“I have no doubt at all that this has not affected my mind, my will, nor my resolve”
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Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew, also known as LKY, was a Singaporean politician and barrister who served as the first prime minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. A member of the People's Action Party (PAP), his authoritarian governance oversaw the transformation of post-independence Singapore into a highly developed country and one of the four Asian Tigers. He is regarded as the founding father of modern Singapo…
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politics · Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990 · philosopher · autobiographer · lawyer · statesperson · politician · also Lee Kuan Yew, Yew
Born 16 September 1923 · Died 23 March 2015 · Q131248
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Lee Kuan Yew's press conference on 9 Aug 1965
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s condition from the British High Commissioner to Singapore, John Robb, the British prime minister, Harold Wilson, expressed concern, in response to which Lee replied: Do not worry about Singapore. My colleagues and I are sane, rational people even in our moments of anguish. We will weigh all possible consequences before we make any move on the political chessboard. Lee began to seek international recognition of Singapore
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2026· 26 entries
“s condition from the British High Commissioner to Singapore, John Robb, the British prime minister, Harold Wilson, expressed concern, in response to which Lee replied: Do not worry about Singapore. My colleagues and I are sane, rational people even in our moments of anguish. We will weigh all possible consequences before we make any move on the political chessboard. Lee began to seek international recognition of Singapore”
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Indiplomacy: Margrethe Vestager Visits Singapore as 85th Lee Kuan Yew Exchange Fellow
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LinkedIn: ‘You cannot waffle your way through’: Confessions of a minister in Lee Kuan Yew’s Cabinet
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Alvinology: [Review] Moonlit City English Version: A Timeless Love Story of Mr and Mrs Lee Kuan Yew Reimagined for a Wider Audience
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Magzter: Lee Kuan Yew’s Montblanc pen auctioned for $461,500 | The Straits Times - newspaper
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The Straits Times: Was Lee Kuan Yew actually more open to persuasion than Singaporeans realise?
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Sarawak Tribune: Lee Kuan Yew Pen Fetches $461,500 At Auction
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The Independent Singapore News: Singapore’s founding PM Lee Kuan Yew’s Montblanc sterling silver pen sells for more than S$461K in SG auction; 10X its highest valuation
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WION: World's most expensive pen: Lee Kuan Yew's montblanc draws 111 bids
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Borneo Bulletin: Lee Kuan Yew’s historic pen fetches SGD461,500
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Vietnam.vn: La pluma del difunto primer ministro de Singapur, Lee Kuan Yew, alcanza un precio récord.
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Vietnam.vn: La pluma del difunto primer ministro de Singapur, Lee Kuan Yew, está valorada en 360.000 dólares.
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BusinessToday Malaysia: Singapore Founding PM Lee Kuan Yew’s Montblanc Pen Sold For S$461,500 At Auction
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CNA Lifestyle: Founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's Montblanc pen sold for S$461,500 at auction after 111 bids
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The Straits Times: Lee Kuan Yew’s engraved Montblanc fountain pen sells for $461,500 at auction
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AsiaOne: Gone for $461,500: Lee Kuan Yew's Montblanc pen draws 111 bids at auction, Singapore News
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Vietnam.vn: Los bolígrafos de Lee Kuan Yew se vendieron por más de 9.400 millones de dongs vietnamitas.
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Mothership: Lee Kuan Yew’s pen sold for S$461,500 at auction in S’pore
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Yahoo: Lee Kuan Yew’s Montblanc fountain pen fetches S$461,500 at Singapore auction
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Goody Feed: Lee Kuan Yew’s Engraved Montblanc Pen Sells for S$461,500, Over 9 Times Its Highest Estimate
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South China Morning Post: Lee Kuan Yew’s Montblanc pen sells for US$360,000 in Singapore auction
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Gulf Business: Lee Kuan Yew, Founding Father Of Modern Singapore, Dies At 91
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AsiaOne: Not true that Lee Kuan Yew would just ram through firm proposals he had: Jayakumar , Singapore News
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The Independent Singapore News: 'A man before his time.' Terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna pays tribute to Lee Kuan Yew on Singapore's 61st b-day
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The Straits Times: Forum: NDP presentation on Singapore’s history should have mentioned Lee Kuan Yew and Joseph Schooling
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2025· 1 entry
Lee's ten-year death anniversary and "SG60" (Singapore's 60th year of independence), INSTINC gallery's exhibition 10 Years: Remembering LKY showcased artworks reflecting on Lee's legacy, including portraits of Lee by Boo
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2024· 1 entry
The Government of Singapore under Prime Minister Lawrence Wong decided to gazette the site at 38 Oxley Road as a national monument on 12 December 2025, citing its historic importance and potential use as a heritage space
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2023· 1 entry
The centenary of Lee's birth, American artist Daniel Arsham was commissioned to create two sculptures of Lee, Eroded Bronze LKY Bust 1:1 and LKY Full Body 1:2, using bronze, stainless steel, and patina
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2018· 2 entries
BOOM Fact Check rated the claim “Singapore Newspaper Says 'A New Lee Kuan Yew Is Born In India'” FALSE.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
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Won China Reform Friendship Medal (2018).
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2016· 1 entry
To mark the first death anniversary of Lee, Lee's brother Lee Suan Yew and nephew Shaun Lee completed the art installation by young Singaporeans of Singapore flag erasers put together to form Lee's face, titled Our Fathe
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2015· 6 entries
Awarded Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers (2015).
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Died 2015-03-23.
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“We have a reputation, which I hope is somewhat deserved, that we are a kind of little Switzerland in South-East Asia.”
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- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:en
“The ending of colonialism does not in itself result in social and economic progress: it provides the opportunities for it.”
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- #undated
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“Whoever governs Singapore must have that iron in him. Or give it up. This is not a game of cards! This is your life and mine! I've spent a whole lifetime building this and as long as I'm in charge, nobody is going to knock it down.”
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Asking Singaporeans to respect this wish
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2014· 1 entry
Awarded Global Citizen Awards (2014).
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2011· 1 entry
Leaked diplomatic cables attributed to Lee some controversial comments regarding Islam
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2010· 1 entry
Lee, together with his son Lee Hsien Loong, and Goh Chok Tong, threatened legal action against The New York Times Company, which owns the International Herald Tribune, regarding an op-ed piece titled "All in the Family"
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2008· 1 entry
Even advising him and his children during the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis which led to Suharto's fall from power
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2007· 1 entry
Believed that homosexuality would eventually be accepted in Singapore, but advocated for a measured and "pragmatic approach" toward the matter "to maintain social cohesion
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2005· 1 entry
Awarded honorary doctor of the Fudan University (2005).
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2004· 1 entry
Career landmark: Minister Mentor (2004–2011).
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1999· 3 entries
Lee was named one of Time's Most Influential People of the 20th Century
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In a discussion forum, Lee was asked whether the emotional bonds of various ethnic groups in Singapore could be a hurdle to nation building, Lee replied by alluding that an ethnic Malay and highly religious officer of th
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Former president of Singapore Devan Nair, who was living in Canada, remarked in an interview with the Toronto-based The Globe and Mail that Lee's technique of suing his opponents into bankruptcy or oblivion was an abroga
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1995· 2 entries
Lee declared "I have always believed that a blighted urban landscape, a concrete jungle, destroys the human spirit
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“I have always believed that a blighted urban landscape, a concrete jungle, destroys the human spirit. We need the greenery of nature to lift our spirits”
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1994· 2 entries
Proposed to link the salaries of ministers, judges, and top civil servants to the salaries of top professionals in the private sector, arguing that this would help recruit and retain talent to serve in the public sect
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Judicial caning was publicised in the rest of the world when an American teenager, Michael P
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1991· 1 entry
Met Lee and stated Lee's "observations and advice became for us [Kazakhstan] guidelines in the development of long-term state strategies
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1990· 2 entries
Career landmark: Senior Minister (1990–2004).
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But continued to serve in the Cabinet as senior minister until 2004 and subsequently as minister mentor until his retirement in 2011
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1987· 2 entries
Lee restricted sale of the Review in Singapore after it published an article about the detention of Roman Catholic church workers, reducing circulation of the magazine from 9,000 to 500 copies, on the grounds that it was
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The figure rose to 3,244 in 1993 and to 6,404 in 2007
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1985· 2 entries
Some especially controversial portions of the policy, that gave education and housing priorities to educated women, were abandoned or modified
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Commercial air services between mainland China and Singapore commenced and China appointed Goh Keng Swee, Singapore's finance minister in the post-independence years, as advisor on the development of Special Economic Zon
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1983· 4 entries
Lee sparked the "Great Marriage Debate" when he encouraged Singapore men to choose highly educated women as wives
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Which offered tax incentives for children born to women with university degrees and gave priority in primary school admissions to the children of graduate mothers with three or more offspring
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Said: "I thought [Lee] was right, and his harsh but fair comment helped galvanise my determination to undertake the reforms that would save us from that fate and set us on a better path
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“were not in the breeding pool”
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1982· 1 entry
"Singapore gave the first few hundreds of several batches of AK-47 rifles, hand grenades, ammunition, and communication equipment" to the Khmer Rouge resistance forces
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1981· 1 entry
Agreed to sort out Malaysia's claim to Pedra Branca island and affirmed it would honour the 1962 Water Agreement
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1979· 1 entry
Admired each other's leadership qualities and had "ideological convergence" in policies such as cracking down on trade union power, privatisation, low taxation, and trimming the excesses of the welfare state
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1978· 1 entry
Suharto rallied ASEAN to oppose Australia's newly proclaimed integrated civil aviation policy, which cut Kangaroo Route air access to Singapore while providing inducements to Indonesia and other countries in the region
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1976· 1 entry
Were conducted in English to assure other countries that he represented Singapore, and not a "Third China" (the first two being the Republic of China (Taiwan) and People's Republic of China)
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1975· 1 entry
Lee and Republic of China premier Chiang Ching-kuo signed an agreement permitting Singaporean troops to train in Taiwan, under the codename "Project Starlight"
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1974· 1 entry
The government advised the Bible Society of Singapore to stop publishing religious material in Malay
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1971· 2 entries
Lee explained that it was necessary to have non-Singapore workers take up jobs that Singaporeans were not willing to do, but observed that it was important that the number of such migrant workers be carefully controlled
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Lee also persuaded the British not to destroy their dock and had the British naval dockyard later converted for civilian use
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1967· 2 entries
Lee introduced conscription for all able-bodied male Singaporean citizens 18 years of age to serve National Service (NS) either in the SAF, Singapore Police Force or the Singapore Civil Defence Force
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Nixon, who was running for president in 1968, visited Singapore and met with Lee, who advised that the United States had much to gain by engaging with China, culminating in Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China
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1965· 1 entry
Which led to the Americans to deny it ever occurred; however, Lee later made public a letter of apology from the US Secretary of State Dean Rusk over the incident
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1963· 3 entries
“s independence in a ceremony at the Padang and pledged loyalty to the federal government. With the conclusion of the trials of Barisan Sosialis”
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Career landmark: member of the Dewan Rakyat (1963–1965).
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Began a tree-planting campaign which aimed to plant 10,000 saplings a year and in 1971 a 'Tree-Planting Day' was established
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1961· 2 entries
“emerged [from the war] determined that no one—neither Japanese nor British—had the right to push and kick us around... (and) that we could govern ourselves.”
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Lee said he "emerged [from the war] determined that no one—neither Japanese nor British—had the right to push and kick us around
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1960· 1 entry
The CIA allegedly attempted to bribe certain members of his party, the PAP, in an attempt to create division and weaken his leadership, however the official had reported the bribery attempt instead of accepting the money
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1959· 5 entries
Career landmark: Prime Minister of Singapore (1959–1990).
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Lee led the PAP to its first electoral victory, becoming Singapore's first prime minister
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Delayed the release of leftist PAP members arrested under the former Labour Front government and appointed five of its leaders, including Lim Chin Siong, as parliamentary secretaries lacking political power
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Communications and Works Minister Francis Thomas received evidence of corruption on Education Minister Chew Swee Kee
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(then under the Singapore Improvement Trust) to 667,575 in 1990
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1955· 2 entries
Lee and his associates debated the name, ideology, and policies of the party they wanted to create at 38 Oxley Road
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Career landmark: Member of the Parliament of Singapore (1955–2015).
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1954· 1 entry
Lee co-founded the PAP, which won significant support among the working class and trade unions in the lead up to the 1955 general election, securing him a seat in the Tanjong Pagar division and making him the de facto le
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1946· 1 entry
On his 23rd birthday on the MV Britannic, arriving in the UK on 3 October
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1940· 1 entry
Across the Straits Settlements and Malaya, earning the John Anderson scholarship to attend Raffles College, as well as the Tan Jiak Kim scholarship
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1938· 1 entry
Under British colonial rule that criminalised sex between adult males, remained enforced under Lee's premiership
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1935· 1 entry
Lee did poorly in his first two years but later topped the Junior Cambridge examinations
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1930· 1 entry
Lee enrolled at Telok Kurau English School where he spent six years of his primary education
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1923· 1 entry
Born 1923-09-16.
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