The heavens opened and cried: mediatised national mourning for Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew

When Singapore’s first Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, passed away on March 23 2015, a seven-day period of national mourning was declared and observed. During that week, news media emphasised stories about Lee, and these stories were widely re-circulated by Singaporeans via social media. This paper argues that during that period, a possible sacralisation of Lee was materialising through the presentation of media narratives and the contribution of tributes by Singaporeans. Using illustrative examples, it demonstrates that the mediatised ritual, viewed as the seven-day period that included the State procession and funeral on the final day, created a set apartness for Singaporeans to contemplate and reflect on Lee’s values and how they shaped his contributions to the nation. It then considers the avenues of future research based on this new chapter in the making of Singapore’s history.