Leaders pay tribute to Singapore's first parks commissioner Wong Yew Kwan

Born in Ipoh in 1932, Mr Wong majored in botany on the University of Malaya."I had always been interested in the trees and nature areas which were abundant in Ipoh where I grew up," he stated in an interview printed in a 2016 e-newsletter by the Ministry of National Development.Moving to Singapore along with his household in 1970, Mr Wong joined the Parks and Recreation Division in 1974.When this grew to become a full-fledged division in 1976, he was appointed Singapore's first Commissioner of Parks and Recreation, and served in that submit till 1982.In the interview, Mr Wong described working carefully with then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew to inexperienced the town."The late Mr Wong Chooi Sen (then Cabinet Secretary) often rang me up with specific instructions from Mr Lee (Kuan Yew) about an area where he wanted trees planted, or if he noticed that a tree was not doing well, and so on," stated Mr Wong."It was quite a lot of pressure!"In a Facebook submit on Thursday, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee stated that Mr Wong and his workforce labored assiduously to perform the Garden City imaginative and prescient."He had a deep interest in tropical forest ecology, and contributed to our knowledge of forest trees in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve even after he had left (the Parks and Recreation Department)," stated the minister.He added that Mr Wong additionally served as a member of the Heritage Tree Panel, the place his expertise was "invaluable" in evaluating nominations for Heritage Trees.Citing a Chinese idiom which means "the predecessors plant the trees, and their descendants enjoy the shade", the Prime Minister stated this was "literally true" in Mr Wong's case."Yew Kwan left a lasting mark on the country," stated Mr Lee. "He will be deeply missed, and my thoughts are with his family in this time of grief."Mr Wong's wake is being held at Block 37 Sin Ming Drive till Saturday, in accordance to his obituary.He can be cremated at Mandai Crematorium on Sunday afternoon.