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Harry Lee Kuan Yew

Better Essays

Chia Wern Lin
NJC JH206
GS-Our Forefathers

Harry Lee Kuan Yew

Mr Lee is a fourth-generation Singaporean. His Hakka great-grandfather, Lee Bok Boon who was born in 1846, emigrated from the Dapu county of Guangdong province in China to the Straits Settlements in 1862. Harry Lee Kuan Yew was born on 16 September 1923, at 92 Kampong Java Road in Singapore, a large and airy bungalow.

Mr Lee was the eldest child of Lee Chin Koon and Chua Jim Neo. Mr Lee had three other brothers, Lee Suan Yew, Dennis Lee and Freddy Lee and a sister; Monica Lee Kim Mon. Mr Lee belonged to a Peranakan family but as they grew up in British Singapore, he was strongly influenced by British culture. His grandfather, Lee Hoon Leong, had given his sons an English …show more content…

Mr Lee described this alliance as a “marriage of convenience”, since the English-educated group needed the pro-communists' mass support base while the communists needed a non-communist party leadership as a smoke screen because the Malayan Communist Party was illegal. Their common aims were 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. Mr Lee became secretary-general, a post he held until 1992, save for a brief period in 1957. In the 1955 elections, Mr Lee won the Tanjong Pagar seat. 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 hard-line successor. It was during this period that Mr Lee had to contend with rivals from both within and outside the PAP. In the national elections held on 1 June 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 Mr Lee became the first Prime Minister of Singapore on 5 June 1959. He would continue his role as Prime Minister until stepping

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