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Lee Kuan Yew - Singapore Prime Minister

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INTRODUCTION Lee Kuan Yew led Singapore to independence and served as its first Prime Minister. He was regularly re-elected from 1959 until he stepped down in 1990. Lee Kuan Yew was educated in England, and under his guidance Singapore became a financial and industrial powerhouse despite a lack of abundant natural resources. Lee ruled with ultimate authority, and his zeal for law and order was legendary. In 1990, he stepped down (though he remained in the cabinet as Senior Minister and now Minister Mentor) and was succeeded as Prime Minister by Goh Chok Tong. ANCESTORY He is a fourth-generation Singaporean. His great-grandfather had left Dapu County, Guangdong Province for Singapore at the age of 16. Lee's grandfather, Hoon Leong, …show more content…

Lee's intellect and energy shaped bold -- and often uncompromising -- responses to the challenges of wresting rule from the British and building a nation. His government sought to build a multiracial and multilingual society that would be unified by a sense of a unique "Singaporean identity". During Lee's long rule, Singapore experienced remarkable economic growth and diversification. In addition to enhancing its position as a world trade centre, it has developed powerful financial and industrial sectors. Singapore has the most advanced economy in Southeast Asia. An island of 600 square kilometres, with 4.3 million people, it is the ninth richest country in per capita terms today. The story of how Lee transformed Singapore is a fascinating one because no other leader in the modern world has had such a hand in influencing and directing his country's progress from independence to developed nation status the way he has. None has straddled the two worlds with as much success: the revolutionary world in the first half of this century for independence from empire, and the development world in the second half for wealth and progress. PRIME MINISTER, PRE-INDEPENDENCE – 1959 TO 1965 In the national elections held on June 1, 1959, the PAP won forty-three of the fifty-one seats in the legislative assembly. Singapore gained

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