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Kuan Yew Lee
Photo: Robert D. Ward, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons23

Kuan Yew Lee

Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990

Lee Kuan Yew (born Harry Lee Kuan Yew; 16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), also known as LKY, was a Singaporean politician, barrister and statesman who served as the first prime minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. A member of the People's Action Party (PAP), his authoritarian governance oversaw the transformation of post-independence Singapore into a highly developed country and one of the four Asian Tigers.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Kuan Yew Lee (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Sep 16, 1923, died Mar 23, 2015.1

About

He is regarded as the founding father of modern Singapore.

Born in Singapore during British colonial rule to a family of Peranakan Chinese descent, Lee studied law in England at Cambridge University and was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1950. Shortly after, he returned to Singapore and practised law, founding the law firm Lee & Lee. In 1954, Lee co-founded the PAP, which won significant support among the working class and trade unions in the lead up to the 1955 general election, securing him a seat in the Tanjong Pagar division and making him the de facto leader of the opposition. In 1959, Lee led the PAP to its first electoral victory, becoming Singapore's first prime minister. Seeking sovereignty from the British Empire, Lee led Singapore to a merger with Malaya along with Sarawak and Sabah, forming Malaysia in 1963. Racial strife and ideological differences later led to Singapore's expulsion from Malaysia and consequent independence in 1965.

Lee oversaw major economic reforms and urban development, instituting policies promoting meritocracy, multiracialism and anti-corruption. His administration, generally characterised as an illiberal democracy with nanny state tendencies, restricted press freedoms, public assembly, labour activism and civil liberties. From 1968 to 1981, Singapore was a de facto one-party state, with the PAP facing no opposition in Parliament. Although Lee maintained legal and institutional procedures that formally characterised Singapore as a democratic parliamentary republic, he employed defamation laws, detention without trial and social engineering to ensure continued electoral success.

Lee's political ideology was characterised by his belief in Asian values and the Lee thesis, arguing that communitarianism and limited human rights were necessary for the social cohesion, political stability and rapid economic development of Singapore. Lee stepped down as prime minister in 1990 but continued to serve in the Cabinet as senior minister until 2004 and subsequently as minister mentor until his retirement in 2011. Throughout his political career, he remained an influential figure in shaping Singapore's domestic and foreign policies, at the same time serving as an advisor to foreign leaders as an elder statesman. Lee died of pneumonia on 23 March 2015 at the age of 91.

From Wikipedia’s article on Kuan Yew Lee, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedUniversity of London3
  • Date not recordedFitzwilliam College3
  • Date not recordedRaffles Institution3
  • Date not recordedNational University of Singapore3
  • Date not recordedLondon School of Economics and Political Science3
  • Date not recordedUniversity of Cambridge3

Childhood and early education

Harry Lee Kuan Yew was born on 16 September 1923, the first child of Lee Chin Koon, who was born in Semarang during Dutch colonial rule and subsequently moved to Singapore, and Chua Jim Neo, at 92 Kampong Java Road in Singapore, then part of the Straits Settlements. Both of Lee's parents were English-educated third-generation Peranakan Chinese, with his paternal side being of Hakka Chinese descent from Dabu County.

Lee's paternal grandfather Lee Hoon Leong, who was described as "especially westernised", had worked on British ships as a purser, and hence gave Lee the Western name 'Harry'. While the family spoke English as its first language, Lee also learned Malay. Lee had three brothers and one sister, all of whom lived to old age.

Lee was not close to his father, who worked as a storekeeper within the Shell Oil Company and had a gambling addiction. His mother Chua often stood up against her husband for his poor financial management and parenting skills. The family was considered prosperous with a high social standing compared to recent immigrants, and had the means to hire servants. During the Great Depression the family fortunes declined considerably, though Lee's father retained his job at Shell. Later in life, Lee described his father as a man with a nasty temper, and he credited his mother with holding the family together amidst her husband's gambling addiction.

In 1930, Lee enrolled at Telok Kurau English School where he spent six years of his primary education. Attending Raffles Institution in 1935, Lee did poorly in his first two years but later topped the Junior Cambridge examinations. He also joined the Scouts and partook in several physical activities such as cricket, tennis, swimming as well as debates. Lee was the top scorer in the Senior Cambridge examinations in 1940 across the Straits Settlements and Malaya, earning the John Anderson scholarship to attend Raffles College, as well as the Tan Jiak Kim scholarship. During the prize-awarding ceremony, Lee met his future wife Kwa Geok Choo; she was the only girl at the school.

Lee's subsequent university studies at Raffles College were disrupted by the onset of World War II in Asia, with the school being converted into a medical facility in 1941. The war arrived in December of that year and following the British surrender in February 1942, the Japanese occupation of Singapore began.

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World War II

Lee was amongst the Chinese men rounded up by the Japanese Sook Ching operation. By his own account, he feared getting caught by the Kempeitai (military police) and reported with a friend to be screened. He attempted to leave the next morning but was ordered to join a group of already segregated men. Lee requested to collect his clothes first and managed to spend a second night in the dormitory before successfully leaving the site the next day when a different guard cleared him through. He later learned that the group of men were likely taken to the beach and executed.

Lee obtained a Japanese language proficiency certificate in August 1942 and worked in a friend's company and then the Kumiai, which controlled essential items. He got a job with the Japanese propaganda department (Hōdōbu) in late 1943 and worked for the Japanese occupation force as an English specialist. Working at the top of the Cathay Building, he was assigned to listen to Allied radio stations for Morse code signals. By late 1944, Lee knew Japan had suffered major setbacks and planned to move to the Cameron Highlands with his family to avoid a possible British invasion. He was tipped off that he was being followed and abandoned the plan. He engaged in private enterprises and black market sales for the rest of the war. During this time, Lee helped develop a glue based on tapioca, which he sold under the name Stikfas, as a means to support himself during the war. The Stikfas logo later appeared on the base of his wedding cake.

The rapid Japanese victory in the Malaya and Singapore campaign had a major impact on Lee as he recalled: "In 70 days of surprises, upsets and stupidities, British colonial society was shattered, and with it all the assumptions of the Englishman's superiority". In a radio broadcast made in 1961, Lee said he "emerged [from the war] determined that no one—neither Japanese nor British—had the right to push and kick us around... (and) that we could govern ourselves." It also influenced his perceptions of raw power and the effectiveness of harsh punishment in deterring crime.

University, marriage and politics

Lee chose not to return to Raffles College after the war and pursued higher education in the United Kingdom. He sailed from Singapore in 1946 on his 23rd birthday on the MV Britannic, arriving in the UK on 3 October. He initially enrolled at the London School of Economics, but found himself disliking life in the British capital. He visited Cambridge in November and was introduced to W. S. Thatcher, Censor of Fitzwilliam House. He was admitted into the following year's Lent term and matriculated in January 1947, reading law at Fitzwilliam.

Prior to his departure from Singapore, Lee had begun a relationship with Kwa, with whom he had kept in contact during the war. They married in secret at Stratford-upon-Avon in December. Lee achieved a first class result in both the Prelims and Part I of the Tripos, and graduated with a Starred First for Part II Law in 1949. As the top student of his cohort, he was awarded the Fitzwilliam's Whitlock Prize; Lee was called to the bar from the Middle Temple in 1950.

During his studies, Lee's political convictions and anti-colonial sentiments were hardened by personal experiences and an increasing belief that the British were ruling Singapore for their own benefit. He supported the Labour Party against the Conservatives whom he perceived as opposing decolonisation. In the leadup to the 1950 United Kingdom general election, Lee engaged in politics for the first time and actively campaigned for a friend, David Widdicombe in Totnes constituency, driving Widdicombe around in a lorry and delivering several speeches on his behalf.

Before returning to Singapore, Lee dropped his English name, Harry. Notwithstanding, even until the end of his life, old friends and relatives referred to him as Harry.

From Wikipedia’s article on Kuan Yew Lee (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: philosopher, statesperson, lawyer, politician, autobiographer.8 9

  • 2004 to 2011Minister Mentor7
  • 1990 to 2004Senior Minister7
  • 1963 to 1965Member of the Dewan Rakyat7
  • 1959 to 1990Prime Minister of Singapore7
  • 1955 to 2015Member of the Parliament of Singapore7
  • Date not recordedWorked at University of Cambridge4
  • Date not recordedFounded Lee & Lee5
  • Date not recordedFounded People's Action Party6
  • Date not recordedPrime minister7

Forming the PAP

While studying in Britain, Lee met Goh Keng Swee and Toh Chin Chye via the Malayan Forum. The forum sought to promote an independent Malaya which included Singapore and met at 44 Bryanston Square in London. Lee and his contemporaries deliberately avoided the topic of forming a political party to avoid charges of subversion, beginning work on forming a political party only after returning to Singapore.

Lee had sought to build support among the English-educated, Malay, and Indian communities by taking on cases against the British authorities. In the course of his work, Lee became acquainted with the journalist Sinnathamby Rajaratnam; Abdul Samad Ismail, a writer for the Malay newspaper Utusan Melayu; and Devan Nair. He next turned his attention to the Chinese-speaking majority and was introduced to Lim Chin Siong and Fong Swee Suan, leaders of the influential bus and factories unions. While the unions had been infiltrated by communists, Lee consciously sought their support as he wanted a popular front. With elections approaching in 1955, Lee and his associates debated the name, ideology, and policies of the party they wanted to create at 38 Oxley Road.

The People's Action Party (PAP) was inaugurated on 21 November 1954 at the Victoria Memorial Hall. As the party still lacked members, trade union leaders rounded up an estimated audience of 800 to 1,500 supporters. Lee had also invited Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tan Cheng Lock, presidents of the United Malays National Organisation and Malayan Chinese Association. In his inaugural speech, Lee denounced the British for the slow transition to self-rule, demanded their immediate withdrawal, and said that the PAP would pursue a Singapore-Malaya union. Lee became secretary-general of the party, a post he held until 1992, barring a brief period in 1957 when the post was taken up by T. T. Rajah.

In July 1953, Governor John Nicoll initiated the Rendel Commission to provide for a transition to self-rule. The commission created the legislative assembly and opened 25 of 32 seats for direct contest in the upcoming 1955 election. The PAP and Labour Front, led by Lee and David Marshall respectively, both criticised the concessions as "inadequate". The PAP faced manpower constraints but decided to prioritise resources and contest four seats as a protest gesture. In a rally speech, Lee said he chose the Tanjong Pagar division as it was a "working class area" and that he did not want to represent "wealthy merchants or landlords".

During the campaigning period, the British press labelled Lee as a "commissar" and accused the PAP of being a "communist-backed party". Democratic Party (DP) challenger Lam Thian also capitalised on Lee's inability to converse in Chinese. Lee's proposal for a multilingual debate was never reciprocated by Thian, though he eventually made his maiden Chinese speech after several hours of coaching. On polling day, 2 April, the ruling Progressive Party captured only four seats, shocking both the British establishment and its opposition. Lee defeated his competitors and won Tanjong Pagar, with the PAP winning three of their four contested seats. He pledged to work with Marshall and the new Labour Front government.

As independent member Ahmad Ibrahim joined PAP following the election, PAP had 4 members in the Assembly and thus Lee became the new Leader of the Opposition.

From Wikipedia’s article on Kuan Yew Lee (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • BornSep 16, 1923, Singapore9 10
  • DiedMar 23, 2015, Singapore11
  • CitizenshipSingapore12
  • ResidenceSingapore General Hospital13 14
  • SpouseKwa Geok Choo 1950 to 201015

Lee and his wife, Kwa Geok Choo, were married on 30 September 1950. Both spoke English as their first language. Lee first started learning Mandarin in 1955, at the age of 32. During World War II, he learned the Japanese language to help him survive, and worked as a Japanese translator during the Japanese occupation of Singapore. Over his life, he also learned and used Hokkien, Malay, and Latin.

Lee and Kwa have two sons and a daughter. His elder son, Lee Hsien Loong, was the third prime minister of Singapore. Several members of the Lee family hold prominent positions in the Singapore society. His younger son Lee Hsien Yang was president and CEO of SingTel, and Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS). Lee's daughter Lee Wei Ling, a neurologist and epileptologist, was director of the National Neuroscience Institute. Lee's daughter-in-law Ho Ching was executive director and CEO of Temasek Holdings. His wife Kwa Geok Choo died on 2 October 2010, at the age of 89.

Lee had variously described himself as an agnostic and a "nominal Buddhist". He also mentioned that he was brought up in a family which practiced Chinese ancestor worship but stopped after his father died, and that he "neither [denies] nor [accepts] that there is a God". In his later years, Lee practised meditation under the tutelage of Benedictine monk Laurence Freeman, director of the World Community for Christian Meditation.

Lee was diagnosed with dyslexia in adulthood.

Lee was a founding member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee, which was launched by former French president Jacques Chirac to promote world peace. He was also a member of David Rockefeller's "International Council", which included Henry Kissinger, Riley P. Bechtel, George Shultz and others. Additionally, he was one of the "Forbes' Brain Trust", along with Paul Johnson and Ernesto Zedillo.

From Wikipedia’s article on Kuan Yew Lee (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Politics

Eugenics

Lee expressed views characterised as pro-eugenics. He maintained that the educational background and intelligence of parents played a decisive role in shaping the abilities of their children, and he promoted policies designed to encourage highly educated women to have more children. Concerned by the sharp decline in Singapore's total fertility rate (TFR), Lee introduced the "Graduate Mothers' Scheme" in 1983, which offered tax incentives for children born to women with university degrees and gave priority in primary school admissions to the children of graduate mothers with three or more offspring. In his speech at the 1983 National Day Rally, Lee stated that if women graduates "were not in the breeding pool", society might become more "stupid" and that "there will be less bright people to support dumb people in the next generation."

In June 1984, Lee's government introduced grants for low-income and low-education women to undergo sterilisation. Women whose husbands and themselves lacked passes at the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Ordinary Level and had fewer than three children could receive a $10,000 grant for sterilisation. Sterilised lower-class parents were also given priority in primary school admission for their existing first and second children. The controversy surrounding the proposal contributed to a 12.9 per cent swing against the PAP in the general election later that year, although the party still secured 64 per cent of the popular vote and the vast majority of seats. By 1985, particularly contentious aspects of the policy, such as granting education and housing advantages to educated women, were either abandoned or modified. A proponent of nature over nurture, Lee asserted that "intelligence is 80% nature and 20% nurture" and attributed the achievements of his children to genetics.

Islam

In 1999, in a discussion forum, Lee was asked whether the emotional bonds of various ethnic groups in Singapore could be a hurdle to nation building, Lee replied by alluding that an ethnic Malay and highly religious officer of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) might be hesitant to engage against an hypothetical war with Singapore's direct neighbours such as Malaysia.

In 2011, leaked diplomatic cables attributed to Lee some controversial comments regarding Islam. The cables quoted Lee as having described Islam as a "venomous religion". Lee called the remarks "false" and looked up to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)'s filenote of the meeting and found no record of the claim, stating that he was referring to extremists such as the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). He added that he recognises that Muslims in Singapore are largely rational and that one of the solutions to extremism was to give "moderate Muslims the courage to stand up and speak out against radicals who hijacked Islam to recruit volunteers for their violent ends".

In his book Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going, Lee stated that Singaporean Muslims faced difficulties in integrating because of their religion and urged them to "be less strict on Islamic observances". His remarks drew fire from Malay–Muslim leaders and MPs in Singapore, prompting a strong reaction from his son Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister at that time, who said his views differs from his father and that he values and respects the Malay–Muslim community "who have done a good deal to strengthen our harmony and social cohesion." Lee Kuan Yew eventually made a further comment that his comment was "out of date" and that he recognises the efforts made by Muslims to integrate with the other communities.

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Homosexuality

Section 377A of the Penal Code, which was first introduced in 1938 under British colonial rule that criminalised sex between adult males, remained enforced under Lee's premiership. In his later years, Lee appeared to become more supportive of LGBTQ+ issues and rights, expressing a belief that homosexuality was genetic and questioning the rationale behind its criminalisation. In 2007, he believed that homosexuality would eventually be accepted in Singapore, but advocated for a measured and "pragmatic approach" toward the matter "to maintain social cohesion." Section 377A was eventually repealed in 2022.

Corporal punishment

One of Lee's abiding beliefs was in the efficacy of corporal punishment in the form of caning. In his autobiography The Singapore Story, Lee described his time at Raffles Institution in the 1930s, mentioning that he was often caned there for chronic lateness by the then headmaster, D. W. McLeod. He added that he never understood why Western educationists were so much against corporal punishment as "it did my fellow students and me no harm".

Lee's government inherited judicial corporal punishment from British rule, but greatly expanded its scope. Under the British, it had been used as a penalty for offences involving personal violence, amounting to a handful of caning sentences per year. The PAP government under Lee extended its use to an ever-expanding range of crimes. By 1993, it was mandatory for 42 offences and optional for a further 42. Those routinely ordered by the courts to be caned now include drug addicts and illegal immigrants. From 602 canings in 1987, the figure rose to 3,244 in 1993 and to 6,404 in 2007.

In 1994, judicial caning was publicised in the rest of the world when an American teenager, Michael P. Fay, was caned under the vandalism legislation. School corporal punishment (for male students only) was likewise inherited from the British, and is still in use in schools, permitted under legislation from 1957. Lee also introduced caning in the Singapore Armed Forces, and Singapore is one of the few countries in the world where corporal punishment is an official penalty in military discipline.

Press

In his interview with Charlie Rose in October 2000, when asked whether he believed in the idea of a free press, Lee responded "I believe in truth" and "I don't believe that the press should be crusading and putting a spin on things" and asserted that newspapers should keep news reporting and editorials separate.

Immigration

Lee believed that the benefits of immigration had to be carefully balanced against the associated "social load". In a speech he made in 1971, Lee explained that it was necessary to have non-Singapore workers take up jobs that Singaporeans were not willing to do, but observed that it was important that the number of such migrant workers be carefully controlled because "[t]hey dirty the place... they litter... if you take too many... they will bring us down to their values because it's easier to be untidy, scruffy, dirty, anti-social than to be disciplined, well-behaved and a good citizen".

From Wikipedia’s article on Kuan Yew Lee (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Awards

  • 2018China Reform Friendship Medal16 20
  • 2015Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers16
  • 2014Global Citizen Awards16 19
  • 2005honorary doctor of the Fudan University16 18
  • Date not recordedCompanion of Honour16
  • Date not recordedDostyk Order of grade I16
  • Date not recordedIg Nobel Prize16
  • Date not recordedKnight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George16
  • Date not recordedOrder of Diplomatic Service Merit16
  • Date not recordedOrder of Friendship16
More awards (13)
  • Date not recordedOrder of Honour16
  • Date not recordedOrder of Merit16
  • Date not recordedOrder of Saint Michael and Saint George16
  • Date not recordedOrder of Sikatuna16
  • Date not recordedOrder of the Badge of Honour16
  • Date not recordedOrder of the Companions of Honour16
  • Date not recordedOrder of the Paulownia Flowers16
  • Date not recordedOrder of the Rising Sun, 1st class16
  • Date not recordedOrder of the Rising Sun16
  • Date not recordedhonorary doctor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong16
  • Date not recordedhonorary doctor of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations16 17
  • Date not recordedhonorary doctor of the University of Hong Kong16
  • Date not recordedmedal "for 20 years of Kazakhstan's independence"16

Sources

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