Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew was born a British subject on Sep 16, 1923 at 92 Kampong Java Road in Singapore.
He was first educated at Telok Kurau Primary School before attending Raffles Institution (RI).
During his junior Cambridge years, he obtained several scholarships and subsequently came in top for the School Certificate examinations, obtaining the John Anderson scholarship to attend Raffles College (now National University of Singapore).
But Lee’s university education was delayed by World War II and Japanese occupation of Singapore (the 1942–1945).
When the war ended, Lee went on to study in England and briefly attended the London School of Economic.
Then he moved to University of Cambridge and read law at Fitzwilliam College.
Lee graduated with a rare Double Starred (double First Class Honours) and was subsequently made an honorary fellow of Fitzwilliam College.
He returned to Singapore in 1949 and worked as a lawyer.
Lee, in his memoirs, recounted how he had sung four national anthems throughout his lifetime; ‘God Save The King’ when Singapore was a British colony, the Japanese national anthem ‘Kimigayo’ during the Japanese occupation, the Malaysian national anthem ‘Negaraku’ when Singapore was part of Malaysia for two years and ‘Majulah Singapura’, the current national anthem of Singapore.
People’s Action Party (PAP)
On Nov 12, 1954, Lee and a group of fellow English-educated middle-class men formed the ‘socialist’ People’s Action Party (PAP).
The first conference was held at the Victoria Memorial Hall where Lee became the secretary-general, a post he held until 1992, save for a brief period in 1957.
He then won the Tanjong Pagar seat in the 1955 elections and became the opposition leader against David Saul Marshall’s Labour Front-led coalition government.
Lee’s position in the PAP was under threat when pro-Communists took over the leadership posts in 1957.
The then Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock ordered a mass arrest of the pro-Communists and Lee was reinstated as secretary-general.
First Prime Minister of Singapore and Formation of Malaysia
In the national elections held on May 30, 1959, the PAP won 43 of the 51 seats in the legislative assembly.
Singapore gained self-government with autonomy in all state matters except defense and foreign affairs, and Lee became the first Prime Minister of Singapore on June 3, 1959, taking over from Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock.
After Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman proposed the formation of a federation which would include Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak in 1961, Lee began to campaign for a merger with Malaysia to end British colonial rule.
On Sept 16, 1963, Singapore became part of Malaysia. However, the union was short-lived.
After series of race riots in 1964, Abdul Rahman decided to expel Singapore from Malaysia.
Lee signed a separation agreement on Aug 7, 1965, which discussed Singapore’s post-separation relations with Malaysia in order to continue co-operation in areas such as trade and mutual defense.
Two days later, the Malaysian parliament passed the required resolution that would sever Singapore’s ties to Malaysia as a state and thus the Republic of Singapore was created.
Among the challenges Singaporean government faced at that time was lack of natural resources, a water supply that was derived primarily from Malaysia and a very limited defensive capability.
Lee’s Post-independence
Lee stated that he did not sleep well and fell sick days after Singapore’s independence in his autobiography.
Singapore joined the United Nations on Sep 21, 1965 and founded the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Aug 8, 1967 with four other South-East Asian countries.
Singapore has never had a dominant culture to which immigrants could assimilate even though Malay was the dominant language at that time.
Lee tried to create a Singaporean identity in the 1970s and 1980s, one which heavily recognised racial consciousness within the umbrella of multiculturalism.
Senior Minister (1990 to 2004)
After leading the PAP to victory in seven elections, Lee stepped down on Nov 28, 1990 after handing over the leadership to Goh Chok Tong.
He was then the world’s longest-serving prime minister and it was the first leadership transition since Singapore’s independence.
When Goh became head of government, Lee remained in the cabinet with a non-executive position of Senior Minister and played a role he described as advisory.
Lee subsequently stepped down as the Secretary-General of the PAP and was succeeded by Goh in Nov 1992.
Minister Mentor (2004 to 2011)
Since the 2000s, Lee has expressed concern about the declining proficiency of Mandarin among younger Chinese Singaporeans and emphasising that they must learn to juggle English and Mandarin.
In June 2005, Lee published a book ‘Keeping My Mandarin Alive’ in which he documented is decades of effort to master Mandarin, a language which he said he had to re-learn due to disuse.
In an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) on 12 June 2005, Lee stressed the need to have a continuous renewal of talent in the country’s leadership, saying “My job really was to find my successors. I found them, they are there; their job is to find their successors. So there must be this continuous renewal of talented, dedicated, honest, able people who will do things not for themselves but for their people and for their country. If they can do that, they will carry on for another one generation and so it goes on. The moment that breaks, it’s gone”.
After the 2011 general elections in which the Workers’ Party, a major opposition political party in Singapore, made unprecedented gains by winning a Group Representation Constituency (GRC), Lee announced that he decided to leave the cabinet for the Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, and his team to have a clean slate.
Awards and recognitions
Lee has received a number of state decorations, including the Order of the Companions of Honour (1970), Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (1972), the Freedom of the City of London (1982), the Seri Paduka Mahkota Johor (1984), the Order of Great Leader (1988) and the Order of the Rising Sun (1967).
Other recognitions included Fellowship of Imperial College London, Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, an honorary Doctorate in Law at the Australian National University in Canberra, first Lifetime Achievement award by the US-ASEAN Business Council, Russian Order of Friendship by President Dmitry Medvedev, TIME 100 list as one of the people who most affect our world (2010), Gryphon Award from Raffles Institution, Lincoln Medal, Kazakhstan Order of Friendship, Russia’s Order of Honour and Honourary Doctor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Health
Lee had been hospitalised several times over the years due to different reasons including abnormal heart rhythm (atrial flutter), chest infection and prolonged cardiac dysrhythmia.
Since Feb 5, he has been admitted in the Singapore General Hospital for severe pneumonia.
In his book One Man’s View of the World (2013), Lee shared his thoughts on death, stressing that he wished for a “quick” death.
He revealed that he had composed a legal Advanced Medical Directive ordering the doctors to cut off his life support should he fall into a permanently vegetative state.
Personal Life
Lee was married to Kwa Geok Choo from 1947 until her death on Oct 2, 2010.
Lee is survived by two sons, current Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong and Lee Hsien Yang, and a daughter Lee We Ling and seven grandchildren.