LEE KUAN YEW

MADE BY:

LAXMI PRABHAB.TECH/ MBA Dual Degree0461601306

Lee Kuan Yew was the first and longest serving Prime Minister of Singapore; and it was his leadership that brought Third World Singapore into a thriving metropolitan city in a stunning 3 decades.

He is currently serving as Minister Mentor in the government, advising the country’s leaders on national issues. To date, he still wields much influence in the region as an authority in nation building.

Family Background

Born in Singapore on September 16th 1923 in a wealthy and rich Chinese family.

He is the eldest child of Lee Chin Koon and Chua Jim Neo.

As a child, he was strongly influenced by British culture because of his grandfather.

 His grandfather then gave him the name of "Harry" in addition to his Chinese name

Lee Kuan Yew and his wife Kwa Geok Choo were married on September 30, 1950.

They have two sons, Lee Hsien Loong, a prime minister of Singapore since 2004 and Lee Hsien Yang, a former Brigadier-General, was the President and Chief Executive Officer of SingTel, a pan-Asian telecommunications giant and Singapore's largest company by market capitalization 

Lee Kuan Yew was educated at Telok Kurau Primary School, Raffles Institution, and Raffles College. His university education was delayed by World War II.

After the war, he studied law at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge in the united Kingdom, of which he became an honorary fellow, graduating with Double Starred First Class honours, and briefly attended the London School of Economics.

He returned to Singapore in 1949 and work as a lawyer in Laycock and Ong

Contribution to SingaporeFormation of PAP (people’s action party)

On 21 November 1954, a group of young men and women launched the PAP at the Victoria Memorial Hall. They had a clear mission: “to fight for independence and build a multi-racial Singapore based on justice, equality and democracy.”

Six months later, the PAP fought its first elections. It won three of the four seats it contested. Four years later, it won the 1959 General Elections to form the Government. The PAP has won every general election since then and the person who set up PAP is Lee Kuan Yew

He had successfully converted Singapore from a third world country to a prosperous international place.

Lee Kuan yew fought for independence from the British so that Singapore will no longer be controlled by a British and be a independent country.

Lee Kuan yew introduced the CPF (Central Provident Fund) for those that had retired from their job and they could still get an amount of money every month for survival.

His Thoughts and His wordsLee Kuan Yew started to develop in Singapore’s

infrastructure, improved people’s living conditions starting with the housing they live in, emphasize the importance of education, built up a strong defense and boosted Singapore’s economy.

Lee had three main concerns — national security, the economy, and social issues

Infrastructure

Lee Kuan Yew started to develop and expand the international airport located at Paya Lebar in the 1960s to ensure that it would be able to handle bigger aircraft and cargo.

In August 1961, Lee Kuan Yew set up the Economic Development Board (EDA) to drive the development of new and existing industries. In 1964, the Port of Singapore Authority was set up to oversee, manage and develop port operations. In the late 1960s, a container port was built to handle container ships from all over the world.

HousingHousing Development Board set up by PM Lee Kuan Yew was to provide public housing for the rapidly increasing population. Nearly half a million population lived in slums which were cramped and unhygienic these areas were breeding ground for infectious diseases and made escape from hazards like fire almost impossible. The dangerous living conditions made it urgent for HDB to resettle the squatters.

DefenseBuilding a strong defense force was important in ensuring peace and stability in Singapore. With stability comes foreign investors setting up factories and help develop Singapore’s economy.

Education 

Education was another important area Lee Kuan Yew had looked into. During colonial periods, education was largely left to different ethnic and religious organization to run and hence lessons were conducted in different languages and the quality of education varied widely in standards. Hence, Lee Kuan Yew implemented the first Five-Year Plan and he aimed to increase the level of literacy of Singaporeans by providing education beyond primary level. The features of the first Five-Year Plan is to have equal treatment for all language streams, to establish Malay as national language of Singapore and emphasis on the study of Mathematics, Science and Technical subjects.

Economy

The challenge of developing Singapore’s economy was three-fold. Firstly, Singapore lacked natural resources. Secondly, the economy was not well diversified as it largely depended on entrepot trade which is insufficient to compensate to Singapore’s growth. Thirdly, a high unemployment rate was a major challenge and it was due to the high population growth during the post-war years.

Lee Kuan Yew adopted a two-pronged approach to overcome these problems. The first strategy was to provide incentives to Multinational Corporations (MNCs) from Japan, Western Europe and the USA to set up factories in Singapore thus succeeding in creating jobs of the unemployed.

The second strategy was to transform Singapore into a more organized and efficient country in the region. This was achieved by placing high standards of public service, such as in security, health, education, telecommunications and transportation. By setting Singapore apart from other countries, Singapore was able to better attract foreign talents to invest and work in Singapore.

Social Integration

When Singapore withdrew from Malaysia in 1965, there was no common Singaporean identity.

Two days after separation, Lee Kuan Yew announced that Singapore would be a republic, with Malay as its national language and Malay, Chinese, English and Tamil retained as official languages.

Lee Kuan Yew aspires to build a multiracial and multilingual society that would be unified by a sense of a unique "Singaporean identity.”

ConclusionIn a short span of 20 years, Singapore had by 1985 developed into a modern city-state . Since independence, Singapore's economy has grown by an average of nine percent each year. By the 1990s, the country has become one of the world's most prosperous nations, with a highly-developed free market economy, strong international trading links

During his years as Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew galvanized support for pragmatic economic and social programs, building a strong government team backed up by highly competent that helped built the foundations for what Singapore is today.

Lee Kuan Yew not only tackled the serious economic problems facing the new nation, he also addressed the problem of establishing a national identity. Under Lee Kuan Yew’s admirable leadership that enabled Singaporeans develop a national identity and bond them together by finding and encouraging core values common to all the diverse cultural traditions. He is the man whom had truly united Singaporeans of different walks and made them believe that they have a better future.