Lee Kuan Yew Biography.
Lee Kuan Yew born Harry Lee Kuan Yew was a Singaporean barrister and statesman who served as the founding Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990, and Secretary-General of the People’s Action Party between 1954 and 1992.
He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tanjong Pagar from 1955 until his death in 2015. Lee is widely recognised as the founding father of the modern Singaporean state, and for his leadership in turning the island from a third-world to a first-world country.
Though he adopted the policies of non-alignment and neutrality for Singapore, he did not take his country’s independence for granted. Apart from strengthening its military might, he brought in conscription.
He encouraged foreign investment, developed the necessary infrastructure, ensured racial harmony, and eliminated corruption.
During his three decades as Prime Minister, Singapore achieved a per capita income next only to Japan’s in East Asia, and emerged as a chief financial hub in the region.
He is responsible for grooming the people of Singapore as the most disciplined and hard working people in the world. Though widely admired, his autocratic methods invited criticism. He did not tolerate dissent from political opponents and the media.
Lee Kuan Yew Biography
Lee Kuan Yew was born on 16 September 1923, the first child of Lee Chin Koon, a Semarang born Singaporean, and Chua Jim Neo, at 92 Kampong Java Road in Singapore, then part of the British Empire.
Both of Lee’s parents were English-educated third-generation Straits Chinese, with his paternal side being of Hakka descent from Dabu County. He was named ‘Kuan Yew’, meaning ‘light and brightness’, alternately meaning ‘bringing great glory to one’s ancestors’.
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 would have three brothers and one sister, all of whom lived till 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 would often stand up against her husband for his poor fiscal management and parenting skills.
The family was considered prosperous with a high social standing compared to recent immigrants and had the expenses 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 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 and debates.
Lee was the top scorer in the Senior Cambridge examinations in 1940 across the Straits Settlements and Malaya, gaining the John Anderson scholarship to attend Raffles College. During the prize-awarding ceremony, Lee met his future wife Kwa Geok Choo; she was the only girl at the school.
His 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.
Lee chose not to return to Raffles College after the war and pursued higher education in the United Kingdom. He sailed from Singapore 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 College.
Prior to his departure from Singapore, Lee had begun a relationship with Kwa, whom he had kept in contact during the war. They married in secret at Stratford-upon-Avon in December. Lee graduated First Class in both parts of the Tripos with an exceptional Starred-First for Part II Law in 1949 with Kwa. 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.
Lee Kuan Yew Age
Lee Kuan Yew died of pneumonia on 23 March 2015, at the age of 91.
Lee Kuan Yew Net worth
At the time of his death, he had an estimated net worth of around $80 million .
Lee Kuan Yew Parents
Lee Kuan Yew was born on 16 September 1923, to Lee Chin Koon and Chua Jim Neo.
Lee Kuan Yew Siblings
He has three brothers: Dennis Lee, Freddy Lee and Lee Suan Yew, and one sister, Monica Lee.
Lee Kuan Yew Wife
Lee Kuan Yew married Kwa Geok Choo in 1950.
His wife Kwa Geok Choo, died on 2 October 2010, at the age of 89.
Lee Kuan Yew Children
Lee and Kwa have three children–Hsien Loong, (the current PM), Dr. Wei Ling (heads the National Neuroscience Institute), and Hsien Yang (presides over the telecommunication giant, SingTel).
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