Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew dies aged 91

[ray245]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/m ... ew-dies-91

Singapore’s first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, has died aged 91, its current leader has confirmed.

In a statement, the serving prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said the country’s former leader died in the early hours of Monday morning local time.

“The prime minister is deeply grieved to announce the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the founding prime minister of Singapore.

“Mr Lee passed away peacefully at the Singapore general hospital today at 3.18 am. He was 91,” it read.

Lee Hsien Loong, who is Lee’s eldest son, added that arrangements for the public to pay respects and for the funeral proceedings would be announced later.

The People’s Action Party – the party that Lee led to electoral victory in 1959, which has governed Singapore ever since – set up a tribute website tributetolky.org.

“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 undisputed role as the architect of our modern Republic. Few have demonstrated such complete commitment to a cause greater than themselves,” wrote Singapore’s president, Tony Tan, in a letter of condolence to Lee Hsien Loong.

Lee was admitted to Singapore general hospital on 5 February for severe pneumonia and was later put on life support.

Lee, a Cambridge-educated lawyer, is widely credited with building Singapore into one of the world’s wealthiest nations on a per capita basis with a strong, pervasive role for the state and little patience for dissent.

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He co-founded the People’s Action party (PAP), which has ruled Singapore since 1959 and led the newly born country when it was separated from Malaysia in 1965.

He stepped down as prime minister in 1990, handing power to Goh Chok Tong, but remained influential as senior minister in Goh’s cabinet and subsequently as “minister mentor” when his eldest son Lee Hsien Loong became prime minister in 2004.

The older Lee left the cabinet in 2011 and had cut down his public appearances in recent months due to his age and declining health.

Lee was feared for his authoritarian tactics but insisted that strict limits on speech and public protest were necessary to maintain stability in the multi-ethnic and multi-religious country.

The Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, paid tribute to Lee Kuan Yew, describing him as a political giant.

“The passing of a giant like Lee Kuan Yew is the end of an era,” Bishop told Sky News.

[Anduin]

Dear Sir/Mdm, your point?

[K. A. Pital]

Some commentary would be welcome indeed. What do you personally think about Lee, ray?

[AniThyng]

I'll just jump in to point out it is to me absolutely hilarious how certain factions of the Malaysian opposition idolize LKY for his autocratic rule of Singapore even while fighting our own autocratic leadership.

Well though I concede Singapore works well in ways many ways where Malaysia doesn't.

[K. A. Pital]

Singapore is a city-state, Malaysia is not. Many city-states work better than nearby larger states.

[AniThyng]

Singapore is a city-state, Malaysia is not. Many city-states work better than nearby larger states.

That is true. I'm contextualizing it in the sense that one can concede that it may be better to have singapore's successful autocracy over Malaysia's...stumbling autocracy. We even have nomimally more democracy, if you measure democracy by % of non-ruling party members of the legislature and not by number of MP's arrested for sedition every now and then

[Xisiqomelir]

Oblig.

I wonder if the scumbags in white will actually let me use my overseas ballot this year to aid in kicking them out. If they don't throw a GE to capitalize on this, they are toast in 2k16.

It's sad that all my international fora are the only places where this can be discussed dispassionately. My Singaporean friends are making me cringe with their maudlin, fawning, and worst of all unsubstantiated posts.

"He was the founding father of Singapore" - That would be Colonial governor Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles.

"He has created a safe and stable society" - I invite anyone making this statement to walk down Keong Saik at 3 AM, on any night of the week they choose.

and the list goes on.

[ray245]

I'll add more comment when I am back, but I would say this for now. Given by all the Facebook comments made by my fellow singaporeans, I say he has managed to convince many locals to believe his version of singapore is the only way to live.

[PainRack]

Oblig.

I wonder if the scumbags in white will actually let me use my overseas ballot this year to aid in kicking them out. If they don't throw a GE to capitalize on this, they are toast in 2k16.

It's sad that all my international fora are the only places where this can be discussed dispassionately. My Singaporean friends are making me cringe with their maudlin, fawning, and worst of all unsubstantiated posts.

"He was the founding father of Singapore" - That would be Colonial governor Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles.

No, not really. While I would always hesitate to downplay the impact of David Marshall, its arguable that modern Singapore, for good or for bad is the way it is because of him. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles didn't spend any real time ruling and creating Singapore outside of some idealistic visions on how a settlement should be done. Sir William Farquher, John Crawford and the other residents had a more important role to play to make Singapore actually viable.... not to mention placating the Dutch after Raffles stunt in Singapore, violating the fragile diplomacy that the British painstakingly rebuilt after Raffles FUBAR Java.....

"He has created a safe and stable society" - I invite anyone making this statement to walk down Keong Saik at 3 AM, on any night of the week they choose.

and the list goes on.

Been there, done that for both City Hall, Geylang and Keong Saik....... But then, I'm a man.

Love him or hate him, his influence and impact on modern Singapore is way too significant to be discarded and viewed lightly.

One thing I always say is true. Its always more impressive to see his earlier speeches and talks, when his oratory was more impressive than later years, even if one dislike his policies.

[AniThyng]

I'll add more comment when I am back, but I would say this for now. Given by all the Facebook comments made by my fellow singaporeans, I say he has managed to convince many locals to believe his version of singapore is the only way to live.

I'm genuinely curious what Malay Singaporeans think of him.

ALso, all the fawning Malaysian Chinese expats, rofl.

[AniThyng]

Oblig.

I wonder if the scumbags in white will actually let me use my overseas ballot this year to aid in kicking them out. If they don't throw a GE to capitalize on this, they are toast in 2k16.

It's sad that all my international fora are the only places where this can be discussed dispassionately. My Singaporean friends are making me cringe with their maudlin, fawning, and worst of all unsubstantiated posts.

"He was the founding father of Singapore" - That would be Colonial governor Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles.

"He has created a safe and stable society" - I invite anyone making this statement to walk down Keong Saik at 3 AM, on any night of the week they choose.

and the list goes on.

From the Malaysian comments here:
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/mala ... -yew-dies1

" déjà vu • 11 hours ago

Perk@s@, read this - "Thank you for giving us, Singaporeans, a great nation to live in, a country that I can be proud of, a country where I can go out a midnight and not be afraid," one Singaporean, Nurhidayah Osman, wrote - I don't see her complainning that Malays were being sidelined in Singapore!

I chuckle, because the amount of Malaysian Chinese who fawn over Singapore is a bit nauseating. Anyway though, whats the story with Singaporean Malays these days? (PERKASA is one of those right wing Malay nationalist groups that always talk about how awful it would be if the DAP took power because Chinese are greedy and moar racist and will oppress Malays and so on. Why we'd become like Singapore!)
"

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Lee Kuan Yew took Singapore from an isolated British trade outpost that was united with Malaysia--and then unceremoniously kicked out--that he himself didn't even believe could survive as an independent country, and turned it roughly in the space of two decades into a shining economic powerhouse, a Venice of the East. One may resent his methods, but he was a nation-builder and a successful one in the way few men of the post-colonial era have been, and he was the best statesman since 1960 without any doubt, a titan among men in the era. One can only imagine what he thought in his last years, able to look out on the panorama of a great city state, a metropolis exceeding New York, and all built by his fortitude. When you look at the postcolonial records of almost every other dumped colony out there, the contrast becomes strictly glaring.

[K. A. Pital]

That is because none of the dumped colonies became Britain's money laundering pit, attracting capitals to be washed clean from the blood of war, conflict mineral mining and food speculation. One can hardly compare!

[Simon_Jester]

Yew might reasonably be complimented on the adeptness with which he managed to attract and keep these criminal enterprises as a source of profit for his home city, then?

[ray245]

I'll add more comment when I am back, but I would say this for now. Given by all the Facebook comments made by my fellow singaporeans, I say he has managed to convince many locals to believe his version of Singapore is the only way to live.

I'm genuinely curious what Malay Singaporeans think of him.

ALso, all the fawning Malaysian Chinese expats, rofl.

It seems that the mourning and eulogising is extremely widespread over all ethnic group. This is after all, a society that values prosperity at basically all cost possible. The Singapore story has become so intertwined into our history books that people all tend of look at him as some sort of modern myth as opposed to a person. The last few years he spend cultivating this ideas in the sheer number of books published by him further reinforced this idea.

If there is anything I can credit him for the most, it would be a hard stance against systematic corruption that seems to plague most newly created Asian states. He made it easier for foreign investment with a bureaucracy that works well for them. I'm certainly not denying that corruption doesn't exist, but that it exist in a form that investors finds to be reasonable to throw their money in. They know that some local bureaucrat won't be running off with their money, and that perhaps is one major key why there is a level of confidence in wanting to invest in this region.

In Singapore, it is basically a realisation of many right-wing ideology that can somehow be beneficial to a society. It's certainly not surprising that he got along well with Thatcher and Reagan.

What concerns me is the notion that judging by the comments on facebook and everywhere else, economic success has been seen as the only metric that matters at the end of the day. People are buying into his ideology that liberalisation will cause instability and poor economic progress, which is ironic considering few Asian democracies can hardly be called liberal in any meaningful sense. He essentially created a society that expects efficiency as the measure which one can judge governance. To add to that, it has become even more socially awkward to have a meaningful debate about him as a politician in light of his death.

What surprises me is how many people I've known to be extremely critical of LKY mourns his passing. With the upcoming general election coming up, this might just severely affect the outcome in favour of the ruling party even more once again.

[ray245]

What do I really think about him? I think he is a very successful politician that manoeuvred around the difficulties in developing an economy in a post-colonial world, and one that ensured Singapore adapts well in the height of the cold war. On a more social level, he might have stunted the development of a civic community as a result of his policies. Spending time away from Singapore has made me noticed how difficult it is for many Singaporeans in general to even engage in any sort of political discussion on any topic.

[Xisiqomelir]

I think he is a very successful politician

Which PAP founder performed the majority of the pre-independence rallies? Lim Chin Siong

Who won the 1955 general election? David Saul Marshall.

And I consider you one of the most critically-minded people on the topic, ray. This is what happens when state propaganda is parroted unquestioningly for decades.

The truth is that LKY had a pretty rough time of it in free and open elections. The absolute paranoia of the PAP in the years since 1965, and the incessant political suppression of even the faintest trace of opposition demonstrates this very clearly. Lee's correspondence with Mao is mostly sealed, but we know how Mao treated "dissidents", and Lee's behaviour is in pretty much the same mold, with exiles and detentions without trial in place of nooses and firing squads.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

ALso, all the fawning Malaysian Chinese expats, rofl.

Dude.. what did you expect when official Malaysian race policy hasn't been particularly favourable to them? I know a few who have happily settled down here already.

What do I really think about him? I think he is a very successful politician that manoeuvred around the difficulties in developing an economy in a post-colonial world, and one that ensured Singapore adapts well in the height of the cold war. On a more social level, he might have stunted the development of a civic community as a result of his policies. Spending time away from Singapore has made me noticed how difficult it is for many Singaporeans in general to even engage in any sort of political discussion on any topic.

Honestly, if you read Lee's memoirs, he attributes many of the good policies to his first generation of ministers, such as Goh Keng Swee, Hon Sui Sen for Singapore's success. And to be bloody blunt. we owe Goh Keng Swee for a lot of his policies and direction and many a civil servant who served under him can attest to this. He and Lee were foils for each other and Goh wasn't afraid to counter Lee if necessary. Goh is a giant in Singapore's history. The sad thing is that the recognition for him pales in comparison to what will come for Lee Kuan Yew.

[AniThyng]

ALso, all the fawning Malaysian Chinese expats, rofl.

Dude.. what did you expect when official Malaysian race policy hasn't been particularly favourable to them? I know a few who have happily settled down here already.

To a certain extent, yes it is understandable, but this idea that Malaysian chinese are uniquely oppressed no longer sits as well with me as it did in the past - and I've been in the Malaysian private sector long enough to see enough counter racism and bias from us to satisfy my own opinion on the matter.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

ALso, all the fawning Malaysian Chinese expats, rofl.

Dude.. what did you expect when official Malaysian race policy hasn't been particularly favourable to them? I know a few who have happily settled down here already.

To a certain extent, yes it is understandable, but this idea that Malaysian chinese are uniquely oppressed no longer sits as well with me as it did in the past - and I've been in the Malaysian private sector long enough to see enough counter racism and bias from us to satisfy my own opinion on the matter.

Yeah, but the issues with university placement still exists. Which is why many head down south.

[ray245]

I think he is a very successful politician

Which PAP founder performed the majority of the pre-independence rallies? Lim Chin Siong

Who won the 1955 general election? David Saul Marshall.

And I consider you one of the most critically-minded people on the topic, ray. This is what happens when state propaganda is parroted unquestioningly for decades.

The truth is that LKY had a pretty rough time of it in free and open elections. The absolute paranoia of the PAP in the years since 1965, and the incessant political suppression of even the faintest trace of opposition demonstrates this very clearly. Lee's correspondence with Mao is mostly sealed, but we know how Mao treated "dissidents", and Lee's behaviour is in pretty much the same mold, with exiles and detentions without trial in place of nooses and firing squads.

I'm not denying that it was an easy road for him in the early years. However, what cannot be denied is he won despite all the challenge he faced as a politician. By the time he left office, he was the undisputed leader that chose to step down on his own terms. Not many career politician can say that has happened to them.

Honestly, if you read Lee's memoirs, he attributes many of the good policies to his first generation of ministers, such as Goh Keng Swee, Hon Sui Sen for Singapore's success. And to be bloody blunt. we owe Goh Keng Swee for a lot of his policies and direction and many a civil servant who served under him can attest to this. He and Lee were foils for each other and Goh wasn't afraid to counter Lee if necessary. Goh is a giant in Singapore's history. The sad thing is that the recognition for him pales in comparison to what will come for Lee Kuan Yew.

Given that Lee has spend the last few years of his life phrasing everyone from the old guard out of the "Singapore Story", and wrote books after books on how he was the one who made all the decision, it's not surprising that this has basically alienated the rest of the old guards from the public memory.

What he does is he had basically help his chosen successors and son have a much easier time finding legitimacy as the rightful heir to the "founding father" of Singapore.

[K. A. Pital]

Yew might reasonably be complimented on the adeptness with which he managed to attract and keep these criminal enterprises as a source of profit for his home city, then?

I think that attracting the money was Lee's doing, but it was his ministers as the others say, who decided where and how to invest it.