I Remember Lee Kuan Yew (1923–2015)
Wise Man for The World
PROLOGUE
For nearly 60 years, Lee Kuan Yew influenced, shaped and molded my life through the social, political and economic transformation of a Third World Singapore into the “First World” nation par none; characterized by economic prosperity, law and order, national security, housing for all, world-class education and full employment with social justice.
He was my Prime Minister from 1959 to 1990, and stayed in the government as Minister Mentor till 2011, and was thereafter appointed Senior Advisor to the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. He died on 23 March 2015 at 91 years old.
A little boy heard on the radio a man’s voice urging Singaporeans to join Malaya “or else, we will not survive” or words to that effect. I didn’t know who he was; that he was our then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. There were many reasons, he argued, from history to economic markets, to resource abundance, to independence from Britain and social stability.
I knew little then of what most of these meant. But, his “language of survival” in a calm, authoritative voice exuding the confidence of leadership was sufficient to elicit trust and faith, and I also somehow embrace the need of that defining moment. I was then too young to vote, but in 1962, more…
