The Sungei Road Market, or Thieves Market, is Singapore's oldest flea market. It was shut down on July 10, 2017 to the chagrin of many (who may or may not have visited it on a regular basis).

Local site Funeral in 25 Objects, however, has taken a decidedly poetic stance in its tribute to the foregone fixture of Singapore's history.

It is, in a nutshell, about "25 Singaporean politicians [who] are each gifted an object from the recently shut down Sungei Road Market, along with a personalised haiku."

The gifts and haikus are based on the politicians' public lives. Each of them were chosen because they have some kind of link — direct or indirect — to the closure of the market.

Let's begin.

1) ​Lee Hsien Loong

Prime Minister ​​​

Young Ecologist & Young Environmentalist pins - $3

Pruning is tiring.

This garden city was not 

sculpted in a day.

2) Josephine Teo

Minister, Prime Minister's Office, oversees the National Population and Talent Division

Red "Love" pocketwatch - $4

All uteruses 

flow like time, urgent and red. 

Count your eggs before.

3) Khaw Boon Wan

Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure, Minister for Transport

Humpty Dumpty piggy bank - $15

​Crack a winsome smile 

and the world is yours to take

to much greater heights

If you were wondering what they meant by "winsome smile":

4) Vivian Balakrishnan

Minister for Foreign Affairs

 Miniature slot machine - $5

Do you want three meals

in a restaurant, food court

or hawker centre?

Context:

5) Ng Chee Meng

Minister for Education (Schools), Second Minister for Transport​

Second runner-up carrom trophy - $4

​For your seeming lack 

of entrepreneurial dare:

​Consolation prize

Context:

6) Ong Ye Kung

Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills), Second Minister for Defence

Notes on past-year exam questions - $0

What of a future

if our best and only skill

​is breaking the past? 

The gifts for all 25 politicians cost S$90.50 in total. To view more of them, head over to their site here. 

Top image adapted from Funeral in 25 Objects and Lee Hsien Loong's Facebook.