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. 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.
In Singapore, Lee is widely regarded as instrumental in the development of Singapore's economy, bureaucracy, education system, foreign policy, public housing and healthcare. The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore is named in his honour. Following his death, a week of national mourning was announced, during which approximately 1.7 million people paid their respects at tribute sites around the country.
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.
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.