Workers’ Party MP Jamus Lim penned a heartfelt Facebook post on Wednesday (Feb 23) in memory of his father, who died on this day 23 years ago, when the MP would have been in his mid-twenties.
Moved by his tribute, several people shared their own experiences of grief, and many netizens told the Sengkang GRC MP that his father would have been proud of him.
Prof Lim also posted a photo from the time of his youth, which shows his family, whom he described as close knit. The picture shows him with his younger sister and their parents.
That his father was only 49 at the time he passed on must have accentuated the grief. As Prof Lim writes:
“23 years ago on this date, Dad left us. It was sudden, and he was only 49 at the time.
“His passing was difficult for our close-knit family, and while I’ve also met others who lost their parents at a young age, my sister and I felt unprepared to face life without a father.
It was also especially difficult for Mom, for whom Dad was her first boyfriend (yes, virtually unimaginable these days), and who now had to shoulder the financial and emotional burden of taking care of two children.”
The MP added that fortunately, his father had insurance, which somewhat eased the burden of his passing. When he meets his Sengkang GRC constituents, he said, he has come across those who lost parents in a similar situation, when they experienced the grief of unexpectedly losing a loved one.
When he comes across these bereaved constituents, he said, he does his “level best to empathize, to listen to their sorrow, and to offer support with any appeals or applications to government agencies that they may have”.
And while providing assistance to bereaved residents is within the scope of his duties, Prof Lim said that he also sees it as an “enormous privilege to be able to be there for others during their time of need”.
He also shared a few lines addressed to his father, writing that his and his family “always take this time of the year to remind ourselves of not just Dad’s legacy,” but to value one another as well.
“Yet another year, without you here
Another season, we have not shared
Another holiday, sans your laughter
Another milestone, you did not witness
But yet, in our hearts and minds
You have never left,” he wrote.
His post resonated with many netizens, several of whom were prompted to shared their own experiences of losing loved ones.
Others wrote about how proud Prof Lim’s father would have been of him.
Especially touching were the comments left by those who had known the older Mr Lim.
One commenter who had known the MP’s father wrote that he had been a “great engineer” and “a great caring leader.”
/TISG
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