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The Electric New Paper :

MM Lee turns 84, Raffles Hotel turns 120

The drink that saved Raffles

(It's not the Singapore Sling)

DO you know that it was Singapore's elder statesman who saved Singapore's grand old lady from falling into decrepitude?

18 September 2007

DO you know that it was Singapore's elder statesman who saved Singapore's grand old lady from falling into decrepitude?

The Raffles Hotel would have spiralled into another Mitre hotel if not for the timely intervention of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who was then the Prime Minister.

The story is well-chronicled in The Raffles Hotel book, but when MM Lee retold it last night it held his audience in thrall once again.

MM Lee was guest-of-honour at the hotel's 120th birthday gala reception.

He said: 'Let me explain why I'm here. My wife and I had our wedding reception here umpteen years ago (in 1950).'

'GRACEFUL DECADENCE'

He recounted how 'in the '60s and '70s Raffles fell into graceful decadence' and when he had friends from abroad, he never took them to the Raffles, legendary as it was.

Till his Cambridge professor visited and insisted on having a drink there. When Mr Lee saw the sorry state the hotel had fallen into, he called the owners and gave notice for them 'to get their act together, do it up or the Government would take over'.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Parts of that history - from the original 10-room bungalow to 2000 Singapore Slings served a day - was screened for some 450 guests, including 120 winners of a writing competition, What Raffles Means To Me.

Among the winners - three Secondary 3 students from Raffles Institution, Daniel Tay, Geoffrey Lim and Isaac Chay. What can a 120-year-old national treasure hold in the memory department for 15-year-old schoolboys?

Isaac said: 'When I was 7, after Sunday school my mum and aunt would bring us here. And one weekend my aunt treated us to a two-night stay. After which, every time my father drove down Beach Road when I saw the porch I would go wild.'

For the buffet that was prepared for the guests, Raffles Hotel had three guest chefs from Japan and the queue was 120-long.

The outdoor event was moved indoors because of rain, or 'showers of blessings' as a staff member said.

Did the students know it was also MM Lee's birthday yesterday? 'No! Is he 82 or 83?' (MM Lee is 84.)

Violinist Min Lee fiddled him in, accompanied by Mrs Lee in an auspicious red blouse and gold medallion.

After MM Lee cut the hotel's 120th birthday cake, Mr and Mrs Lee adjourned to his private birthday party with family elsewhere in the hotel.

Min's Guarneri violin beat the combined ages of MM Lee and Raffles Hotel. Her instrument, worth close to $1 million, is from 1704, making it 303 years old.

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