LEE KUAN YEW - THE VISIONARY OF SINGAPORE

Abstract

Lee Kuan Yew was born on 16 September 1923 in Singapore, descendant of Chinese immigrants. After the end of the World War II he went to the London School of Economics and Political Science, before going up to Fitzwilliam College in Cambridge, where he took a double first in law. In 1954, he was a founder and the first Secretary-General of the People's Action Party (PAP), a post he was to hold for the next 38 years. The PAP won 43 of the 51 seats in the general elections held on 30 May 1959 and Lee Kuan Yew was sworn in as Prime Minister of Singapore on 5 June 1959. Two days earlier, Singapore had been granted full internal self-government by Britain, with the former colonial administration retaining control over foreign affairs and defence. On 31 August 1963 Lee Kuan Yew declared Singapore's independence from Britain. In conjunction with Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah (formerly North Borneo), he proclaimed Singapore as part of Malaysia on 16 September 1963 but the union was short-lived. Ideological tensions and a series of clashes between ethnic groups led to Singapore's expulsion from the federation on to become fully independent, sovereign nation on 9 August 1965. Lee Kuan Yew launched an ambitious reform program, designed to transform Singapore from a backward to a modern industrialised state. To do this he maintained tight political control over every aspect of the city state, making it one of the world's most regulated societies. Lee Kuan Yew introduced measures that stamped out the corruption that had been endemic in the former colony and embarked on a programme of low-cost housing and industrialisation to provide employment. From 1960 to 1990, Singapore's GDP per capita increased 28-fold. When Lee Kuan Yew stepped down in 1990, he was the longest-serving prime minister in the world.