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SINGAPORE PLUNGED INTO mourning and world leaders united in tribute today after the death of Lee Kuan Yew, the iron-fisted politician who forged a prosperous city-state out of unpromising beginnings.
His son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, issued a statement before dawn announcing the passing of his 91-year-old father at Singapore General Hospital following a long illness.
He declared seven days of national mourning until the former leader is cremated on 2 March.
“He fought for our independence, built a nation where there was none, and made us proud to be Singaporeans. We won’t see another like him,” the prime minister said in an emotional televised address.
Onlookers chanted “Mr Lee, Mr Lee” as a white hearse carrying his remains entered the Istana state complex at midday for a two-day private family wake before lying in state at Parliament House.
At the entrance, Singaporeans, some teary-eyed, left personal tributes and signed a condolence board.
US President Barack Obama led world leaders in hailing Lee, who turned a small territory lacking its own natural resources into a world player in finance, trading and shipping — all the while with a heavy political grip that was long decried by rights campaigners.
“He was a true giant of history who will be remembered for generations to come as the father of modern Singapore and as one of the great strategists of Asian affairs,” Obama said in a statement.
China lauded Lee’s “historic contributions” to their relationship after the Communist leadership embarked on dramatic economic reforms from 1978.
President Xi Jinping said Lee was “widely respected by the international community as a strategist and a statesman”.
Tributes also came in from a host of international leaders including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the prime ministers of Malaysia, Britain, Japan and Australia.
’Disproportionate’ influence
Lee, whose health rapidly deteriorated after his wife of 63 years, Kwa Geok Choo, died in 2010, was in hospital for nearly seven weeks with severe pneumonia.
Two years before he died, Lee revealed that he had signed an advance medical directive instructing doctors not to use any life-sustaining treatment if he could not be resuscitated.
He served as prime minister from 1959, when colonial ruler Britain granted self-rule, to 1990, leading Singapore to independence in 1965 after a brief and stormy union with Malaysia.
Singapore now has one of the world’s highest per capita incomes and its residents enjoy near-universal home ownership, low crime rates and first-class infrastructure.
The opposition Workers’ Party, whose leaders were among those harried for years by Lee under his authoritarian rule, joined the rest of the nation of 5.5 million people in mourning him.
“His contributions to Singapore will be remembered for generations to come,” it said in a statement.
On the diplomatic front, Lee’s counsel was often sought by Western leaders, particularly on China — which he identified early as a driver of world economic growth — as well as more volatile neighbours in Southeast Asia.
Singapore-based political analyst Derek da Cunha told AFP that “Lee Kuan Yew gave Singapore an international profile completely disproportionate to the country’s size”.
But the Cambridge-educated lawyer was also criticised for jailing political opponents and driving his critics to self-imposed exile or financial ruin as a result of costly libel suits.
’I am satisfied’
Singapore strictly controls freedom of speech and assembly. While it has become more liberal in recent years, it still uses corporal punishment and ranks 150th in the annual press freedom ranking of Reporters Without Borders — below Russia and Zimbabwe among others.
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, acknowledged Lee’s economic legacy but said “it also came at a significant cost for human rights”.
He said it may now be time for a national “conversation” on greater political liberalisation.
Lee stepped down in 1990 in favour of his deputy Goh Chok Tong, who in turn handed the reins to the former leader’s eldest son Lee Hsien Loong in 2004.
The People’s Action Party (PAP), which was co-founded by the elder Lee, has won every election since 1959 and currently holds 80 of the 87 seats in parliament.
Lee retired from advisory roles in government in 2011 after the PAP suffered its worst poll result since it came to power, getting only 60 percent of votes cast amid public anger over a large influx of immigrants, the rising cost of living, urban congestion and insufficient supply of public housing.
In his last book “One Man’s View of the World”, published in 2013, Lee looked back at his remarkable career and concluded: “As for me, I have done what I had wanted to, to the best of my ability. I am satisfied.”
- © AFP 2015.
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This guy was a benevolent dictator. Sometimes that works. Most of the time it doesn’t.
Exactly Peter, he was far from a saint but considering some of the leaders of other countries in the far east over the years he was almost a puppy dog in comparison.
Ireland could learn a lot from Singapore, but I don’t think the people are willing to pay the millions to get quality leadership as they do.
Ireland can learn nothing from Singapore. Dreadful human rights record with severe restrictions on personal freedom. Thanks but no thanks.
You should pay a visit and then tell me Ireland, could learn nothing from Singapore. Somethings are done incredibly well there. We don’t have to copy everything they do, but we could definitely improve some aspects of Irish life.
I have been in Singapore, for a country with no space they managed to make it into a gem. They have some strict laws for a reason, it wouldn’t apply to us such as car ownership because otherwise Singapore would be in traffic jam 24/7 they public transport system is A1 and taxis a cheap. People are happy there.
After the way they were treated by the Japanese during WW2, Singapore is now a multi cultural prosperous and friendly country.
I stayed at Raffles when I was passing through enroute to Australia.
Chris, it was multi cultural pre war. Chinese, Malay, Tamil. Sikh and even Europeans not just Brirs
I’m working and living in Singapore now. Yes Mr. Lee ruled with an iron fist but from that fist came an amazing country that welcomed me, and other Irish graduates, when the Irish government and economy said, “no thanks”. I for one, am extremely greatful that Mr. Lee created a country that provides opportunity for growth and recognises the potential of new graduates and young professionals.
Ya it’s great for middle class, university educated expats. Not so good for the 75 year old auntie who is carrying trays around the foodcourt for a couple of dollars an hour until her body gives up on her because there is no social safety net in Singapore. It’s also not so great for any political opponent of Mr Lee, the PAP is basically the CCP with a smaller territory to control. Capital punishment for non violent crime, appalling treatment of immigrants, terrible freedom of press, an essential one party state with no real social welfare, the success of Singapore has come at a massive cost.
He was a man with an incredible vision. He was attacked and vilified during his career (even now if you look at the comments above). But look what he achieved. Do readers really believe Singapore would be where it is now if he had to compromise all the way along? I doubt it.
You could write that exact same sentence swapping Deng Xiaoping and China in place of Lee Kuan Yew and Singapore. You can acknowledge his achievements while also recognizing his faults. Having lived in Ireland and Singapore I’d much rather our faults than theirs. While great infrastructure and low crime are great, if they come with a dictatorship, the stifling of all culture and creativity (name one cultural or creative impact Singapore has given to the world) and casting aside the most vulnerable in society, I can do without them.
This man was a tyranical dictator who ruled by stifling freedom of speech, running anyone who dared to speak against him through the courts with trumped up libel charges, gerrymandering the political process in order to keep his PAP party in power for 50 years and creating a golden circle coterie of nepotism and favoured friends who became the best paid politicians in the world. Hearing leaders like Obama laud him is sickening.
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