Remembering Lee Kuan Yew

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monday, 23 march 2015 S pe c i a l e d i t io n M c i (p) 088/09/2014

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Lee Kuan Yew Architect of

modern Singapore

As for me, I have done what I had wanted to do, to the best

of my ability. I am satisfied.

Monday 23 March 2015 2 reMeMbering Lee Kuan yew

Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Singapores visionary founding Prime Minister and architect of the countrys rise from a fledgling island nation expelled from Malaysia to one envied worldwide for its rapid economic progress, far-sighted political leader-ship and all-round efficiency, died this morning.

He was 91. Mr Lees death came a few months

shy of the 50th anniversary of the Re-publics independence on Aug 9.

In a brief statement announcing his death, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) said Mr Lee, whose health had been deteriorating over the past two years, died peacefully at the Singapore General Hospital at 3.18 this morning.

We wont see another like him The Prime Minister is deeply grieved to announce the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the founding Prime Minister of Singapore, PMO said in statement issued just past 4am.

At about 6.20am, the Cabinet also issued a statement: We will always remember his sound guidance, his con-stant questioning, and his fatherly care for Singapore and for all of us. Let us dedicate ourselves to Singapore and Singaporeans, in the way that Mr Lee showed us.

Mr Lees last public appearance was on Nov 7 last year, at the 60th anniver-sary celebrations of the Peoples Action Partys (PAP) which he founded in 1954 held at Victoria Memorial Hall.

PAP chairman Khaw Boon Wan said in a statement that Mr Lee had devoted his whole life to Singapore. Mr Khaw said: Millions of Singaporeans have improved their lives because of his dedication and sacrifice. As we mourn his passing, lets also re-dedicate our-selves to building on his legacy, for the Party and for Singapore.

Mr Lee had been warded at SGH since Feb 5 after coming down with severe pneumonia. Despite a later statement that his condition had im-proved, he never recovered. His condi-tion worsened progressively last week, statements from the PMO said, and a final update on his deterioration which arrived on Sunday afternoon said his condition had weakened further. At 4:05am today, the announcement that Singapore had been bracing itself for and dreading for more than a month was made.

The Republic now enters a seven-day period of national mourning - from today to Sunday - for its founding leader, a man who inspired awe and was re-garded as an intimidating presence at the start of his tenure as Prime Minis-ter in 1959, but who later became syn-onymous with Singapores success and was widely viewed with respect and admiration even if it was grudging in some quarters.

As a mark of respect to Mr Lee, State flags on all Government buildings will

be flown at half-mast during the week of mourning.

A private family wake will be held today and tomorrow at Sri Temasek the Prime Ministers official residence on the Istana grounds. From today to Sunday, condolence books and cards will be placed at the Istanas main gate for the public to pen their tributes to Mr Lee. Condolence books will also be opened at all overseas missions.

Mr Lees body will lie in state at Parliament House from Wednesday to Saturday, for the public to pay their re-spects. A State Funeral Service will be held at 2 pm on Sunday at the National University of Singapores University Cultural Centre.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the eldest of Mr Lee Kuan Yews three children, addressed the nation this morning via live television.

With his voice choking with emotion at times, he spoke in English, Mandarin and Malay. In his English speech, he said: The first of our founding fathers

A nation, led by PM Lee Hsien Loong, mourns the first of our founding fathers is no more

Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who was then Prime Minister of Singapore, addressing a crowd on National Day, June 3, 1962. Photo: AP

Continued on PAge 4

By CArl SkAdiAn deputy editor and loh Chee kong Associate editor

4 RemembeRing Lee Kuan Yew

Mr Lee Kuan Yew of Peoples Action Party (PAP) speaking at the rally for Singapore General Election 1972 at Fullerton Square. Photo: Ministry of

inforMation and the

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Courtesy of national

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is no more. He inspired us, gave us cour-age, kept us together, and brought us here. He fought for our independence, built a nation where there was none, and made us proud to be Singaporeans. We wont see another like him.

He added: I am grieved beyond words at the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew. I know that we all feel the same way. But even as we mourn his pass-ing, let us also honour his spirit. Let us dedicate ourselves as one people to build on his foundations, strive for his ideals, and keep Singapore exceptional and successful for many years to come. May Mr Lee Kuan Yew rest in peace.

Across a grieving nation, which had been bracing itself for bad news since it was announced a little more than a month ago that Mr Lee had been warded and subsequently put on a mechanical ventilator, grief gave way slowly to tributes for a man regarded as a modern-day titan, not just in Sin-gapore, but in much of the world.

On the Internet, where his legacy was a more divisive subject than it was elsewhere, an unprecedented outpour-ing of condolence messages ensued, even though the news broke in the wee hours. Tributes from the public and po-litical leaders began streaming in soon after PMOs announcement.

Said Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who succeeded Mr Lee as Prime Minister in 1990, on Facebook: My tears welled up as I received the sad news. Mr Lee Kuan Yew has completed his lifes journey. But it was a journey devoted to the making of Singapore.

He has bequeathed a monumen-tal legacy to Singaporeans a safe, secure, harmonious and prosperous independent Singapore, our Homeland. He was a selfless leader. He shared his

Continued froM Page 2 experience, knowledge, ideas and life with us. He was my leader, mentor, in-spiration, the man I looked up to most. He made me a proud Singaporean. Now he is gone. I mourn but he lives on in my heart. On behalf of Marine Parade residents, I offer our profound condolences to PM Lee Hsien Loong and his family.

President Tony Tan said: Mary and I are deeply saddened by the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew. We extend our deep-est condolences to his children Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Ms Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang, and their families.

In his three-page condolence letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Tan paid trib-ute to Mr Lees achievements, such as how he rallied Singaporeans together after forced separation from Malaysia in 1965. Many doubted if Singapore could have survived as a nation but Mr Lee rallied our people together and led his cabinet colleagues to successfully build up our armed forces, develop our infrastructure and transform Singa-pore into a global metropolis, Dr Tan wrote.

Condolences from world leaders also streamed in, with Australia Prime Min-ister Tony Abbott and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key among the first to pay tribute to Mr Lee.

United States President Barack Obama said he was deeply saddened to learn of Mr Lees death. Offering his condolences on behalf of the American people, Mr Obama described Mr Lee as a remarkable man and a true giant of history who will be remembered for generations to come as the father of modern Singapore and as one the great strategists of Asian affairs.

Mr Obama said his discussions with Mr Lee during his trip to Singapore in 2009 were hugely important in help-

ing him to formulate the US policy of rebalancing to the Asia Pacific. (Mr Lees) views and insights on Asian dy-namics and economic management were respected by many around the world, and no small number of this and past generations of world leaders have sought his advice on governance and development, he added.

Obituaries also appeared on the websites of international media, includ-ing The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Economist, the BBC and the South China Morning Post.

The outpouring of grief reflected the stature of a man who led a team of able and equally visionary leaders and oversaw Singapores rise by formulat-ing policies aimed at overcoming the myriad challenges faced by a tiny na-tion set amid what he described at the outset as a volatile region.

His ideas spanned the gamut, from Singapores place in the larger world, the defence of an island just 50km across, housing, education and eco-nomic policies, to the seemingly mun-dane, but which he explained were equally critical; these ranged from the orderly rows of trees seen across the island, for example, to the 1970s relegation of males with long hair to the back of queues to blunt the appeal of Western hippie subculture, which was deemed unhealthy for the coun-trys development.

At every turn along the way, and even after he stepped down from his last post in Cabinet following the May 2011 General Election, Mr Lee cease-lessly reminded Singaporeans of his prescription for the countrys success or lit into its ills with his signature blend of a politicians oratory, a court-room lawyers ability to wield a rapier to opposing arguments and a knack for

persuasion. The merits of his arguments were always discussed, sometimes de-bated, but the astute observer always arrived at the same conclusion that Mr Lee never stopped thinking about the challenges facing this country.

As he put it himself memorably: Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up.

His visionary leadership drew praise from all over the world, and the success of Singapore gave it a relevance and weight in global affairs that few small states ever achieve. Former US Presi-dent Bill Clinton, for example, called him one of the wisest, most knowl-edgeable, most effective leader in any part of the world for the last 50 years.

Other world leaders were similarly effusive in their praise, and many, in-cluding heavyweights such as Chinas Deng Xiaoping and Britains Margaret Thatcher, eagerly sought his views as they themselves sought to transform their countries.

To be sure, Mr Lee had his share of detractors. He went after what he deemed political duds with a venge-ance, resorting sometimes to surpris-ingly sharp language: He once de-scribed how he carried a figurative hatchet in his bag, a weapon he would use against troublemakers.

His use of lawsuits against political opponents and Western media outlets which were accused of meddling in Singapore politics drew much criti-cism, as did his iron grip on the local press he insisted at the outset that there was no Fourth Estate role for it, and that its business was as a nation-building entity.

Mr Lee also waded into areas citi-zens deemed private, such as his ven-tures into social engineering via the Graduate Mothers Scheme or the Speak Mandarin And Not Dialects campaign, and drew flak as a result. Policies such as the banning of chew-ing gum, meanwhile, drew a mix of criticism and ridicule internationally.

He remained unapologetic, however, insisting that whatever he did was in the better interests of Singapore. He stood by his belief, which he explained starkly in an interview published by National Geographic magazine in 2010, that to be a leader, one must understand human nature. I have always thought that hu-manity was animal-like. The Confucian theory was man could be improved, but Im not sure he can be. He can be trained, he can be disciplined.

It was a theme he touched on several times, including as early as 1987, when he shrugged off criticism of meddling thus: I am often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens. Yes, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldnt be here today. And I say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldnt be here, we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on very personal matters who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think.

His intentions were telegraphed ear-ly, and moves were put in place after the 1984 General Elections. Much discus-sion of a handover ensued, and by the time Mr Goh Chok Tong was sworn in as Singapores second Prime Minister on Nov 28, 1990, the momentous event was viewed as routine.

Mr Lee was then appointed Senior Minister in Mr Gohs Cabinet, a role akin to that of sage, and one which af-forded him the opportunity to give his thoughts and advice on the issues con-fronting Singapore, though, by his own admission, he was keen to let the sec-ond-generation leadership run things and make the key decisions.

His views were also sought on mat-ters beyond Singapore. Many leaders around the world, as well as leading media commentators, considered him an oracle of sorts on geopolitics, one to be tapped for his wellspring of insights into global affairs.

Much of what he thought of the world was shaped by experience, and he was viewed, first and foremost, as a pragmatist whose firm ideas of what would work and what would not were uncoloured by theories. In an interview with American journalist Tom Plate, he said: I am not great on philosophy and theories. I am interested in them, but my life is not guided by philosophy or theories. I get things done and leave others to extract the principles from my successful solutions. I do not work on a theory.

Instead I ask: what will make this work? So Plato, Aristotle, Socrates I am not guided by them. I read them cursorily because I was not interested in philosophy as such. You may call me a utilitarian or whatever. I am inter-ested in what works.

With the template for the transfer of power in Singapore set, the nation underwent a similar process on Aug 12, 2004, when Mr Lee Hsien Loong was sworn in as the countrys third Prime Minister. Mr Lee Kuan Yew was sub-sequently appointed Minister Mentor in his sons Cabinet, while Mr Goh as-sumed the mantle of Senior Minister.

In his speech at the swearing-in cer-emony of the younger Mr Lee, Presi-dent S.R. Nathan neatly encapsulated the factors that led to Singapores suc-cess, while also tracing the arc of Mr Lee Kuan Yews influence on the island republic, its unlikely beginnings, and its future path.

This is only the second political changeover in nearly 40 years of our in-dependence. Just as Mr Lee Kuan Yew did, Mr Goh is stepping aside to make way for a younger man when the coun-try is in good working order, he said.

Political self-renewal is essential if the leadership is to refresh and remake itself, stay relevant to the changing political, economic and social envi-ronment and connect with a younger generation. An orderly and planned self-renewal process is being built into our political system. This is unique to Singapore and has served us well. It is the best way to ensure that Singapore maintains a consistent course, and continues to progress and prosper with

Monday 23 March 2015

Singapore was never meant to be sovereign on its own. To survive, we had to be different, indeed exceptional.

EARLY YEARS

Mr Lee Kuan Yew was born on Sept 16, 1923, the eldest child of Mr Lee Chin Koon and Madam Chua Jim Neo. The relatively prosperous family included three brothers, Dennis and Freddy Lee, Lee Suan Yew, and a sister, Monica.

A natural at school, he topped the standings for the national Senior Cam-bridge exams among students in British Malaya, which included Singapore, and went on to Raffles Institution, but World War II interrupted his progress. After the war, armed with sterling grades, he went to London and earned a law de-gree from Cambridge. The war years and his time in London stirred a po-litical awakening in the young Mr Lee.

Upon his return in 1950, Mr Lee and his wife the love of his life and the woman he once described as smarter than he, Madam Kwa Geok Choo set up the law firm of Lee & Lee. His law career was short-lived, however, and after a few years, he turned his gaze towards politics.

A brief but necessary retelling of this period, shorn of much of the com-plexity of those times, saw him set up the Peoples Action Party and lobby successfully for self-government from the British and enter into merger with Malaya. It was what he firmly be-lieved was necessary for the survival of a tiny island with no natural resources to speak of.

The merger ultimately collapsed, undone by sharp differences in po-litical and economic policies between the ruling parties on both sides, which boiled over into racial unrest between the Chinese and Malays.

On the morning of Aug 9, 1965, Sin-gapore was expelled from the Federa-tion. Hours later, at a press conference, a visibly emotional Mr Lee explained why he had believed for the whole of my adult life that merger was the right move, but that separation was now inevitable, and called for calm. It was during this press conference that the indelible image of him with tears in his eyes came to be. It was a powerful testament to the anguish that separa-tion wrought in him.

For a nation suddenly cut adrift, uncertain of what the future would bring or, indeed, if there was one his vow that there would be a place for all in Singapore managed to bring a measure of solace, and some steel, to the occasion.

THE ARCHITECT OF MODERN SINGAPORE

From the beginning, he and his team set out to remake Singapore in every sense of the word. The larger details of how they set about to do it and the results they achieved have been the subject of effusive praise, academic tomes, and much more besides.

From rehousing a squatter popula-tion in Housing Board flats with modern amenities, to conjuring up the defence of Singapore from practically nothing, to formulating an economic policy that took a fledgling nation to borrow the

title of his book From Third World to First, Mr Lee had a leading hand in all.

There were numerous other deci-sions he took that have been the subject of much less publicity, but which have had significant claim to the success Singap ore has enjoyed. The policy to adopt English as the lingua franca for Singapore, the approach to foreign policy, and even the decision to site the airport in Changi instead of rede-veloping the old Paya Lebar site, are among them.

Essentially, as recounted in the book, Lee Kuan Yew: The Man And His Ideas, the prescription for the trans-formation of the nation boiled down to three elements: his view of the problem, his analysis of how it could be solved, and his assessment of Singapore soci-ety and what was needed for it to grow.

In an interview with American jour-nalist Fareed Zakaria published in 1994, Mr Lee described the route he and his team took to remake Singa-pore. We have focused on basics in Singapore. We used the family to push economic growth, factoring the ambi-tions of a person and his family into our planning. We have tried, for example, to improve the lot of children through education, he said.

The government can create a set-ting in which people can live happily and succeed and express themselves, but finally it is what people do with their lives that determines economic success or failure. Again, we were fortunate we had this cultural backdrop, the belief in thrift, hard work, filial piety and loy-alty in the extended family, and, most of all, the respect for scholarship and learning.

He added: There is, of course, an-other reason for our success. We have been able to create economic growth because we facilitated certain changes while we moved from an agricultural society to an industrial society. We had the advantage of knowing what the end result should be by looking at the West and later, Japan. We knew where we were, and we knew where we had to go. We said to ourselves, Lets hasten, lets see if we can get there faster.

As Singapores success rounded into view, Mr Lee was often praised for his farsightedness. Less well-known, but just as important, was his obsession with detail, which ranged from how but-tons should work down to the state of cleanliness of the toilets at the airport.

His prescriptions for excellence across all areas rapidly filtered down to the citizenry and, together with what has come to be known as the Pioneer Generation, Mr Lee and his team deliv-ered success to Singapore in such me-teoric fashion that the term miracle has routinely been used to describe the transformation of the country with-out a trace of hyperbole.

Even while he was leading this trans-formation, however, Mr Lee had his eye on the future, specifically, an orderly and smooth transfer of power; it was something he viewed as critical to Sin-gapores future success, and which was practically unheard of in the region and much of the developing world.

each generation.Mr Nathan added: The political

changeover also marks a generation-al change. Mr Lee Kuan Yew led the founding generation who fought for independence and made Singapore succeed. The second generation, un-der Mr Goh, had the less obvious but equally challenging task of building a nation and rallying the people, when times were getting better and life more comfortable. Mr Lee Hsien Loong now leads the post-independence gen-eration, who have grown up amidst peace, comfort and growing prosperity. Mr Lee and his government must en-gage the young on external and domes-tic issues which affect their future, up-date policies to reflect the aspirations of a younger generation of Singaporeans and adapt their style to stay in tune with the times.

Singapore was never meant to be sovereign on its own. To survive, we had to be different, indeed exceptional. We progressed and thrived because we built strong institutions founded on sound values integrity, meritocracy, equality of opportunities, compassion and mutual respect between Singapo-reans of different ethnic, religious and social backgrounds. The government, judiciary, civil service, unions, schools and the media have promoted the inter-ests of the common people. The public, private and people sectors have built a national consensus on what the chal-lenges are and how we can overcome them. The people and government are united.

He continued: These are valuable strengths and intangible assets critical to Singapores long-term survival and continued success. We must do all we can to preserve them.

As Minister Mentor, Mr Lees pre-occupation with Singapores well-being continued. When he spoke in public, it was usually to remind Singaporeans of what worked for the country, and why it was necessary to do so. At his last appearance at his Tanjong Pagar wards National Day dinner on Aug 16, 2013, for example, he offered his views on one of his pet topics bilingualism.

Speaking before a crowd clearly en-thralled that he had turned up despite feeling unwell, he said: Education is the most important factor for our next generations success. In Singapore, our bilingualism policy makes learning dif-ficult unless you start learning both languages, English and the mother tongue, from an early age the ear-lier the better.

During his years as Minister Men-tor, actors on the global stage continued to seek his views; he was a frequent guest on forums that included world-wide business leaders and appeared every now and then in the pages of leading publications.

As a measure of the stature he con-tinued to enjoy, the high-powered board of French oil giant, Total, held its meet-ing in Singapore, instead of Paris, for the first time. During the meeting, Mr Lee announced that he, after 19 years on the board, intended to step down.

Continued on page 6


President Tony Tans condolence letter to PM Lee Hsien Loong

Total chairman Christophe de Mar-gerie would have none of it, however, and declared: I refuse his dismissal, your resignation. If you dont mind, you will stay as a member of our advisory board, which means you can come whenever you wish. It will be always our pleasure.

Despite his advancing age and dif-fering role in government, one thing did not change: His commitment to Singapore and his determination to see to it that everything, no matter how trivial it seemed, worked the way it should.

The keen observer would have spot-ted him in the unlikeliest of places. Here, being regaled by Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone as the travel-ling motor circus staged its first night race beneath the twinkling lights of Marina Bay. There, riding a golf cart through the soon-to-be-opened Ma-rina Bay Sands Integrated Resort and being briefed on its attractions and workings.

He also continued to worry about the way younger Singaporeans would view the challenges facing the country, and tried to drive the lessons he had learnt to them through his books.

The watershed general election of

May 2011, beyond being historic in sending more opposition politicians to Parliament than ever before with the first loss of a Group Representation Constituency (GRC), also led to the

end of Mr Lees decades in the Singa-pore Cabinet.

On May 14 that year, barely a week after the elections, Mr Lee and Mr Goh jointly resigned from Cabinet, and ex-

plained in a letter that they felt the time has come for a younger genera-tion to carry Singapore forward in a more difficult and complex situation.

The letter added: After a water-shed general election, we have de-cided to leave the Cabinet and have a completely younger team of ministers to connect to and engage with this young generation.

Mr Lee continued to remain in poli-tics after this; he held on to his office as Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC, but while he remained active behind the scenes, recurring bouts of ill-health took their toll, and he gradually receded from view, if not in influence, and made fewer and fewer appearances in public.

On Feb 5 this year, he was warded in hospital with severe pneumonia, but it was only two weeks later, on Feb 21, that Singaporeans learnt of the sever-ity of his illness, when a statement from the Prime Ministers Office announced that he was in the Intensive Care Unit of the Singapore General Hospital and was on mechanical ventilation. Despite a later statement that his condition had improved, he never recovered.

Mr Lee leaves behind his sons Hsien Loong and Hsien Yang, and a daughter, Wei Ling, as well as seven grandchildren.

Continued from page 5

O n behalf of the people of Singapore, I would like to convey my most heartfelt condolences to you and your family on the passing of your dear father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

Mr Lee dedicated his entire life to Singapore from his first position as a legal advisor to the labour unions in the 1950s after his graduation from Cambridge University to his undis-puted role as the architect of our mod-ern Republic. Few have demonstrated such complete commitment to a cause greater than themselves.

Mr Lee was elected into the Brit-ish Legislative Assembly in 1955 and became Singapores first Prime Min-ister after leading the PAP to victory in the 1959 general elections when Singapore was granted full internal self-government. At that time, Singa-pore faced problems of high unemploy-ment, poor infrastructure and a hos-tile external environment. To secure Singapores access to land, water and natural resources, Mr Lee led Singa-pore to join the Federation of Malaysia before declaring independence from Britain in 1963. However, the prob-lems were exacerbated when Singapore lost its economic hinterland after our forced separation from Malaysia in 1965. Many doubted if Singapore could survive as a nation but Mr Lee rallied our people together and led his cabinet colleagues to successfully build up our armed forces, develop our infrastruc-ture and transform Singapore into a global metropolis.

Even when Singapores urban devel-opment was still in its early phases, Mr Lee already had the vision of establish-ing Singapore as a liveable Garden City. Mr Lee initiated the ambitious project

to clean up the Singapore River and Kallang River which were then heavily polluted by garbage, sewage and indus-trial waste. The Singapore River now forms part of the Marina Bay, which is not only a valuable source of fresh water for our city state, but also a place which is enjoyed by Singaporeans and tourists from around the world. Mr Lee also set up the Housing Development Board to develop our public housing estates to give every citizen a stake in the nation. Today, because of Mr Lees farsighted-ness, Singapore is hailed as a model of sustainable and inclusive development for developing cities around the world.

Mr Lee made lasting contributions towards the building of a meritocratic and multi-cultural Singapore. As Sin-gapores first Prime Minister, Mr Lee put in place measures to ensure that university places, government con-tracts, and appointments into public office would go to the most deserving candidates based on merit and regard-less of race and religion. Mr Lee also established English as the common working language and the main me-dium of instruction in our schools so that all Singaporeans would have equal opportunities to learn, communicate and work regardless of race. Each eth-nic group was encouraged to learn its

mother tongue as a second language to preserve the cultural and community identity of the group. Because of these policies, Singaporeans today are able to leverage on our bilingual and bicul-tural edge to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves around the world.

A leader who placed service before

self-interest, Mr Lee stepped down as Prime Minister in 1990 to allow for a smooth leadership renewal after he had built up a younger team of Cabinet Ministers. Nevertheless, he continued to serve and advance Singapores inter-ests at home and abroad as Singapores Senior Minister from 1990 to 2004 and then as Minister Mentor from 2004 to 2011. He had spent more than 50 years in the cabinet and was the worlds longest-serving Prime Minister when he stepped down in 1990.

Through Mr Lee, Singapore earned international recognition and estab-lished cooperative relations with major countries affecting our region. Mr Lee was one of the first to recognize Chinas potential under Deng Xiaopings re-forms. Mr Lees brilliant intellect and candour of opinion led many interna-tional leaders and foreign diplomats to seek his views on developments in the region and around the world. Widely re-vered as a senior statesman, Mr Lee was conferred numerous international ac-colades throughout his political career.

Many aspects of our lives bear Mr Lees imprint - be it our HDB estates, our gardens, or the SAF. Without his remarkable foresight and relentless pursuit of Singapores development, the Singapore that we know today would not exist. Singapore was his passion and he continued serving Singapore till the last days of his life. Singapo-reans owe an eternal gratitude to Mr Lee Kuan Yew. The greatest tribute that Singaporeans can pay him is to treasure and build upon the legacy that Mr Lee and his team have left us, and make Singapore an even better home for our future generations.

Our thoughts are with you at this time of sorrow.

Our thoughts are with you, wrote President Tan.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew speaking to a student during a visit to Raffles Girls Primary School. Mr Lee believed that education is the most important factor for the next generations success. photo by don Wong.


The public can express their condolences and share their memories of the late Mr Lee at the official website, http://www.rememberingleekuanyew.sg.

The public can call the 24-hour hotline at 6336 1166 with queries, or visit http://www.rememberingleekuanyew.sg and http://www.facebook.com/rememberingleekuanyew for more details.

The Prime Minister has declared a period of National Mourning from March 23 to March 29.

As a mark of respect to the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the State flags on all Government buildings will be flown at half-mast from today to Sunday.

A private family wake will be held from March 23 to March 24 at Sri Temasek.

Singapore was his abiding passion, says PM in live addressI am deeply saddened to tell you that Mr Lee Kuan Yew passed away peacefully this morning at the Singapore General Hospital ...

The first of our founding fathers is no more. He inspired us, gave us cour-age, kept us together, and brought us here. He fought for our independence, built a nation where there was none, and made us proud to be Singaporeans. We wont see another like him.

To many Singaporeans, and indeed others too, Lee Kuan Yew was Singa-pore. As Prime Minister, he pushed us hard to achieve what had seemed impossible. After he stepped down, he guided his successors with wisdom and tact. In old age, he continued to keep a watchful eye on Singapore.

Singapore was his abiding passion. He gave of himself, in full measure, to Singapore.

As he himself put it towards the end of his life and I quote: I have spent my life, so much of it, building up this coun-try. Theres nothing more that I need to do. At the end of the day, what have

I got? A successful Singapore. What have I given up? My life.

I am grieved beyond words at the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew. I know that we all feel the same way. But even as we mourn his passing, let us also

honour his spirit. Let us dedicate our-selves as one people to build on his foun-dations, strive for his ideals, and keep Singapore exceptional and successful for many years to come. May Mr Lee Kuan Yew rest in peace.

seven days of national Mourning

The Republics leaders paid trib-ute on social media to Mr Lee Kuan Yew, with Emeritus Sen-ior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who suc-ceeded Mr Lee as Prime Minister in 1990, leading the tributes.

Mr Goh wrote on Facebook: My tears welled up as I received the sad news. Mr Lee Kuan Yew has completed his lifes journey. But it was a journey devoted to the making of Singapore.

He has bequeathed a monumen-tal legacy to Singaporeans a safe, secure, harmonious and prosperous independent Singapore, our Homeland. He was a selfless leader. He shared his experience, knowledge, ideas and life with us. He was my leader, mentor, in-spiration; the man I looked up to most. He made me a proud Singaporean.

Now he is gone. I mourn but he lives on in my heart. On behalf of Marine Parade residents, I offer our profound condolences to PM Lee Hsien Loong and his family.

Also writing on Facebook, Presi-dent Tony Tan said: Mary and I are deeply saddened by the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew. We extend our deep-est condolences to his children Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Ms Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang, and their families.

As Singapores founding Prime Min-ister, Mr Lee dedicated his life to Sin-gapore, and served Singapore till his

ESM Goh leads leaders tributes to Mr Leefinal days, said Dr Tan, whose office had also sent a condolence letter to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Dr Tan said: His vision to build a prosperous, meritocratic and multi-racial Singapore defied expectations. When others doubted our chances of survival, he strove for excellence. To-day, much that defines Singapore bears his influence: Security and the rule of law, our cultural diversity and our eco-nomic progress, our public housing and our gardens. Without Mr Lees strong leadership and immense contributions, the Singapore that we know today would not have existed.

Mr Lees passing is a great loss to all of us and to Singapore. It is up to us to honour the legacy of Mr Lee and the founding generation of Singapore by building upon their work to make Singapore an even better place for generations to come.

Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew posted a note on Facebook: Mr Lee Kuan Yew missed and remembered forever. You devoted your life to make Singapore exceptional and our lives better. You taught us all what it means to be Singaporean. I am truly grate-ful to you.

Education Minister Heng Swee Keat changed his Facebook cover photo to a picture of Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his late wife in his younger days. He wrote:

Today we lost a founding father of Sin-gapore. I hope Mr Lee is able to be with Mrs Lee once again, and that they may rest in peace together. In this moment of grief, please join me in expressing our deepest condolences to Mr Lees family.

I do not have the words to express my gratitude for everything that Mr Lee has done for Singapore. Our lives have been transformed because Mr Lee had a vision of a better life for all Singaporeans, and dedicated his en-tire life to this mission. Mr Lee and his team built a deep rapport with our pioneer generation, and together, they achieved what many thought was impossible.

Mr Lee has lived a full and mean-ingful life. Let us come together as one people to express our appreciation, re-flect on what we have gone through to-gether as a people, and resolve to build on the legacy that Mr Lee has left us.

The Peoples Action Party (PAP) has set up a tribute page at http://www.tributetolky.org and changed its logo on its Facebook page to black and white as a sign of respect.

While we mourn the passing of one of the greatest leaders of our Party, we celebrate his incalculable contributions to Singapore and its people, it said on its Facebook page.

Thank you Mr Lee Kuan Yew, may you rest in peace.

Mr Lees body will lie in state at Parliament House from March 25 to March 28, for the public to pay their respects. Those who wish to pay their last respects at Parliament House can do so from 10 am to 8 pm daily from Wednes-day to Saturday.

A State Funeral Service will be held at 2 pm on March 29 at the University Cultural Centre, National University of Singapore.

The State Funeral Service will be attended by the late Mr Lees family, friends and staff, the President, Cabinet Ministers, Members of Parliament, Old Guards, senior civil servants, grassroots leaders and Singaporeans from all walks of life. The State Funeral Service will be followed by a private cremation at Mandai Crematorium.

Condolence books and cards will be available in front of Istana by the Main Gate from Monday to Sunday, for those who wish to pen their tributes to the late Mr Lee. Condo-lence books will also be opened at all Overseas Missions for overseas Singaporeans and friends.

Parliament House

PM Lee on TV


Singaporeans laud one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century Even before day broke, Singapo-reans began expressing their gratitude and respect for the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, following the news of his passing early this morning.

Minutes after a statement appeared on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loongs Facebook page at 4.07am announcing the elder Mr Lees death, comments began appearing on the page.

The labour movement and various organisations also issued statements expressing their condolences, while the Peoples Association announced that 18 community sites would be set up for members of the public to pay tribute to Singapores founding Prime Minis-ter. The first four community sites in Tanjong Pagar GRC, Ang Mo Kio GRC, East Coast GRC and Chua Chu Kang GRC, will be ready for the public from tomorrow at 10am.

Wrote Mr Sebastian CK Lim on Mr Lee Hsien Loongs Facebook page: The man who gave us all a better life in Singapore has finally gone to his well-deserved resting place ... but I shall not mourn his loss but instead celebrate his life. He had spent his entire lifetime making sure that all of us would not suffer the impoverished conditions that our forefathers who came here did ... May your spirit be always around this nation, especially in our hour of need.

Ms Cheryl Tay wrote: Lets honour the passing of a great man by treasuring our country and leaving it a better place for the next generation as Mr (Lee Kuan Yew) has. By 8am, more than 8,500 people had commented on the post, and it was shared more than 28,000 times.

Describing Mr Lee Kuan Yew as giant figure and paying tribute to his influence on the world stage, past and present world leaders mourned Mr Lees death this morning.

United States President Barack Obama said he was deeply saddened by the news. He called Mr Lee a remark-able man and a true giant of history who will be remembered for genera-tions to come as the father of modern Singapore and as one the great strate-gists of Asian affairs.

A visionary who led his country from Singapores independence in 1965 to build one of the most prosperous countries in the world today, he was a devoted public servant and a remark-able leader, Mr Obama said. (Mr

Leaders around the world mourn a giantLees) views and insights on Asian dynamics and economic management were respected by many around the world, and no small number of this and past generations of world leaders have sought his advice on governance and development.

Adding that he appreciated Mr Lees wisdom, Mr Obama said that his dis-cussions with Mr Lee during his trip to Singapore in 2009 were hugely im-portant in helping him formulate US policy of rebalancing to the Asia Pacific.

Mr Obamas predecessor, Mr George W Bush, called Mr Lee the father of todays Singapore who transformed his country and helped usher South East Asia into the modern era. The Singapore he leaves behind is an influ-

clarity of his views, the directness of his speech and his vision of the way ahead.

Mr Cameron said: His place in history is assured, as a leader and as one of the modern worlds foremost statesmen.

Former UK PM Tony Blair said Mr Lee was one of the most extraordinary leaders of modern times.

He was a genuine political giant. He was the first to understand that modern politics was about effective Government not old-fashioned ideol-ogy. Whether in the economy, social cohesion or law and order, he applied methods of rigorous analysis and de-tailed implementation, said Mr Blair. He built Singapore into the success story it is today by intelligence, wisdom and determination in equal measure. As a result Singapore has a respect and admiration far above its size.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said his country mourned the passing of a giant of our region. Fifty years ago, Lee Kuan Yew led a vulner-able, fledgling nation to independence, he said. Today, thanks to his vision and determination, Singapore is one of the worlds most successful countries. In Lee Kuan Yews own words, Singa-pores remarkable journey has been from third world to first. Thanks to his leadership, Singapore is now one of the worlds most prosperous nations, a financial powerhouse, and one of the worlds easiest places to do business.

Mr Abbott said the region owes much to Mr Lee. Here in Australia and beyond, leaders sought and learned from his wise counsel, he added.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said Mr Lees courage, determina-tion, commitment, character and abil-ity made him a formidable leader who held the respect of Singaporeans and the international community alike.

He added: I had the honour of meet-ing Mr Lee in 2007 during his last official visit to New Zealand. He was well known for his insights and fore-sight but what struck me most was his unwavering determination to see Singapore succeed.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moo said Mr Lee was a legend-ary figure in Asia, widely respected for his strong leadership and states-manship.

During his three decades in office, he helped Singapore to transition from a developing country to one of the most developed in the world, transforming it into a thriving international busi-ness hub, said Mr Ban. As Singapore marks its 50th anniversary of inde-pendence this year, its founding father will be remembered as one of the most inspiring Asian leaders.

He was a true giant of history who will be remembered for generations to come as the father of modern Singapore and as one the great strategists of Asian affairs.United States President Barack Obama

ential force for stability and prosperity and a friend to the United States, Mr Bush said.

United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron said that Mr Lee per-sonally shaped Singapore in a way that few people have any nation.

Mr Cameron said: He made his country into one of the great success stories of our modern world. That Sin-gapore is today a prosperous, secure and successful country is a monument to his decades of remarkable public service.

He noted that the late Margaret Thatcher, a former Britsh PM, once said that there was no Prime Minister whom she admired more than Mr Lee for the strength of his convictions, the

On the Peoples Action Partys Fa-cebook page, over 1,000 people had commented by 8.15am. Wrote Ms Chan Ying Ying: Thank you for building up Singapore and letting us live in a soci-ety based on meritocracy. Without it, I wont be where I am today. May peace be with Mr Lee (Hsien Loong) and all his family.

On the PAPs tribute website http://www.tributetolky.org one message read: Though never granted the privilege and honour of being a Sin-gapore citizen, I grew up in the city in the days just after independence and witnessed the birth of a nation whose in-ternational status now knows no equal, thanks to the vision, determination and integrity of Lee Kuan Yew.

Mr Lee proved that honesty and hon-our could achieve far more than the cor-ruption and greed that characterised so many governments and world leaders at the time, the commentator wrote.

The National Trades Union Con-gress (NTUC) called Mr Lee a true fighter for our workers.

From the time he fought alongside the Postal and Telecommunications Uniformed Staff Union for better pay and terms, he has always had the wel-fare and interests of workers at heart and in mind. As the co-founder of the Peoples Action Party (PAP), he forged a strong symbiotic relationship with the NTUC. As the first Prime Minister of Singapore, he championed a strong spirit of tripartism, bringing labour, management and government togeth-er, said NTUC secretary-general and Minister in Prime Ministers Office Lim

Swee Say and NTUC president Diana Chia in the statement.

The Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry hailed Mr Lee as a statesman extraordinaire, and expressed appreciation for his concern for the development of the Chinese com-munity, as well as his encouragement of local enterprises to invest in China and neighbouring countries.

The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) said the late Mr Lee helped the Malay-Muslim community grow by, for example, facilitating the formation of MUIS as a statutory body.

He will also always be remembered for his strong support for the intro-duction of the Mosque Building Fund Scheme in 1975, which helped the com-munity to rally together and strengthen this key community institution during Singapores period of rapid urbanisa-tion and industrialisation, MUIS said.

Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (NUS), Professor Kishore Mahbubani, who spent 33 years with the Singapore Foreign Service, said: (Mr Lee) was a tough taskmaster. Yet, I never failed to learn valuable lessons from each encounter. Having watched him interact with several global lead-ers, including Reagan, Thatcher, Mit-terrand and Kohl, I saw first-hand how they were blown away by his breadth of vision, acute geopolitical analyses and wise policy solutions.

He added: When the dust of history settles and the definitive books are writ-ten on twentieth century history, Mr Lee will emerge as one of the greatest leaders of the century.

He had spent his en-tire lifetime making sure that all of us would not suffer the impover-ished condi-tions that our forefa-thers who came here did ... May your spirit be always around this nation, especially in our hour of need.Mr Sebastian CK Limwriting on mr lee hsien loongs facebook page


What motivated me? Internal stability and peace. We treat everybody equally. We judge you on your merits. This is a level playing field.

Then Secretary-General of the Peoples Action Party, Mr Lee Kuan Yew (centre), with party members on Polling Day, 1955.Photo: Ministry of

inforMation and the

arts ColleCtion,

Courtesy of national

arChives of singaPore

W hen he breathed his last early this morning, the Re-publics first Prime Min-ister had also been Tanjong Pagars Member of Parliament for six decades the longest-serving, and more re-markably, outlasting the last of his Old Guard leadership comrades by more than 25 years.

Mr Lee died at 3.18am today at Singapore General Hospital, where he had been warded since Feb 5 after coming down with severe pneumonia. He was 91.

When Lee Kuan Yew entered the scene as a raw opposition politician in 1955, Singapore was but a colonial outpost populated by a polyglot of mi-grants, common only in their desires to eke out a livelihood here.

He departs having guided Singa-pore through the trying first years of Independence into a thriving economic miracle that is marvelled the world over for overcoming improbable odds.

Mr Lee has also elevated this fledg-ling nations place on the world stage far beyond that of ordinary city-states, partly because of its extraordinary achievements, but also because many global leaders have been floored by its leaders astute analysis of geopolitical trends and developments he con-tinued this role even after handing over the reins after 31 years as Prime Minister by travelling the globe as a world-class pundit.

But Mr Lees enduring legacy is also the distinct brand of governance he had wrought, while the fundamen-tal principles he adhered to in his 31 years as Prime Minister remains the bedrock on which Singapores steady ascension continues.

Opinions about him vary, from re-spect and worship, to fear and disdain, but few can quarrel with this: Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew were, are, and will continue to be indissociable. Such is Mr Lees imprint on Singapore.

If one had to distil the core principle of governance in Singapore, it would be meritocracy Mr Lee determined early on that the government should equalise opportunities and not out-comes, and rewards must be allocated on the basis of ones merits and abilities.

His firm belief stemmed from the injustice he saw in the 1950s when the whites were on top by default. You might be a good doctor, but if you are an Asian, you would be under a white doctor whos not as good, he once recounted to a group of authors. The injustice of it all, the discrimina-tion, struck me and everybody else.

All I can say is, I did my bestTrue to his word, Singapore remained Mr Lee Kuan Yews concern till the end of his life

He also wrote in his memoirs: It struck me as manifestly fair that eve-rybody in this world should be given an equal chance in life, that in a just and well-ordered society there should not be a great disparity of wealth between persons because of their position or status, or that of their parents.

That governance of a vulnerable state sitting in a volatile region had to be neutral in terms of race, language and religion was buttressed by the deep misgivings the Republics first-gener-ation leaders had with the Malaysian governments politics of communalism during the brief, unhappy merger be-tween the two from 1963 to 1965.

On independent Singapores found-ing on 9 August 1965, multiracialism was written into the Constitution the first post-colonial state to do so.

It was the only way to forge a sense of nationhood for a people of mostly set-tlers, Mr Lee knew, and this together-ness was critical for a tiny island with a Chinese-majority population sitting amid far larger Malay neighbours.

We took some drastic decisions at the beginning and shuffled the people together. Had we not done this, it would have led to a different Singapore, he recalled in the book Hard Truths To Keep Singapore Going, referring to his Governments dispersal of racial enclaves among various kampungs through balloting into public housing estates. Inter-racial mingling was key if the people were to identify themselves not only by their race, but also by their nationality, he decided.

There must be a sense of self, a sense of identity, that you are prepared to die for your country, that youre pre-pared to die for one another, he added.

But diminishing the tendencies of communities to revert to communal-ly-influenced behaviours was always going to be an arduous task: Racial enclaves again congregated in the vari-ous housing estate subsequently and a trend of voting along racial lines emerged in the 1980s.

Reflecting his resolve to entrench multiracialism in Singapore, Mr Lee introduced ethnic quotas for Housing and Development Board (HDB) blocks in 1989 and pushed through the Group Representation Constituency in 1988 to enshrine minority representation in Parliament, despite vociferous criti-cisms of these moves. Among other things, opponents said the quota con-straints warped property transactions and the GRC system was counter-intu-itive to meritocratic ideals.

Mr Lee was unmoved. In Singapore, what will identify a Singaporean with the changing circumstances? An ac-ceptance of multiracialism, a tolerance of people of different races, languages, cultures, religions, and an equal basis

for competition. Thats what will stand out against all our neighbours.

The clearest testament to his mul-tiracial, and meritocratic principles to-wards governance was in the choice of race-neutral English as Singapores lingua franca, although Malay, as the language of the indigenous people, was retained as the national language.

What motivated me? Internal sta-bility and peace. We treat everybody equally. We judge you on your merits. This is a level playing field. We do not discriminate our people on race, lan-guage, religion. If you can perform, you get the job, he explained.

To his mind, getting the best results from a meritocratic society also meant the government must not supplant indi-vidual effort and responsibility; people must not lose the drive to provide for themselves. That, and seeing in Brit-ain and Sweden how debilitating it was to subsidise a man for the rest of his life, was why he eschewed welfarism, despite being a loyal supporter of the Fabian school of thought in his youth.

As he wrote in his memoirs: We noted by the 1970s that when govern-ments undertook primary responsibil-ity for the basic duties of the head of a family, the drive in people weakened. Welfare undermined self-reliance. Peo-ple did not have to work for their fami-lies wellbeing. The handout became a way of life. The downward spiral was relentless as motivation and productiv-ity went down. People lost the drive to achieve because they paid too much in taxes. They became dependent on the state for their basic needs.

To this day, the Peoples Action Par-ty (PAP) Government continues to tie individual effort and responsibility to many of its help programmes for the lower-income, such as the Workfare Income Supplement Scheme.

The creation of the Central Provi-dent Fund (CPF) and the 3M health-care financing system (Medisave, MediShield, and Medifund) are other examples of the Governments drive

to ensure that individuals themselves, and not the state, provide for most of their own needs.

Mr Lee realised that, as a country with no natural resources, the only way Singapore could survive, let alone thrive, was to have capable people lead-ing it. His view was informed by how so many newly-independent former colonies had plunged into riots, coups and revolutions under inept leaders who had inherited sound constitutions from the British and French.

Indeed, Singapores vulnerabilities an 80-storey building standing on marshy land made it imperative that the political leadership was made up of the cream of societys talent.

He said once: Can you have a good government without good men in charge of government? American liberals believe you can, that you can have a good system of government with proper separation of powers between the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, plus checks and balances be-tween them ... and there will be good government, even if weak or not so good men win elections and take charge.

My experience in Asia has led me to a different conclusion. To get good government, you must have good men in charge of government. I have ob-served in the last 40 years that even with a poor system of government, but with good strong men in charge, people get passable government with decent progress.

It was a challenge that Mr Lee had started thinking about barely one year into Singapores independence.

And over decades, Mr Lee single-handedly devised the ways to spot and draft into government the capable, honest and dedicated, from schemes such as the Singapore Armed Forces overseas scholarships in 1971 to recruit the top brains the PAP government has, over the years, had many of these scholars eventually become Cabinet ministers, including Prime Minister

Continued on Page 10


My job as a leader is to make sure that before the next elections, enough had developed and disclosed itself to the people to swing them around. Thats the business of a leader.

Lee Hsien Loong to getting psy-chiatrists and psychologists to review potential candidates amid lengthy and thorough meetings with leaders that have become known as tea sessions.

He also spent years studying the hiring processes of multinational companies eventually adopting in 1983 Shells system, which judged indi-viduals for the helicopter quality of his or her powers of analysis, imagina-tion and sense of reality and was the chief advocate of pegging ministerial salaries to the six highest-paid individu-als in the private sector so that the best would be willing to step into politics and be less susceptible to corruption.

Because of our relentless and un-ceasing search for talent both at home and abroad to make up for the small families of the well-educated, Singa-pore has been able to keep up its per-formance, said Mr Lee.

Not one to be beholden to ideologies and theories, Mr Lee cared only about whether a solution worked. He said once: My job as a leader is to make sure that before the next elections, enough had developed and disclosed itself to the people to swing them around. Thats the business of a leader. Not to go follow the crowd. Thats a washout, the country will go down the drain.

And where possible, Mr Lee pre-ferred to climb on the shoulders of oth-ers who had gone before us in looking for solutions, an example of which was how he learnt, from his various trips overseas, ways to tackle the environ-mental problem by siting factories away from residential areas and implement-ing anti-pollution controls for traffic.

His pragmatic and empirical ap-proach allowed him to be farsighted and visionary in his policies, which enabled Singapore to so swiftly transform itself from a mudflat to a metropolis.

At a time when Singapore was wres-tling with the reality of being dismem-bered from its economic hinterland af-ter Separation, for instance, Mr Lee and then-Finance Minister Dr Goh Keng Swee defied the then accepted wisdom that multinational companies were ex-ploiters of cheap land, labour and raw materials in Third World countries, instead welcoming them to create a livelihood for Singaporeans and teach-ing them skills and knowledge.

The result? Singapores gross do-mestic product of US$970 million in 1965 was on par with Jamaicas, but by the time Mr Lee stepped down in 1990, the figure had surged to US$34.5 billion, similar to that of the Czech Republic.

Mr Lees early emphasis on chang-ing the physical landscape here quick-ly, to make Singapore, in his words, a First World oasis in a Third World re-gion clearing the city of street ven-dors, farmers and kampung dwellers, and his greening efforts also played a significant role in the countrys rapid economic development.

As he explained in his memoirs: Visiting CEOs used to call on me before making investment decisions. I thought the best way to convince them was to ensure that the roads from the airport

to their hotel and to my office were neat and spruce, lined with shrubs and trees.

Without a word being said, they would know that Singaporeans were competent, disciplined and reliable, a people who would learn the skills they required soon enough.

Giving all Singaporeans clean and green environs also created a sense of equal-ness. If we did not create a socie-ty which is clean throughout the island, I believed then and I believe now, we have two classes of people: The upper class, the upper middle and even middle class with gracious surroundings; and the lower middle and the working class, in poor conditions. No society like that will thrive, he said in Hard Truths To Keep Singapore Going.

More than overhauling the look of Singapore from squatter settlements to orderly housing blocks through the impressive Five-Year Building Pro-gramme from 1960 to 1965 the HDB built almost 55,000 housing units for the lower-income in that period, raising the proportion of the population in public housing from a tad over 9 per cent to close to one-quarter; the figure hovers at around 85 per cent today Mr Lees housing policies over the years changed every Singaporeans life.

His CPF Home Ownership Scheme in 1968 gave Singaporeans the chance to own a valuable asset the Repub-lic has among the highest home-own-ership rates in the world today at over 90 per cent. His direction to HDB in 1974 to improve the quality and vari-ety in HDB new towns, as well as the introduction of upgrading programmes for older estates in 1989, enhanced the value of these assets.

The result was that many Singapo-reans, in a couple of decades, accumu-lated considerable assets.

Writing about the significance of creating a home-owning society in his memoirs, Mr Lee said: I was con-vinced that if every family owned its home, the country would be more sta-ble. I believed this sense of ownership

was vital for our new society, which had no deep roots in a common historical experience.

Mr Lee was nothing if not a keen attendant to every factor that would translate to Singapores continual suc-cess even extending his hand into Singaporeans daily habits.

He proclaimed, to the shock of many, that as much as 80 per cent of a peoples, and hence the countrys, predisposition to success was down to nature. But Mr Lee also felt that culture was a key de-terminant in the equation.

He set about in earnest launch-ing a series of campaigns to radically change Singaporeans habits and ethos, ranging from anti-spitting drives in the 1960s and eradicating the use of dialects, to extolling the admirable qualities of Japanese and, notoriously, banning chewing gum.

He did not care about the hectoring from critics about Singapore becoming a nanny state: First we educated and exhorted our people. After we had persuaded and won over a majority, we legislated to punish the wilful minority. It has made Singapore a more pleasant place to live in. If this is a nanny state, I am proud to have fostered one.

He also said: We had one simple guiding principle for survival, that Sin-gapore had to be more rugged, better organised and more efficient than oth-ers in the region. If we were only as good as our neighbours there was no reason for businesses to be based here. We had to make it possible for investors to operate successfully and profitably in Singapore despite our lack of a do-mestic market and natural resources.

Mr Lee contentiously waded into the even more intimate aspects of Sin-gaporeans lives; the Great Marriage Debate in his 1983 National Day Rally about the dangers of having less bright people to support more dumb people in the next generation because women graduates were not having enough children, and the Stop at Two and Graduate Mothers schemes testi-

fied to his determination to shape the make-up of Singapore society.

While Western commentators and media were often quick to highlight blemishes in Singapore and its system that Mr Lee built, world leaders, such as Mr Richard Nixon, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, and Mr Deng Xiaoping, fre-quently expressed their admiration and respect rather more readily.

Many leaders of developed and developing countries alike came with or sent their delegations here, and continue to do so, to study Singapores systems, including of housing, social security and industry, in a bid to rep-licate these back home.

For instance, Mr Tony Blairs New Labour came to look at the CPF sys-tem where once British MPs had slammed Mr Lees remarks that Mrs Thatchers government needed to trim the excesses of the welfare state while the Vietnamese asked him in 1991 to become their economic adviser despite openly attacking his stance during its occupation of Cam-bodia just years prior.

But more than his policies and pro-grammes, Mr Lees insightful views of global developments and their impact on the world, delivered in his inimitable straight-shooting style, were always keenly sought.

No less than former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger paid Mr Lee this tribute: There is no second Lee Kuan Yew in the world. Normally one would say that the leader of a country of the size and population of Singa-pore would not have a global influence But precisely because Singapore can survive only by competition with much more powerful neighbours, and precisely because its well-being de-pends on stability and progress in the area, his views were always in a much larger context then the technical prob-lems of the Singaporean economy and so he always had a tremendous influ-ence on us.

The doors of many world leaders, both past and present, were always open to Mr Lee a mark of his stat-ure and standing, given how few would dispense such treatment to the former prime minister of a small state, which less than half a century ago few had held out hope of survival.

Perhaps the most well-known testi-mony of Mr Lee as the seminal states-man came from Mrs Thatcher.

In office, I read and analysed eve-ry speech of Harrys. He had a way of penetrating the fog of propaganda and expressing with unique clarity the is-sues of our times and the way to tackle them. He was never wrong.

That Mr Lee, throughout the years, had impressed, and forged close per-sonal relationships with leaders around the world also benefited the Republic on many fronts, ranging from security stability to economic opportunities.

His friendship with members of Har-old Wilsons government helped delay the British troops withdrawal to late 1971, thereby buying Singapore time to build up its own defence forces.

The strong personal bonds regional

Mr Lee leading his Tanjong Pagar GRC team-mates in thanking the residents for their support in the 2006 General Election, when he was Minister Mentor. Photo: toDAY FILE Photo

ContInuED From PAgE 9


Im very happy that Ive got a good, happy family. Ive got a happy marriage. Ive got three children Im very proud of, I cant ask for more.

leaders such as Malaysian Prime Min-ister Tun Abdul Razak and Indonesias President Suharto shared with Mr Lee facilitated the founding of the Associa-tion of South-east Asian Nations in 1967, which helped foster a stable environ-ment in which the Republic could grow.

And if not for Mr Lees place in the eyes of the Australian, Indonesian, and Taiwanese leaders, the Singapore Armed Forces might not have acquired the permission for much-needed train-ing space.

The close ties he maintained with the United States laid the ground for the bilateral Free-Trade Agreement signed by his successor, Mr Goh Chok Tong, in 1993. And the mutual respect between Mr Lee and Chinas Deng Xiaoping played a central role in Singapores being able to tap into Chinas economy ahead of many others, such as the setting up of the Suzhou Industrial Project in 1994 and the Tianjin Eco-city subsequently.

Mr Goh noted: Mr Lees good rela-tions with them enable Singapore, and the leaders who came after Mr Lee, to ride on those good relationships.

One reason for Mr Lees prominence as a statesman was the Western worlds regard of him as Chinas interlocutor.

Said former British Prime Minister Tony Blair: One of (the) things that Harry did incredibly effectively was he became the interlocutor of the emerg-ing East with the Western countries, because if youre an American leader or European leader, you talk in the same language. But he understands the West, he understands how we think, he un-derstands how we work and he also has got these huge insights into China, the other major countries in your region, and so, hes able to say to the Western leadership, Look, this is how you want to think about this.

Mr Lees intimate knowledge of China stemmed from his early reali-sation of her emerging importance, and his efforts in pursuing closer ties, particularly with Mr Deng whom he described as the most impressive leader I had met.

The admiration was mutual; Mr Deng looked to emulate Singapores growth model in attempting Chinas opening-up. After one of his visits to Singapore, Mr Lee related in his mem-oirs, Mr Deng said China should draw from their experience, and do even bet-ter than them.

After Dengs endorsement, several hundred delegations, most of them un-official, came from China armed with tape recorders, video cameras and notebooks to learn from our experi-ence. Singapore had been given the imprimatur of their supreme leader.

The awe-inspiring story of Singa-pores development was not achieved by Mr Lee alone, and he acknowledged the importance of Old Guard comrades such as Goh Keng Swee, S Rajaratnam, Hon Sui Sen, and Toh Chin Chye in his book: I was fortunate to have had a strong team of ministers who shared a common vision. They were able men determined to pursue our strong goals ... They helped me stay objective and balanced, and saved me from any risk

of megalomania which could so easily come with long years in office.

But he largely set the tone and form of the Republics political system, the framework of which has endured to date. One of these unique features was an effective civil service machin-ery Mr Lee had exacting demands of the bureaucracy, and indeed, never hesitated to dish out a dressing down when there was sloppiness which was also sensitive and responsive to the needs and moods of the people. The future of Singapore, Mr Lee once said, was in the hands of you, the ad-min machinery; (and) my colleagues and I, the political leadership.

Thus, not only has the PAP govern-ment kept up Mr Lees unceasing ob-session with succession planning, its leadership has also, like Mr Lee, con-tinued to take a close personal inter-est in appointments in a wide range of institutions, such as statutory boards and trade unions.

The PAP governments knuckle-duster approach to its opponents, be they opposition politicians or press critics, was a source of much criti-cism, however.

He has invited relentless scrutiny and labels such as autocratic and draconian with his libel suits against politicians such as the late J B Jeyaretnam and Mr Chee Soon Juan, as well as publications including the Asian Wall Street Journal but Mr Lees bottom line was that wrong ideas have to be challenged before they influence public opinion and make for problems.

Domestically, the press was free to operate, as long as it kept to the nation-building role he said was necessary for a young nation, counter to the Wests definition of it as a fourth estate.

Though Western advocates of de-mocracy and human rights have at-tempted since the 1970s to press their standards on Singapore and other Asian societies, Mr Lee would not be moved he emerged as the spokes-man of sorts, with his Asian values

argument, against the assertion that there was only one path of governance.

In other words, peculiar local cir-cumstances had to dictate the form and workings of democracy, as he said in an interview with Foreign Affairs maga-zine in 1994: It is my business to tell people not to foist their system indis-criminately on societies in which it will not work ... What are we all seeking? A form of government that will be com-fortable, because it meets our needs, is not oppressive, and maximises our opportunities. And whether you have one-man-one-vote, or some-men-one-vote or other-men-two-votes, those are forms which should be worked out.

Although he could have held on to power beyond 1990 he was the worlds longest-serving prime minister then Mr Lee decided not to do so, again with Singapores interests in mind.

The sooner I give up, the younger I will be and the more active I can be to make sure that the team succeeds. Ill be around to make sure that the team can succeed. The later I give up, the older and slower I will be, the more risky its success, he explained.

And although he had his choice of successor current President Tony Tan Mr Lee let the incoming crop of ministers contend amongst them-selves and decide who will be the leader.

Although he continued as Senior Minister and Minister Mentor, Mr Lee accorded Mr Goh and Mr Lee Hsien Loong, the Deputy Prime Minister and his son, the protocol demanded of their office, addressing them as my Prime Minister and seeing them in their of-fices, for instance.

For Mr Lee, all he was interested in was to make sure that an error which is avoidable because of my experience should not be committed, if I can help it.

He added: I cant tell them what to do as their great achievements, their great breakthroughs. Thats for them to work out with younger Singaporeans.

Nevertheless, Mr Lee still spoke up whenever he deemed it necessary; step-

ping in during the acrimonious wage dispute between Singapore Airlines and its pilots in 2003, robustly advo-cating in Parliament the new formula for ministerial pay the following year, and his caution to Aljunied residents in the 2011 General Election about the consequences of their vote.

He has also consistently engaged younger generations of Singaporeans, attending dialogue sessions regularly with the tertiary institutions.

Outside of Singapore, Mr Lee as-sumed the role of consultant he sat on several boards and committees guest speaker (frequently, on China) and advocate of Singaporean business in his retirement.

For someone who never kept a diary because he said it would have inhib-ited his work, Mr Lee also made use of his time after stepping down to write his two-volume memoirs to remind younger Singaporeans that we can-not afford to forget that public order, personal security, economic and social progress and prosperity are not the natural order of things, that they de-pend on ceaseless effort and attention from an honest and effective govern-ment that the people must elect, as he wrote in one preface.

Through these, as well as other books by journalists he granted inter-views to, Singaporeans were, for the first time, allowed a glimpse into the personal life of Mr Lee.

More than any other facet of his private life, it was Mr Lees falling in love, courtship, romantic secret mar-riage in the United Kingdom and deep love for Madam Kwa Geok Choo that most captivated many Singaporeans.

They learnt how Mrs Lee packed his luggage when he needed to travel, kept an eagle eye on his diet, and was the one on whom he depended to im-prove his speeches and writing. They read about how he made it a point to read Mrs Lee her favourite poems every night after she became bed-ridden after she suffered two strokes in 2008, how she most recognised his voice, and they saw and heard, at her funeral in 2010, how severely Mr Lee was devastated by the departure of his closest confidante.

For someone who had no religious faith, Mr Lee even turned to medita-tion to help himself cope.

Asked by a group of journalists about his greatest personal achieve-ment, the man of whom most only saw the stern, strong public face for decades said: Im very happy that Ive got a good, happy family. Ive got a happy marriage. Ive got three children Im very proud of, I cant ask for more.

Despite his contributions to Singa-pore, Mr Lees muted personal appraisal of his lifes work could not have summed up better how he had gone about a duty he saw as his concern till the end of my life: All I can say is, I did my best. This was the job I undertook, I did my best and I could not have done more in the circumstances. What people think of it, I have to leave to them. It is of no great consequence. What is of consequence is, I did my best. TEO XUANWEI

Mr Lee Kuan Yew speaking at the launch of his book My Lifelong Challenge in 2011.Photo: ErnEst Chua


From mudflat to metropolisOur strategy was to make Singapore a First World oasis in a Third World region

Over 100 years ago, this was a mudflat, swamp. Today, this is a modern city. Ten years from now, this will be a metropolis. Never fear!Mr Lee in 1965

Mr Lee waving from a unit at The River Vista @ Kallang during his visit to the new HDB property and the Kolam Ayer ABC Waterfront in 2010, when he was Minister Mentor. TODAY FILE PHOTO

T he singular motif in Mr Lee Kuan Yews blueprint for this unlikely city-states success was an unrelenting drive to be out-standing and the visionary knew the most dramatic display of this, follow-ing independence, would be by swiftly metamorphosing Singapores look and feel to his exacting standards.

This strategy of viscerally distin-guishing the Republic to potential in-vestors derived from Mr Lees astute conclusion that sound, far-sighted plan-ning of its landscape was central to its lasting success, be it in fostering social cohesion, spurring economic viability or overcoming its vulnerabilities.

This is why he personally had a hand in many of its physical developments. His ideas and thinking continue to in-fluence new projects, such as Punggol Eco-Town and Marina Barrage.

GREENING A COUNTRY

Mr Lees first project of this strategy, creating a clean and green Singapore, was the most cost-effective and yet most far-reaching a single-handed crafting of the Republics reputation as a fastidious Garden City.

He planted a mempat tree in Farrer Circus on June 16, 1963, to symbolise the birth of his annual Plant-A-Tree campaign and marked its half-cen-tury in 2013 by planting a rain tree in Holland Village Park.

He sought to eradicate the rough and ready ways of people through anti-spitting and anti-littering cam-paigns and legislation placing the Anti-Pollution Unit, set up in 1970, under the Prime Ministers Office to signal his personal interest in the cause. He also resettled street hawk-ers into properly-designed food cen-tres and markets.

This objective of creating a First World oasis to leapfrog the rest of South-east Asia, as the Israelis had done in their own region, was so that businessmen and tourists would pick Singapore as a base.

Describing the impact of showing off a neat and spruced-up city lined with shrubs and trees to visiting chief ex-ecutives who were considering invest-ing millions here, Mr Lee wrote in his memoirs: Without a word being said, they would know that Singaporeans were competent, disciplined and reli-able, a people who would learn the skills they required soon enough.

This belief sprung from his own re-actions in his travels: What impressed me was not the size of the buildings, but the standard of their maintenance. I

knew when a country and its admin-istrators were demoralised from the way the buildings had been neglected washbasins cracked, taps leaking, water-closets not functioning properly, a general dilapidation and inevitably, unkempt gardens.

In 1973, a Garden City Action Com-mittee was set up to report regularly to Mr Lee on national greening efforts. Ex-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong once remarked that Singapore was possibly the only country where gar-dening reports were read in Cabinet.

But Mr Lee pursued greening for more than the economic or aesthetic benefits. Ensuring the island was clean and green, and not only within privi-leged neighbourhoods, served the pur-pose of creating a sense of equal-ness in this society critical for a fledgling nation made up of immigrants without a common historical experience.

Greening raised the morale of the people and gave them pride in their surroundings ... We did not differenti-ate between middle-class and working-class areas, he said. No society like that will thrive. We were going to have National Service. No family will want its young men to die for all the people with the big homes and those owning the tall towers.

Over the decades, Mr Lee contin-ued to act as Singapores chief gar-dener. Numerous tales are told of how he would send back notes of trees and plants he came across overseas that he thought would do well in Singapore.

Former civil service mandarin Pe-ter Ho recalls how Mr Lee once sent the Ministry of Defence a memo he had driven past Khatib Camp and no-ticed that it was sparsely planted. He suggested trees and plants he thought

would be suitable. Apart from this awe-inspiring familiarity with all these botanical details, it struck me then how serious he was about the greening of Singapore, said Mr Ho.

An iconic tribute to his legacy today is the S$1 billion Gardens by the Bay project aimed, naturally, at boosting Singapores economic and tourism ap-peal, and for which its CEO Tan Wee Kiat has credited Mr Lees support.

HOUSING

With a housing crisis on its hands in 1959, the Peoples Action Party (PAP) had to set about tackling the challenge of re-housing Sing aporeans from slum settlements into public housing blocks. The Housing and Development Board (HDB) estimated the Government had to build an average of 14,000 housing units per year from 1959 to 1969, but the private sector then had the capability to provide only 2,500 a year.

It was also a politically sensitive venture, having to break up the ra-cial enclaves that were a colonial leg-acy and assuage Muslim fears that the demolition of many dilapidated small mosques was not anti-Islam (a programme to build new and bigger mosques with the communitys help was pioneered).

Redevelopment required phasing out 8,000 farms rearing 900,000 pigs and many food-fish ponds. These farm-ers knew no other livelihood and, used to living in shanty huts with a hole in the ground or a bucket in an outhouse, they suffered culture shock and could not break their habits when moved into high-rise flats.

Many refused to use the lifts and some even brought their pigs, ducks


The defence of SingaporeNational Service would bring political and social benefits

W ith the impending British withdrawal, Singapore needed to build a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) from scratch to avoid being cowed and intimidated by its larger neighbours. Mr Lee Kuan Yew assigned this responsibility to Dr Goh Keng Swee, who was a corporal in the British-led Singapore Volunteer Corps until it surrendered in February 1942.

After the prime ministers letters for assistance to the Indian premier Lal Ba-hadur Shastri and Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser did not receive positive replies, Mr Lee instructed Dr Goh to proceed with assistance from the Israelis, but kept this under wraps in order not to provoke grassroots an-tipathy from Malay Muslims in Malay-sia and Singapore.

While Dr Goh felt that Singapore should build up a regular army of 12 battalions between 1966 and 1969, Mr Lee proposed a small standing army with the capacity to mobilise a reserve force population.

Mr Lee preferred that the money be spent on infrastructure needed to raise and train National Service bat-talions than on the recurrent costs of a large army.

National Service would bring politi-cal and social benefits I wanted the defence plan to aim at mobilising as large a part of the population as pos-sible, in order to galvanise the people in their own defence while they had this strong feeling of patriotism as a result of their recent experiences, Mr Lee wrote in his memoirs.

Dr Gohs revised plan put up in No-vember 1966 would mobilise a large sec-tion of the population while the regular component of the armed forces would consist of 12 battalions.

To attract and retain talent in the highest echelons of the SAF, Mr Lee later tabled a legislation to amend the National Service Ordinance in Febru-ary 1967 so that those who enlisted in the SAF as a full-time career would be guaranteed jobs in the government, statutory boards or private sector when they left full-time service and go into the reserves. The bill was passed a month later.

In 1971, Mr Lee proposed the SAF Overseas Scholarship scheme, which Dr Goh refined. Through the scheme, some of the best students were recruit-ed into the SAF over the years.

Without a yearly intake of about 10 of our best students, the SAF would have the military hardware but with-out the brain power to use them to best advantage, Mr Lee said.

Mr Lee talking with national servicemen during a National Day celebration at Tanjong Pagar Community Centre in 1970, when he was Prime Minister. The celebration was held in honour of NS youth. Photo: Ministry of inforMation and the arts ColleCtion, Courtesy of national arChives of singaPore

and chickens to live with them.We had a resettlement unit to

deal with the haggling and bargain-ing involved in every resettlement, whether of hawkers, farmers or cot-tage industrialists. They were never happy to be moved or to change their business, Mr Lee recounted. This was a hazardous political task which, unless carefully and sympathetically handled, would lose us votes in the next election.

But the result of this massive exer-cise was a home-owning society more than 90 per cent of the 85 per cent of Singaporeans living in HDB flats to-day own their homes. This, Mr Lee and then Minister for Finance Goh Keng Swee facilitated by expanding the Central Provident Fund (CPF) in 1968 so workers could tap their savings

to buy a home.Said Mr Lee: If you ask people to de-

fend all the big houses where the bosses live I dont think thats tenable. So, we decided from the very beginning, everybody must have a home, every family will have something to defend ... and that home we developed over the years into their most valuable asset.

For example, Mr Lee mooted upgrad-ing programmes in 1989 to prevent older estates from looking like slums, substantially raising their worth.

He also asked the HDB in 1974 to improve the quality and vary the flat designs and landscaping of new towns to add distinctiveness and character by exploiting unique site features such as undulating terrain and ponds, a visionary idea encapsulated in the new Punggol Eco-Towns concept.

WATER

Mr Lee realised water resource man-agement had to be central to a states development plans decades before the world became aware of the importance of doing so and made this a national priority he took a direct hand in.

Small wonder, since Singapore de-pended on its neighbour Malaysia for the bulk of its water supply. In 1971, Mr Lee set up the Water Planning Unit in the Prime Ministers Office and assert-ed that every other policy has to bend (at) the knees (for) our water survival.

There has never been a Prime Min-ister anywhere else who has had so much interest in the environment in general, and water in particular, said Professor Asit Biswas and Dr Cecilia Tortajada, authors of The Singapore Water Story, who were instrumental to PUB winning the Stockholm Water Industry Award in 2007.

There are few episodes more tell-ing of Mr Lees foresight and political courage to make tough decisions for the long-term good than his plan to dam up all streams and rivers. The most ambi-tious part of

Remembering Lee Kuan Yew

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