Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew, GCMG, CH (born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, 16 September 1923 ), is a Singaporean politician. Often referred to as the Father of Singapore or by the initials LKY, he was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, governing for three decades. He is also widely recognised as the founding father of modern Singapore.

As the co-founder and first Secretary-General of the People's Action Party (PAP), he led the party to eight victories from 1959 to 1990, and oversaw the separation of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965 and its subsequent transformation from a relatively underdeveloped colonial outpost with no natural resources into a "First World" Asian Tiger. He is one of the most influential political figures in Asia.

Singapore's second prime minister, Goh Chok Tong, appointed him Senior Minister in 1990. He held the advisory post of Minister Mentor, created by his son Lee Hsien Loong, when the latter became the nation's third prime minister in August 2004. With his successive ministerial positions spanning over 50 years, Lee is also one of history's longest-serving ministers. On 14 May 2011, Lee and Goh announced their retirement from the cabinet after the 2011 general election.

Family background
According to his autobiography, Lee is a fourth-generation Singaporean. His Hakka great-grandfather, Lee Bok Boon, who was born in 1846, emigrated from Dabu County, Guangdong province, China, to Singapore in 1863. He married a shopkeeper's daughter, Seow Huan Nio, but returned to China in 1882, leaving behind his wife and three children. Lee Bok Boon built a little manor in his home village, and bought himself a mandarinate, but he died just two years after his return.

Lee Kuan Yew's grandfather was Lee Hoon Leong, born in Singapore in 1871 and a British subject. He was educated in English at Raffles Institution to standard V, which is equivalent to lower secondary school in Singapore today. Lee Hoon Leong then worked as a dispenser, an unqualified pharmacist, and later was the purser on a steamship of the Heap Eng Moh Shipping Line, then owned by an ethnic Chinese businessman, Oei Tiong Ham.

While working as a purser, Lee Hoon Leong, age 26, married Ko Liem Nio, age 16, in Semarang, Java, Indonesia. It was an arranged marriage, as was then the custom. Both families were middle-class, and the bride and groom were both English-educated. Lee Hoon Leong's maternal grandfather owned the Katong market, a few rubber estates and houses at Orchard Road. Lee Hoon Leong eventually became managing director of the Heap Eng Moh Steamship Company Ltd.

Lee Hoon Leong had two wives, which was common at that time, and fathered five daughters and three sons. His son Lee Chin Koon, also English-educated and a British subject, would marry Chua Jim Neo, who gave birth to Lee Kuan Yew in 1923, at 92 Kampong Java Road in Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew has three brothers: Dennis Lee, Freddy Lee and Lee Suan Yew. He has one sister, Monica Lee.

Lee Kuan Yew's grandfathers' wealth declined considerably during the Great Depression, and his father, Lee Chin Koon, became a poor shopkeeper.

Like Lee, his brother Dennis read law at the University of Cambridge, and they set up a law firm, Lee & Lee. Edmund W. Barker, Lee's close friend, also joined the law firm. Lee and Barker later left the law firm to enter politics. Lee's brother Freddy became a stockbroker; another brother, Suan Yew, read medicine at the University of Cambridge and opened a successful practice.

Lee and his wife, Kwa Geok Choo, were married on 30 September 1950. Both speak English as their native tongue. Lee started learning Chinese in 1955 at age 32, before which he was illiterate in Chinese. Lee also learned Japanese as an adult and he worked as a Japanese translator during the Japanese occupation of Singapore.

Kwa Geok Choo died on 2 October 2010 in her sleep. Lee and Kwa have two sons and one daughter.

Lee's eldest son, Lee Hsien Loong, a former Brigadier-General, became Prime Minister of Singapore in 2004. Lee Hsien Loong was educated at the University of Cambridge as well, where he studied mathematics and computer science. He graduated as a Wrangler, where he scored 12 more alphas (an alpha is one problem solved) than his nearest competitor, which has never been seen in the history of the Tripos at Cambridge. He later went on to Harvard University to gain a Master in Public Administration.

Several members of Lee's family hold prominent positions in Singaporean society. His youngest son, Lee Hsien Yang, was also a former Brigadier-General and former President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SingTel. Lee Hsien Yang was also educated in the University of Cambridge, where he read engineering and graduated with first class honours. He is currently the Non-Executive Director and Chairman of Fraser and Neave Ltd and Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).

Lee's daughter, Lee Wei Ling, runs the National Neuroscience Institute. Lee Hsien Loong's wife, Ho Ching, is the Executive Director and CEO of Temasek Holdings.

Early life
Lee was born a British subject in 1923 at 92 Kampong Java Road in Singapore. According to his memoirs, Lee was first educated at Telok Kurau Primary School. He described his primary students at Telok Kurau as poor and not very bright and advantaged. He then attended Raffles Institution (RI). In RI, Lee had difficulties keeping up because he met the top 150 students from all over Singapore. He made an effort to get into the top class and joined the Scouts for three years. He also played cricket, tennis and chess. During his junior Cambridge years, he obtained several scholarships and subsequently came in top for the School Certificate examinations, obtaining the John Anderson scholarship to attend Raffles College (now National University of Singapore). Lee was the top student in Singapore and Malaya.

Lee's university education was delayed by World War II and the 1942–1945 Japanese occupation of Singapore. During the occupation, Lee learnt Japanese and first worked as a clerk in his grandfather's friend's company—a textile importer called Shimoda. Lee then found work transcribing Allied wire reports for the Japanese where he listened to Allied radio stations and wrote down what they were reporting in the Hodobu office (報道部 – a Japanese propaganda department). Towards the end of the war, by listening to Allied radio stations, he realised the Japanese were going to lose, and fearing that a brutal war would break out in Singapore as the Japanese made their last stand, he made plans to purchase and move to a farm on the Cameron Highlands with his family. However, a liftboy in his office told him his file had been taken out by the security department, and he realised he was being followed by Japanese security personnel (which continued for three months), so he abandoned those plans as he knew that if he went ahead, he would be in trouble. Lee also ran his own businesses during the war to survive, among which, he manufactured stationery glue under his own brand called 'Stikfas'.

During the occupation, Lee was asked by a Japanese guard to join a group of segregated Chinese men. Sensing that something was amiss, he asked for permission to go back home to collect his clothes first, and the Japanese guard agreed. It turned out that those who were segregated were taken to the beach to be shot as part of the Sook Ching massacre in Singapore.

After the war, Lee went on to study in England. He briefly attended the London School of Economics before moving to the University of Cambridge, where he read law at Fitzwilliam College and graduated with a rare Double Starred (double First Class Honours). (After leaving Cambridge, Lee decided to omit his English name, Harry, and simply be known as Lee Kuan Yew, although to this day, old comrades and English friends still refer to him as Harry Lee.) Lee was subsequently made an honorary fellow of Fitzwilliam College.

In England, Lee campaigned for a friend named David Widdicombe, who was in the Labour Party. He drove Widdicombe around in a lorry and delivered several speeches on his behalf. After seeing how the British had failed to defend Singapore from the Japanese, and after his stay in England, Lee decided that Singapore had to govern itself. He returned to Singapore in 1949.

Lee, in his memoirs, recounted how he has had to sing four national anthems in his lifetime: first, God Save The King when Singapore was a British colony; second, Kimigayo, the Japanese national anthem during the Japanese occupation of Singapore; third, the Malaysian national anthem Negaraku, when Singapore was part of Malaysia for two bitter years; fourth, Majulah Singapura, the national anthem of Singapore.

Early political career – 1951 to 1959
In his memoirs, Lee recounted that he had intended to return to Singapore to work as a lawyer. Upon his return, Lee worked in John Laycock's law firm for $500 per month. He also worked as a legal advisor to the trade and students' unions.

Lee's first experience with politics in Singapore was his role as election agent for Laycock under the banner of the pro-British Progressive Party in the 1951 legislative council elections.

Formation of the PAP
On 12 November 1954, Lee, together with a group of fellow English-educated middle-class men whom he described as "beer-swilling bourgeois", formed the 'socialist' People's Action Party (PAP) in an expedient alliance with the pro-communist trade unionists. This alliance was described by Lee as a marriage of convenience, since his English-speaking group needed the Chinese-speaking pro-communists' mass support base, while the communists needed a non-communist party leadership (PAP) as a 'smoke-screen', because the Malayan Communist Party was illegal.

At that time, almost 70% of Singaporeans spoke Chinese and various Chinese dialects as their native tongues. Those who spoke English as their native tongue comprised only 20% or so of the population and were therefore, a minority. Their common aim was to agitate for self-government and put an end to British colonial rule.

An inaugural conference was held at the Victoria Memorial Hall, attended by over 1,500 supporters and trade unionists. Lee became secretary-general, a post he held until 1992, save for a brief period in 1957.

In opposition
Lee won the Tanjong Pagar seat in the 1955 elections. He became the opposition leader against David Saul Marshall's Labour Front-led coalition government. He was also one of PAP's representatives to the two constitutional discussions held in London over the future status of Singapore, the first led by Marshall and the second by Lim Yew Hock, Marshall's hardline successor. It was during this period that Lee had to contend with rivals from both within and outside the PAP.

Lee's position in the PAP was seriously under threat in 1957 when pro-communists took over the leadership posts, following a party conference which the party's left wing had stacked with fake members. Fortunately for Lee and the party's moderate faction, Lim Yew Hock ordered a mass arrest of the pro-communists and Lee was reinstated as secretary-general. After the communist 'scare', Lee subsequently received a new, stronger mandate from his Tanjong Pagar constituents in a by-election in 1957. The communist threat within the party was temporarily removed as Lee prepared for the next round of elections.

Self-government administration – 1959 to 1963
In the national elections held on 30 May 1959, the PAP won 43 of the 51 seats in the legislative assembly. Singapore gained self-government with autonomy in all state matters except defence and foreign affairs, and Lee became the first Prime Minister of Singapore on 3 June 1959, taking over from Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock. Before he took office, Lee demanded and secured the release of Lim Chin Siong and Devan Nair, who had been arrested earlier by Lim Yew Hock's government. Lee faced many problems after gaining self-rule for Singapore from the British, including education, housing, and unemployment.

A key event was the motion of confidence of the government in which 13 PAP assemblymen crossed party lines and abstained from voting on 21 July 1961. Together with six prominent left-leaning leaders from trade unions, the breakaway members established a new party, the Barisan Sosialis. At its inception it had popular support rivalling that of the PAP. 35 of the 51 branches of PAP and 19 of its 23 organising secretaries went to the Barisan Sosialis. This event was known as the Big Split of 1961. The PAP's majority was now 26-25 in the legislative assembly.

In 1961, the PAP faced two by-election defeats as well as the defections and labour unrest by leftists. Lee's government was near collapse until the 1962 referendum on the issue of merger, which was a test of public confidence in the government.

Merger with Malaysia, then separation – 1963 to 1965
After Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman proposed the formation of a federation which would include Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak in 1961, Lee began to campaign for a merger with Malaysia to end British colonial rule. He used the results of a referendum held on 1 September 1962, in which 70% of the votes were cast in support of his proposal, to demonstrate that the people supported his plan.

On 16 September 1963, Singapore became part of Malaysia. However, the union was short-lived. The Malaysian central government, ruled by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), became worried by the inclusion of Singapore's Chinese majority and the political challenge of the PAP in Malaysia. Lee openly opposed the bumiputra policy and used the Malaysian Solidarity Convention's famous cry of "Malaysian Malaysia!", a nation serving the Malaysian nationality, as opposed to the Malay race.

The 1964 race riots in Singapore followed, such as that on 21 July 1964, near Kallang Gasworks, in which 23 people were killed and hundreds injured as Chinese and Malays attacked each other. It is still disputed how the riots started, and theories include a bottle being thrown into a Muslim rally by a Chinese, while others have argued that it was started by a Malay. More riots broke out in September 1964, as rioters looted cars and shops, forcing both Tunku Abdul Rahman and Lee to make public appearances to calm the situation.

Unable to resolve the crisis, "The Tunku" decided to expel Singapore from Malaysia, choosing to "sever all ties with a State Government that showed no measure of loyalty to its Central Government". Lee was adamant and tried to work out a compromise, but without success. He was later convinced by Goh Keng Swee that the secession was inevitable. Lee signed a separation agreement on 7 August 1965, which discussed Singapore's post-separation relations with Malaysia in order to continue co-operation in areas such as trade and mutual defence.

The failure of the merger was a heavy blow to Lee, who believed that it was crucial for Singapore’s survival. In a televised press conference on television that day, he fought back tears and briefly stopped to regain his composure as he formally announced the separation and the full independence of Singapore to an anxious population:

"'Every time we look back on this moment when we signed this agreement which severed Singapore from Malaysia, it will be a moment of anguish. For me it is a moment of anguish because all my life ... you see, the whole of my adult life ... I have believed in merger and the unity of these two territories. You know that we, as a people are connected by geography, economics, by ties of kinship...'"

On that same day, 9 August 1965, just as the press conference ended, the Malaysian parliament passed the required resolution that would sever Singapore's ties to Malaysia as a state, and thus the Republic of Singapore was created. Singapore's lack of natural resources, a water supply that was derived primarily from Malaysia and a very limited defensive capability were the major challenges that Lee and the Singaporean government faced.

Prime Minister, post-independence – 1965 to 1990
In his autobiography, Lee stated that he did not sleep well, and fell sick days after Singapore's independence. Upon learning of Lee's condition from the British High Commissioner to Singapore, John Robb, the British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, expressed concern, in response to which Lee replied:

"'Do not worry about Singapore. My colleagues and I are sane, rational people even in our moments of anguish. We will weigh all possible consequences before we make any move on the political chessboard...'"

Lee began to seek international recognition of Singapore's independence. Singapore joined the United Nations on 21 September 1965, and founded the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on 8 August 1967 with four other South-East Asian countries. Lee made his first official visit to Indonesia on 25 May 1973, just a few years after the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation under Sukarno's regime. Relations between Singapore and Indonesia substantially improved as subsequent visits were made between the two countries.

Singapore has never had a dominant culture to which immigrants could assimilate even though Malay was the dominant language at that time. Together with efforts from the government and ruling party, Lee tried to create a unique Singaporean identity in the 1970s and 1980s—one which heavily recognised racial consciousness within the umbrella of multiculturalism.

Lee and his government stressed the importance of maintaining religious tolerance and racial harmony, and they were ready to use the law to counter any threat that might incite ethnic and religious violence. For example, Lee warned against "insensitive evangelisation", by which he referred to instances of Christian proselytising directed at Malays. In 1974 the government advised the Bible Society of Singapore to stop publishing religious material in Malay.

Decisions and policies
Lee had three main concerns – national security, the economy, and social issues – during his post-independence administration.

National security
The vulnerability of Singapore was deeply felt, with threats from multiple sources including the communists and Indonesia with its Confrontation stance. As Singapore gained admission to the United Nations, Lee quickly sought international recognition of Singapore's independence. He declared a policy of neutrality and non-alignment, following Switzerland's model. At the same time, he asked Goh Keng Swee to build up the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and requested help from other countries, particularly Israel, for advice, training and facilities. Lee introduced conscription whereby all abled-bodied male Singaporean citizens age 18 and above are required to serve National Service (NS) either in the Singapore Armed Forces, Singapore Police Force or the Singapore Civil Defence Force. Singapore has been ranked consistently in the top five positions in the Global Competitiveness Report in terms of its reliability of police services. Singapore has consistently been ranked as the safest country in the world. In 2011, there were 0.3 intentional homicides out of 100,000 people in Singapore compared to 4.3 intentional homicides out of 100,000 in the United States.

Economy
Lee always placed great importance on developing the economy, and his attention to detail on this aspect went even to the extent of connecting it with other facets of Singapore, including the country's extensive and meticulous tending of its international image of being a "Garden City", something that has been sustained to this day.

Government policies
Like many countries, Singapore had problems with political corruption. Lee introduced legislation giving the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) greater power to conduct arrests, search, call up witnesses, and investigate bank accounts and income-tax returns of suspected persons and their families.

Lee believed that ministers should be well paid in order to maintain a clean and honest government. In 1994, he proposed to link the salaries of ministers, judges, and top civil servants to the salaries of top professionals in the private sector, arguing that this would help recruit and retain talent to serve in the public sector.

In the late 1960s, fearing that Singapore's growing population might overburden the developing economy, Lee started a vigorous Stop at Two family planning campaign. Couples were urged to undergo sterilisation after their second child. Third or fourth children were given lower priorities in education and such families received fewer economic rebates.

In 1983, Lee sparked the 'Great Marriage Debate' when he encouraged Singapore men to choose highly-educated women as wives. He was concerned that a large number of graduate women were unmarried. Some sections of the population, including graduate women, were upset by his views. Nevertheless, a match-making agency Social Development Unit (SDU) was set up to promote socialising among men and women graduates. In the Graduate Mothers Scheme, Lee also introduced incentives such as tax rebates, schooling, and housing priorities for graduate mothers who had three or four children, in a reversal of the over-successful 'Stop-at-Two' family planning campaign in the 1960s and 1970s. By the late 1990s, the birth rate had fallen so low that Lee's successor Goh Chok Tong extended these incentives to all married women, and gave even more incentives, such as the 'baby bonus' scheme.

Corporal punishment
One of Lee's abiding beliefs has been in the efficacy of corporal punishment in the form of caning. In his autobiography The Singapore Story he described his time at Raffles Institution in the 1930s, mentioning that he was caned there for chronic lateness by the then headmaster, D. W. McLeod. He wrote: "I bent over a chair and was given three of the best with my trousers on. I did not think he lightened his strokes. I have never understood why Western educationists are so much against corporal punishment. It did my fellow students and me no harm."

Lee's government inherited judicial corporal punishment from British rule, but greatly expanded its scope. Under the British, it had been used as a penalty for offences involving personal violence, amounting to a handful of caning sentences per year. The PAP government under Lee extended its use to an ever-expanding range of crimes. By 1993 it was mandatory for 42 offences and optional for a further 42. Those routinely ordered by the courts to be caned now include drug addicts and illegal immigrants. From 602 canings in 1987, the figure rose to 3,244 in 1993 and to 6,404 in 2007.

In 1994 judicial caning was intensely publicised in the rest of the world when an American teenager, Michael Fay, was caned under the vandalism legislation.

School corporal punishment (for male students only) was likewise inherited from the British, and this is in widespread use to discipline disobedient schoolboys, still under legislation from 1957. Lee also introduced caning in the Singapore Armed Forces, and Singapore is one of the few countries in the world where corporal punishment is an official penalty in military discipline.

LGBT rights
Lee has been open about his views on homosexuality throughout his term in office and after stepping down as Prime Minister. Lee's views are relatively liberal and scientific.

The first time he was asked a question publicly about LGBT rights in Singapore was in a CNN interview in 1998. The question was posed by an unnamed gay man in Singapore who asked about the future of LGBT people in Singapore. Lee replied that it was not for the government to decide whether or not homosexuality was acceptable; it was for the Singapore society to decide. He also said he did not think an "aggressive gay rights movement" would change people's minds on the issue. He added that the government would not interfere or harass anybody whether straight or otherwise.

Lee next answered a question about homosexuality at a Young PAP meeting in 2007. The questioner was Loretta Chen, an openly lesbian young PAP member and a bilingual theatre director in Singapore. She asked if the current censorship rules in Singapore were too equivocal and where censorship was headed in the next two decades. Chen referred to a controversial play about Singaporean porn actress Annabel Chong, which explored pornography and alternative sexuality. Lee was then asked if he believed homosexuality was a product of nature or nurture. He replied that he had asked doctors about homosexuality and been told that it was caused by a genetic random transmission of genes.

In Lee's book entitled "Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going", he was asked about homosexuality again. The questions touched on his personal views of LGBT, LGBT people adopting children, and hurdles for LGBT Singaporeans. He was asked how he would react if one of his grandchildren turned out gay. He replied that he would accept his grandchild because homosexuality is a genetic code. One of the questions asked was if LGBT couples could adopt children. He did not think LGBT people were suited to bringing up a child as they have no maternal instinct aroused by the process of pregnancy.

In Singapore, Section 377A of the Penal Code still criminalises homosexual sexual intercourse. However, Lee Kuan Yew's son, the current Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said in parliament in 2007 that the government will not actively enforce the law even though it is in place because of the current sentiment among Singaporeans.

Water resources in Singapore
Singapore has been importing water from Malaysia since independence. However, when tension between the two countries arise, the Malaysian government has threatened to stop the supply of water to Singapore. Lee knew the stoppage of water importation from Malaysia would be disastrous for Singapore. Lee ordered to experiment on water recycling in 1974. However, the water treatment plant was closed in 1975 due to cost and reliability issues. In 1998, the Public Utilities Board (PUB) and the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) initiated the Singapore Water Reclamation Study (NEWater Study). The aim was to determine if NEWater was a viable source of raw water for Singapore's needs. In 2001, PUB initiated efforts to increase water supplies for non-potable use. Using NEWater for these would help reduce the demand on the reservoirs for potable water.

The Singapore International Water Week was started in 2008; it focused on sustainable water solutions for cities. The Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize was introduced in recognition given to outstanding contributions towards solving global water crisis. The prize has become an international award given out to individuals and groups worldwide.

Mahathir bin Mohamad
Lee looked forward to improving relationships with Mahathir bin Mohamad upon the latter's promotion to Deputy Prime Minister. Knowing that Mahathir was in line to become the next Prime Minister of Malaysia, Lee invited Mahathir (through Singapore President Devan Nair) to visit Singapore in 1978. The first and subsequent visits improved both personal and diplomatic relationships between them. Mahathir asked Lee to cut off links with the Chinese leaders of the Democratic Action Party; in exchange, Mahathir undertook not to interfere in the affairs of Malay Singaporeans.

In June 1988, Lee and Mahathir reached an agreement in Kuala Lumpur to build the Linggui dam on the Johor River.

Senior Minister – 1990 to 2004


After leading the PAP to victory in seven elections, Lee stepped down on 28 November 1990, handing over the prime ministership to Goh Chok Tong. He was then the world's longest-serving prime minister.

This was the first leadership transition since independence.

When Goh Chok Tong became head of government, Lee remained in the cabinet with a non-executive position of Senior Minister and played a role he described as advisory. In public, Lee would refer to Goh as "my Prime Minister", in deference to Goh's authority. He has said in a 1988 National Day rally:"'Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up.'"

Lee subsequently stepped down as the Secretary-General of the PAP and was succeeded by Goh Chok Tong in November 1992.

Minister Mentor – 2004 to 2011
Since the 2000s (decade), Lee has expressed concern about the declining proficiency of Mandarin among younger Chinese Singaporeans. In one of his parliamentary speeches, he said: "Singaporeans must learn to juggle English and Mandarin". Subsequently, in December 2004, a year-long campaign called 华语 Cool! (Huayu Cool!) was launched, in an attempt to attract young viewers to learn and speak Mandarin.

In June 2005, Lee published a book, Keeping My Mandarin Alive, documenting his decades of effort to master Mandarin, a language which he said he had to re-learn due to disuse: "'...because I don't use it so much, therefore it gets disused and there's language loss. Then I have to revive it. It's a terrible problem because learning it in adult life, it hasn't got the same roots in your memory.'"

In an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) on 12 June 2005, Lee stressed the need to have a continuous renewal of talent in the country's leadership, saying:"'In a different world we need to find a niche for ourselves, little corners where in spite of our small size we can perform a role which will be useful to the world. To do that, you will need people at the top, decision-makers who have got foresight, good minds, who are open to ideas, who can seize opportunities like we did... My job really was to find my successors. I found them, they are there; their job is to find their successors. So there must be this continuous renewal of talented, dedicated, honest, able people who will do things not for themselves but for their people and for their country. If they can do that, they will carry on for another one generation and so it goes on. The moment that breaks, it's gone.'"

In November 2010, Lee's private conversations with James Steinberg, US Deputy Secretary of State, on 30 May 2009 were among the US Embassy cables leaked by WikiLeaks. In a US Embassy report classified as 'Secret', Lee gave his assessment of a number of Asian leaders and views on political developments in North Asia, including implications for nuclear proliferation. Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed deep concern about the leaks, especially when read out of context, and the need to protect confidentiality of diplomatic correspondence.

In January 2011, the Straits Times Press published the book Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths To Keep Singapore Going. Targeted at younger Singaporeans, it was based on 16 interviews with Lee by seven local journalists in 2008–2009. The first print run of 45,000 copies sold out in less than a month after it was launched in January 2011. Another batch of 55,000 copies was made available shortly after.

After the 2011 general elections in which the Workers' Party, a major opposition political party in Singapore, made unprecedented gains by winning a Group Representation Constituency (GRC), Lee announced that he decided to leave the Cabinet for the Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, and his team to have a clean slate.

International organisations
Lee is a member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee, ever since the foundation was launched in 2008 by the former French President Jacques Chirac to promote world peace.

Legacy
During three decades in which Lee held office, Singapore grew from being a developing country to one of the most developed nations in Asia, despite its small population, limited land space and lack of natural resources. Lee has often stated that Singapore's only natural resources are its people and their strong work ethic. He is widely respected by many Singaporeans, particularly the older generation, who remember his inspiring leadership during independence and the separation from Malaysia. Indeed, for many people in Singapore and other countries, Lee is inextricably linked with their perceptions of Singapore.

Lee has also been widely praised by other world leaders. Henry Kissenger once said that Lee was "One of the asymmetries of history". Richard Nixon remarked that if Lee lived in another time and place, he would have attained the world stature of a Churchill, a Disraeli, or a Gladstone. Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush called Lee a "remarkable leader and statesman" and "one of the brightest and most effective world leaders that I have ever known" respectively during the launch of his book, "Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going".

On the other hand, many Singaporeans have criticised Lee as being authoritarian and intolerant of dissent, citing his numerous mostly successful attempts to sue political opponents and newspapers who express an unfavorable opinion. Reporters Without Borders, an international media pressure group, has asked Lee, and other senior Singaporean officials, to stop taking libel actions against journalists.

In 2004 the National University of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy was named after him, one of the first cases of an institution in Singapore doing so.

Memoirs
In 1999, Lee Kuan Yew published a two-volume set of memoirs: The Singapore Story (ISBN 0-13-020803-5), which covers his view of Singapore's history until its separation from Malaysia in 1965, and From Third World to First: The Singapore Story (ISBN 0060197765), which gives his account of Singapore's subsequent transformation into a developed nation.

When Lee Kuan Yew left office as Prime Minister to assume the position of Senior Minister, he continued to write about his personal views of the international political and economic landscape and his trials and tribulations before and after becoming Prime Minister. In 2005, Lee published "Keeping My Mandarin Alive: Lee Kuan Yew Language Learning Experience", which documents his challenge learning Mandarin in his thirties and why it is important for overseas Chinese to learn and/or speak Chinese.

In 2011, Lee published "My Lifelong Challenge Singapore's Bilingual Journey" which chronicles his struggle adopting Singapore bilingual policy in a multiracial society. Also in 2011, Lee published "Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going" which is a 458 pages questions and answers book, interviewed by journalist from the Singapore Press Holdings which includes challenge he faced when Singapore first gained independence, the future political landscape and opportunities for youth in Singapore and also his personal views on homosexuality and family issues.

In 2013, Lee published two new books, "The Wit and Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew" and "One Man's View of the World". "The Wit and Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew" contains almost 600 quotations which provides a summary of his views on a wide range of topics on Singapore and the world. In "One Man's View of the World", Lee draws on his experience and insight to offer his views on today’s world and what it might look like in 20 years.

Awards

 * Lee has received a number of state decorations, including the Order of the Companions of Honour (1970), Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (1972), the Freedom of the City of London (1982), the Seri Paduka Mahkota Johor (1984), the Order of Great Leader (1988) and the Order of the Rising Sun (1967).
 * In 1995, Lee received the Ig Nobel Prize in Psychology, for "his thirty-year study of the effects of punishing three million citizens of Singapore whenever they spat, chewed gum, or fed pigeons."
 * In 2002, Lee was formally admitted to the Fellowship of Imperial College London in recognition of his promotion of international trade and industry, and development of science and engineering study initiatives with the UK.
 * In 2006, Lee was presented with the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
 * In 2007, Lee was conferred an honorary Doctorate in Law at the Australian National University in Canberra, albeit amid protest from students and staff.
 * In October 2009, Lee was conferred the first Lifetime Achievement award by the US-Asean Business Council at its 25th anniversary gala dinner in Washington, DC. In his tribute, the former United States Secretary of State and 1973 Nobel Peace Prize winner Henry Kissinger said:
 * Meeting the US President at the Oval Office in the White House a day later, Barack Obama introduced him as "one of the legendary figures of Asia in the 20th and 21st centuries. He is somebody who helped to trigger the Asian economic miracle."
 * On 15 November 2009, Lee was awarded the Russian Order of Friendship by President Dmitry Medvedev on the sidelines of APEC Singapore 2009.
 * On 29 April 2010, Lee was named in the TIME 100 list as one of the people who most affect our world.
 * On 14 January 2011, Lee received the inaugural Gryphon Award from his alma mater, Raffles Institution, given to illustrious Rafflesians who have made exceptional contributions to the nation.
 * On 19 October 2011, Lee received the Lincoln Medal in Washington DC — an honour reserved for people who have exemplified the legacy and character embodied by Abraham Lincoln.
 * On 21 February 2012, Lee was conferred the Kazakhstan Order of Friendship by Ambassador Yerlan Baudarbek-Kozhatayev, at the Istana.
 * On 10 September 2013, Lee was conferred Russia's Order of Honour by Ambassador Leonid Moiseev for his contributions for forging friendship and cooperation with the Russian Federal and scientific and cultural relations development.

Health
On 13 September 2008, Lee, then 84, underwent successful treatment for abnormal heart rhythm (atrial flutter) at Singapore General Hospital, but he was still able to address a philanthropy forum via video link from hospital. On 28 September 2010, he was hospitalised for a chest infection, cancelling plans to attend the wake of the Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Balaji Sadasivan.

In a column in the Sunday Times on 6 November 2011, Lee's daughter Wei Ling revealed that Lee suffers from peripheral neuropathy. In the column, she recounted how she first noticed her father's ailments when she accompanied her father to meet the former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Connecticut in October 2009. Wei Ling, a neurologist, "did a few simple neurological tests and decided the nerves to his legs were not working as they should". A day later, when interviewed at a constituency event, Lee stated "I have no doubt at all that this has not affected my mind, my will nor my resolve" and "People in wheel chairs can make a contribution. I've still got two legs, I make a contribution."

On 15 February 2013, Lee was hospitalised at Singapore General Hospital after suffering a prolonged cardiac dysrhythmia which was followed by a brief stoppage of blood flow to the brain. For the first time in his career as a politician, Lee missed the annual Chinese New Year dinner at his Tanjong Pagar Constituency, where he was supposed to be the guest-of-honour. He was subsequently discharged though he is as of date receiving anti-coagulant therapy.

In his book One Man's View of the World (2013), Lee shared his thoughts on death, stressing that he wished for a "quick" death. He revealed that he had composed a legal Advanced Medical Directive ordering the doctors to cut off his life support should he fall into a permanently vegetative state.

Quotes

 * If it is not totalitarian to arrest a man and detain him, when you cannot charge him with any offence against any written law - if that is not what we have always cried out against in Fascist states - then what is it?… If we are to survive as a free democracy, then we must be prepared, in principle, to concede to our enemies - even those who do not subscribe to our views - as much constitutional rights as you concede yourself. Opposition leader Lee Kuan Yew, Legislative Assembly Debates, 21 September 1955
 * If Singapore is a nanny state, then I am proud to have fostered one. Lee Kuan Yew, in a wry aside to critics who have accused him of governing Singapore like a nanny state, From Third World to First, The Singapore Story: 1965-2000, Lee Kuan Yew. 2000
 * When I call a man openly, you're a liar, you're dishonest, and you do not dare to sue me, there's something basically wrong. And I will repeat it anywhere and you can't go and say, oh, I have apologised; let's move on. Can you commit a dishonourable -- maybe even one which is against the law -- an illegal act and say, let's move on because I've apologised? You may move on but you're going to move on out of politics in time. Lee Kuan Yew on James Gomez in 2006.
 * But we either believe in democracy or we not. If we do, then, we must say categorically, without qualification, that no restraint from the any democratic processes, other than by the ordinary law of the land, should be allowed… If you believe in democracy, you must believe in it unconditionally. If you believe that men should be free, then, they should have the right of free association, of free speech, of free publication. Then, no law should permit those democratic processes to be set at nought. Lee Kuan Yew, 27 April 1955

Devan Nair
In 1999, the former Singaporean President Devan Nair, who was living in exile in Canada, remarked in an interview with the Toronto The Globe and Mail that Lee's technique of suing his opponents into bankruptcy or oblivion was an abrogation of political rights. He also remarked that Lee is "an increasingly self-righteous know-all", surrounded by "department store dummies". In response to these remarks, Lee sued Nair in a Canadian court and Nair countersued. Lee then brought a motion to have Nair's counterclaim thrown out of court. Lee argued that Nair's counterclaim disclosed no reasonable cause of action and constituted an inflammatory attack on the integrity of the Singapore government. However, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice refused to throw out Nair's counterclaim, holding that Lee had abused the litigating process and therefore Nair has a reasonable cause of action.

Defamation judgment
On 24 September 2008 the High Court of Singapore, in a summary judgment by Justice Woo Bih Li, ruled that the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) magazine (Hugo Restall, editor), defamed Lee and his son, the Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong. The court found the 2006 article "Singapore's 'Martyr': Chee Soon Juan" meant that Lee had been running and continues to run Singapore in the same corrupt manner as T. T. Durai operated the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and he has been using libel actions to suppress those who would question to avoid exposure of his corruption." The court sentenced FEER, owned by Dow Jones & Company (in turn owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp), to pay damages to the complainants. FEER appealed but lost the case when the Court of Appeal ruled in October 2009 that the Far Eastern Economic Review defamed Lee and his son Lee Hsien Loong.

Comments on China
In 2009, Lee opined that China should be balanced. An online Chinese transcript of his speech translated "balanced" to "conscribed", causing Lee to draw heavy criticism from the Chinese netizens. In defence, he commented that he had never used such a term and deemed the netizens as "hypersensitive".

Defamation lawsuit
In 2010 Lee, together with his son Lee Hsien Loong, and Goh Chok Tong, threatened legal action against The New York Times Company, which owns the International Herald Tribune, regarding an Op-Ed piece titled 'All in the Family' of 15 February 2010 by Philip Bowring, a freelance columnist and former editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review. The International Herald Tribune apologised in March that readers of the article may 'infer that the younger Lee did not achieve his position through merit'. The New York Times Company and Bowring also agreed to pay SG$60,000 to Lee Hsien Loong, SG$50,000 to Lee and SG$50,000 to Goh (totalling about US$114,000 at the time), in addition to legal costs. The case stemmed from a 1994 settlement between the three Singaporean leaders and the paper about an article also by Bowring that referred to 'dynastic politics' in East Asian countries, including Singapore. In that settlement, Bowring agreed not to say or imply that the younger Lee had attained his position through nepotism by his father Lee Kuan Yew. In response, media-rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders wrote an open letter to urge Lee and other top officials of the Singapore government to stop taking 'libel actions' against journalists.

Islam
In 2011, Wikileaks published diplomatic cables attributing controversial comments on Islam to Lee. Wikileaks quoted Lee as having described Islam as a "venomous religion". Lee qualified his remarks by saying, "I did talk about extremist terrorists like the Jemaah Islamiyah group, and the jihadist preachers who brainwashed them. They are implacable in wanting to put down all who do not agree with them. So their Islam is a perverted version, which the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Singapore do not subscribe to".

The incident followed hot on the heels of Lee's controversial book release Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going. In the book, Lee claimed that Singaporean Muslims faced difficulties in integrating because of their religion, and urged them to "be less strict on Islamic observances".

According to former PM Goh Chok Tong, Singaporean Muslims adjusted their religious practices according to the unique circumstances in Singapore. For example, "Singapore, being a city state, is one of the world’s most densely populated countries. With people living in high-rise apartments and in close proximity, the call of prayer or azan amplified through loudspeakers at mosques during the early dawn or in the evening had to be modified. If not, it would have been an issue with the majority non-Muslims and would make it difficult for them to accept the building of new mosques in their vicinity. At the same time, the Muslims had to be convinced that any changes to their public call for prayer were not aimed at curbing the practice of their religion. The changes were also made incrementally. First, the loudspeakers were tilted inwards and away from nearby houses, and limits were set on their volume levels. Later, a radio frequency was allocated to allow the call to prayer to be broadcast over the radio. In this way, all Muslims who wished to receive the call to prayer could just tune in on their radio. Over time, the mosques did away with loudspeakers."

The ethnic integration policy was also implemented to avoid the formation of ethnic ghettoes in Singapore's HDB flats. Every precinct had to have inhabitants from all the ethnic groups according to national proportions.