Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew (September 16, 1923 to March 23, 2015), a Singaporean Chinese, was born in dangxi Township, Gaopi Town, Dapu County, Meizhou City, Guangdong Province. He graduated from Raffles College in Singapore and was one of the founders of the people's Action Party of Singapore.

He once served as prime minister (founding head), supreme leader of Singapore, senior minister of state and cabinet, Secretary General of Singapore People's Action Party, member of Legislative Council (renamed parliament in December 1965), first Prime Minister of Singapore autonomous government, senior minister of prime minister's office, honorary chairman of International Confucian Union, and Senior Minister of cabinet (prime minister's office), known as "Singapore state" Father.

On December 18, 2018, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council awarded Comrade Lee Kuan Yew the China reform friendship medal for promoting Singapore's deep participation in China's reform and opening up process.

Life of the characters

Youth Study

Li Guangyao, a Hakka of Han nationality, is from dangxi Township, Gaopi Town, Dapu County, Meizhou City, Guangdong Province.

Lee Kuan Yew received a British education when he was young. He was admitted to Raffles College (junior high school) at the age of 12 (1935) and to the senior high school at the age of 18 (1940). However, he stopped his studies after the Japanese occupied Singapore. After the end of the war, Lee Kuan Yew won a scholarship from the queen of the British Empire and began to study in Britain.

At the beginning of his study in the UK, Lee Kuan Yew studied in London School of economics. Influenced by raskey's socialist theory, he gradually showed the tendency of anti colonial rule, but he has been known as an "anti Communist" ever since. He once said in his memoirs, "the reason why he hates Communists is that they adopt the Leninist (centralized leadership) method, not their Marxist ideals."

After studying at the London School of economics for three months, Lee Kuan Yew transferred to Cambridge University to study law. He graduated in 1949 with a "double first honorary degree" and obtained the qualification of practicing lawyer in London in June 1950.

Participation in politics

In September 1950, Lee Kuan Yew married Ke Yuzhi, a classmate at Raffles College. Ke Yuzhi is a famous lawyer whose ancestral home is Tongan County, Fujian Province. Lee Kuan Yew and his wife Ke Yuzhi have three children: the eldest son, Lee Hsien long, the second son, Lee Hsien Yang, and daughter, Li Weiling.

In 1950, Lee Kuan Yew in the UK joined the Malaya forum, a group of Southeast Asian people living in the UK with the goal of "fighting for Malaya independence". In August of the same year, Lee Kuan Yew returned to Singapore and began to work as a lawyer.

In 1952, Lee Kuan Yew became famous for negotiating with the government on behalf of the "striking postman in Singapore". He established a mass base in the trade union, thus laying the foundation for his future political career.

The people's Action Party (Pap) participated in the first election next year. Lee Kuan Yew himself was successfully elected as a member of the legislative assembly. He began to cooperate with Lin Qingxiang, the head of the Malaysian Communist Party (CPC) in Singapore, to strive for Singapore's autonomy.

On June 3, 1959, the autonomous state of Singapore was founded, and the people's Action Party became the largest party in the legislative assembly in the first election of the autonomous state government, with Lee Kuan Yew as the Prime Minister of the autonomous state government. Since then, Lee Kuan Yew has always hoped to merge with the United States of Malaya to form "Malaysia", so as to provide security for Singapore's economic development, and finally eradicate the growing "Communist Party of Malaysia" forces in Singapore.

In 1961, "anti communist elements" led by Lee Kuan Yew broke with "Pro communist elements" in the party.

In July 1963, Lee Kuan Yew reached an agreement in London with the government of the Prime Minister of the United Malaya state, Donggu aduraman, to formally merge Singapore and Malaysia. After the merger, the federal government of Malaysia and the autonomous state government of Singapore led by Lee Kuan Yew took action and arrested several senior leaders of the Communist Party of Malaysia in Singapore. After the merger of Singapore and Malaysia, the federal government of Malaysia and the government of the autonomous state of Singapore soon had serious differences on many economic policies.

In 1964, when racial riots broke out in Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew's government took this opportunity to accuse Malaysian Prime Minister Dong Gu aduraman and the federal government of trying to promote "racial chauvinism", trying to make the Malays enjoy special high treatment in the Federation, and inciting the Malays in Singapore to oppose the Singapore autonomous state government behind the scenes. However, the high-level of the federal government was very disgusted with this, and Singapore was eventually expelled from Malaysia because the subsequent negotiations between the two sides failed.

In 1990, Lee resigned as prime minister, but remained in the cabinet until May 2011. In addition, according to the board of directors of the Government Investment Corporation of Singapore, which was first disclosed in 2003, Lee Kuan Yew has been the chairman of the company since he stepped down as prime minister. The company is responsible for managing Singapore's Government foreign exchange reserves, but it has always been the most mysterious company in the country. He always advocated "Asian values" and believed that Asian countries did not need to act in full accordance with Western values. As a result, Lee Kuan Yew has always ignored Western criticism of his autocracy, believing that western democracy cannot be imposed on the Asian people.

Withdraw from the cabinet

In October 2010, Lee Kuan Yew's wife Ke Yuzhi died. He wrote a eulogy for his wife: "without her, I would be a completely different person and live a completely different life. She has lived a life full of warmth and meaning, and I should feel consolation for her 89 years of life. But on this day of October, at this time of farewell, my heart is filled with grief. "

In Singapore's general election on May 7, 2011, the ruling People's Action Party (Pap), which was founded by Lee Kuan Yew and has been in power for a long time in Singapore, continued to occupy an overwhelming majority in the parliament, but its vote rate fell to about 60%, the lowest since the founding of Singapore.

On May 14, 2011, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first prime minister, and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, Singapore's second prime minister, issued a joint statement announcing their retirement from the cabinet. "After the watershed election, we decided to leave the cabinet and let younger cabinet members contact and reach the younger generation to shape Singapore's future," Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong said in their statement

New book release

On August 6, 2013, Lee Kuan Yew released his new book "Lee Kuan Yew sees the world" in the presidential palace. This 400 page English book is divided into 11 chapters, which mainly contains Lee Kuan Yew's analysis and opinions on world powers and international trends, including six chapters covering China, the United States, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, etc.

He died of illness

In 2012, according to Lianhe Zaobao's website, 89 year old Lee Kuan Yew, who suffered from transient ischemic attack and similar stroke symptoms, was hospitalized in Singapore Central Hospital for observation. As a result, he was absent for the first time from the Spring Festival Gala of Tanjung bagar, which he had to attend every year for many years.

On February 2, 2014, Lee Kuan Yew was hospitalized for fever and treated with antibiotics.

On March 17, 2015, Lee Kuan Yew's condition deteriorated due to infection.

At 3:18 am on March 23, 2015, Lee Kuan Yew died of invalid medical treatment at the age of 91.

At 14:00 p.m. on March 29, 2015, a state funeral was held at the cultural center of the National University of Singapore.

Main achievements

Domestic policy

The country strives for independence

In October 1954, Lee Kuan Yew formed the people's Action Party (Pap) with some Chinese returned from Britain, left-wing students educated in Chinese and trade union leaders to participate in the first election held the following year. In this election, Lee Kuan Yew himself was successfully elected to the legislative assembly and began to work with the Communist Party of Singapore to strive for independence.

Singapore gained autonomy in 1959. In the first election of the autonomous government, the people's Action Party (Pap) became the largest party in the legislative assembly, and Lee Kuan Yew became prime minister. Since then, Lee Kuan Yew has been hoping to merge with the United States of Malaya to establish "greater Malaysia" in order to achieve formal independence. At the same time, it can also provide security for Singapore's economic development, and finally, it can eradicate the growing poverty in Singapore Powerful Communist Party activities.

In 1961, the anti Communist led by Lee Kuan Yew broke with the pro communist elements in the party. Lee Kuan Yew insisted that Singapore should merge with Malaya. In July 1963, Lee Kuan Yew reached an agreement with the Malayan government in London, and the two sides formally merged.

On August 9, 1965, Singapore declared independence.

Promoting economic development

After independence, Lee Kuan Yew actively promoted economic reform and development, took a series of measures to strengthen domestic affairs, and successfully made Singapore one of the most developed countries in Asia within 30 years, with an average economic growth of 7% within 40 years. During his term of office, Lee Kuan Yew promoted the development of Jurong Industrial Park, the establishment of provident fund system, the establishment of the Independent Commission against corruption, education reform and other policies.

Lee Kuan Yew adopted a policy of restricting citizens' democratic freedom. In the early days of his administration, he took some tough measures - such as imprisoning the Communist Party. But there are also sensitive topics: successful economic integration, changing electoral districts, controlling the media, and cracking down on the opposition, including foreign media. At present, Singapore's government is famous for its efficiency and honesty, and its people's living standard is higher than that of other Asian countries.

Support talent power

Lee Kuan Yew is a loyal supporter of the talent power. "We decide what's right, regardless of what others think." He said so in a speech in 1987.

Lee Kuan Yew advocates high salary and clean government. His government personnel are the highest paid in the world, so as to attract social talents and prevent corruption. In Singapore, like other crimes, corruption is prevented by severe punishment, from flogging to death penalty. just as

Chinese PinYin : Li Guang Yao