Singapore, March 23
Lee Kuan Yew, the first
prime minister of Singapore, and one of the most influential political
figures in Asia died here on Monday after a prolonged battle with
pneumonia.
Born on September 16, 1923, he was widely considered
as the father of the modern day Singapore and the leader who made the
island nation the most prosperous in Southeast Asia.
Lee was born
into a wealthy Chinese family that had lived in Singapore since the
19th century. He did his schooling in Singapore before studying law in
the University of Cambridge in Britain. In 1950, Lee was admitted to the
English bar, but chose to return to Singapore, instead of pursuing a
career in Britain.
While in Britain, Lee embraced the ideology of
socialism. In the early 1950s, he allied with individuals like David
Saul Marshall and Lim Yew Hock and raised the pitch for a constitutional
reform in the country.
Singapore, at that time, was a British
colony and housed BritainÂ’s principal naval base in East Asia. The
country was ruled by a governor and a legislative council mostly
comprising wealthy Chinese businessmen, who were appointed rather than
being elected.
Lee took it upon himself to challenge the hold of
the businessmen in the legislative council. However, he soon adopted a
more radical stance and parted ways from his allies. In 1954, he floated
the PeopleÂ’s Action Party (PAP).
In the subsequent legislative council elections, the PAP won three seats.
In 1956, Lee returned to London as a member of a Singaporean delegation that unsuccessfully sought self-rule for the colony.
Unrest in Singapore followed, during which a number of PAP leaders were imprisoned.
In
the following year, negotiations in London resumed, again with Lee on
the delegation. After an agreement was reached on a measure of
self-government, Lee won a by-election in Singapore by an overwhelming
majority.
The next year in London, Lee helped negotiate the status of a self-governing state within the Commonwealth for Singapore.
Elections
were held under SingaporeÂ’s new constitution in May 1959, and Lee
called for social reforms and eventual union with the erstwhile
Federation of Malaya.
LeeÂ’s party won a decisive victory,
gaining 43 of the 51 seats, but Lee refused to form a government until
the British freed the left-wing members of his party who had been
imprisoned in 1956. After their release, Lee was sworn in as prime
minister on June 5, 1959, and he formed a cabinet.
He introduced a
five-year plan calling for slum clearance and the building of new
public housing, the emancipation of women, the expansion of educational
services, and industrialisation.
In 1962, Lee led Singapore into a
merger with Malaysia, but three years later, Singapore left the union.
Lee resigned as prime minister in 1990.
Lee recognised that
Singapore needed a strong economy in order to survive as an independent
country, and launched a programme to industrialise Singapore and
transform it into a major exporter of finished goods. He encouraged
foreign investment and secured agreements between labour unions and
business management, thereby ensuring labour peace and a rising standard
of living for workers.
LeeÂ’s successor as prime minister, Goh
Chok Tong, named Lee to the cabinet position of senior minister, from
which he continued to exercise considerable influence. Upon GohÂ’s
resignation as prime minister in 2004, he was succeeded by LeeÂ’s son
Lee Hsien Loong.
Lee Kuan Yew remained in the cabinet as
“minister mentorÂâ€, a position he held until 2011, when he finally
stepped down from the cabinet. He continued to hold his seat in
Parliament, however, being re-elected in 1991, 1997, 2001, 2006, and
2011.
Lee's death signals an end of an era and leaves a huge void in Singaporean politics.
