiest too cos I knew that night my parents’ wish, especially Dad’s, did come true after all. Dear said I was the one who made it happen cos I did not give up till the very end. For me, just seeing Dad & Mom so happy & satisfied after the photo session with our Prime Minister that night was my dream come true too!

We left the Carnival still chatting about the incident, & happily walking back to my parent’s place.

We stopped by the nearby Kaki Bukit Food Centre for supper - for some for us Dinner. It was almost 10pm then!

All of us were so thirsty first thing we looked for was our all-time favourite Sugarcane drink & Coke :

Mom ordering Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle for some of us :

My nephew Edward with sister Edwina about to tuck into her Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle :

Edward with a staring auntie (my 3rd Twin sister) by his side - heeheehee she must be eyeing on his bowl of Porridge - Yum Yum!!!

Enjoying their food & Sugarcane drinks :

The Porridge cum Pig’s Organ Soup Store :

Tired-looking Dear eating Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle - ahhaha he must be after going through such an eventful night! Though very exhausted after the Carnival, it was all good & meaningful time spent together!

My Pig’s Organ Soup + Rice :

We went back to my parents’ place & I took some photos of the 1st Prize (in 3G Competition) gifts of Mom & Dad; our framed-up Family Portrait, an unframed photo of Mom & Dad alone, & a total of $150 NTUC vouchers :

Before Mandy left Ah Ma’s house with Daniel, I asked her to help take a few photos of myself with still-glowing-so-late-at-night-beautiful Mom.

As I knew how special that night’s meeting with our Prime Minister meant to Mom & Dad, I made a print-out of some combined memorable photos as a portait & framed it up for them.

To me, the time spent that night with Mom & Dad & my Family was very precious time & I’ll always remember the many beautiful & special memories of those moments. Thank you Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for making it all possible!!