TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Issues of the day: Lee Kuan Yew, founder of Singapore, dies
Mourning: Members of the public stand in line as they wait their turn to sign a book of condolences for the late Lee Kuan Yew, at the Istana, or Presidential Palace, on Monday, in Singapore
Change Size
M
span class="inline inline-center">Mourning: Members of the public stand in line as they wait their turn to sign a book of condolences for the late Lee Kuan Yew, at the Istana, or Presidential Palace, on Monday, in Singapore. Lee, the founder of modern Singapore, died on Monday. AP/Wong Maye-E
March 23, Online/AP
Lee Kuan Yew, who founded modern Singapore and was both feared for his authoritarian tactics and admired for turning the city-state into one of the world's richest nations, died Monday, the government said. He was 91.
Lee was admitted to Singapore General Hospital on Feb. 5 for severe pneumonia and was later put on life support.
The Prime Minister's Office said in a statement posted on its website that Lee 'passed away peacefully' at the hospital at 3:18 a.m. Monday.
Your comments:
LKY as a person was nice, friendly and exceptionally smart. He once told Lee Khoon Choy, whom he sent to Jakarta to try and patch up relations after he hung two Indonesian commandoes.
But Lee Khoon Choy was arrogant. He was told to place flowers in the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery at the tombs of the commandoes and he thought that amounted to an apology.
He insisted that he did not do anything wrong, why should he apologize?
Being right (legally or otherwise) does not mean your customers have to buy from you! If your customers like you, he will buy from you even if you're wrong!
LKY had the wisdom to know that and sought friendship above all else with Indonesia and Indonesians!
He succeeded and years later became close friends with Pak Harto.
Pauloh
Singapore was extremely lucky that LKY came along when he did. He was a remarkable human being and could even be described as a benign despot in a nice way. Indonesia has not been so lucky.
The last thing Indonesia needs is people to be more submissive and accepting of the pillaging and corruption that occurs in their name.
What should be happening is the people hounding their elected representatives mercilessly and declaring enough is enough!
Rusty Nails
LKY might not have been the most democratic leader, but you can't argue with the results.
He set the foundation for a small island with zero natural resources to be one of the most advanced, prosperous and multicultural societies in the world (and one where we have to pay Rp 10,000 to get 1 dollar of their currency) .
He is a dictator, yes, but one with a vision and, dare I say it, an ideal. If I were given a choice, I would elect a man like LKY any day, someone who is prepared to do the right thing. RIP LKY.
Alex Garner
We Indonesians should learn from his leadership. He was a good example, although he governed Singapore for more than two decades with an authoritarian leadership style.
He could prove that all the things he did that were considered controversial transformed Singapore into one of the richest countries in the world.
Hadi Man
Lee Kuan Yew may not be a perfect man but he has achieved a lot for his people. He has left behind a very prosperous nation. Traditionally, the sense of the occasion requires us all to focus on his great achievements of which there are many.
Leave the nasty and negative bits for another time.
Abu Abu
Virtually, everyone is saying that LKY helped build Singapore after the British left the island state in 1955 and from there LKY kept up the relentless pace of development with his continuous set of exquisite laws (sometimes unacceptable ones) that no one in this forum has commented on ' or perhaps they don't know that such a law/laws still exist in Singapore.
Luwanto
