Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew (also spelt Lee Kwan-Yew) (born September 16, 1923) ({{zh-cp|c=李光耀|p=L? Gu?ngyào}}) was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore from 1959 to 1990. He has remained the second most influential politician in Singapore (after the Prime Minister) since stepping down from office. Under the administration of Singapore's second prime minister, Goh Chok Tong, he served as Senior Minister. He currently holds the newly-created post of Minister Mentor under his son Lee Hsien Loong, who became the nation's third prime minister on August 12, 2004. He is also known informally as Harry to his close friends and family, although this first name is never used in official settings.

Early life

In his memoirs, Lee mentions that he was a fourth-generation Chinese Singaporean: his Hakka great-grandfather, Lee Bok Boon (born 1846), emigrated from the Dapu county of Guangdong province to the Straits Settlements in 1862.

Related Topics:
Hakka - Guangdong - Straits Settlements - 1862

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The eldest child of Lee Chin Koon and Chua Jim Neo, Lee Kuan Yew was born at 92 Kampong Java Road in Singapore, in a large and airy bungalow. As a child Lee was strongly influenced by British culture, due in part to his grandfather, Lee Hoon Leong, who had given his sons an English education. His grandfather gave him the name "Harry" in addition to his Chinese name (given by his father) Kuan Yew.

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Lee was educated at Telok Kurau Primary School, Raffles Institution, and Raffles College. His university education was delayed by World War II and the 1942–1945 Japanese occupation of Singapore. During the occupation, he operated a successful black market business selling a tapioca-based glue called Stikfas1. Having taken Chinese and Japanese lessons since 1942, he was able to work as a transcriber of Allied wire reports for the Japanese, as well as being the English-language editor on the Japanese Hodobu (報道部 — an information or propaganda department) from 1943 to 19442 http://www.time.com/time/asia/asia/magazine/1999/990823/lee1.html.

Related Topics:
Raffles Institution - Raffles College - World War II - 1942 - 1945 - Black market - Tapioca - 1 - Chinese - Japanese - Allied - 1943 - 1944

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After the war, he studied law at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge in the United Kingdom. He returned to Singapore in 1949 to work as a lawyer in Laycock and Ong, the legal practice of John Laycock, a pioneer of multiracialism who, together with A.P. Rajah and C.C. Tan, had founded Singapore's first multiracial club open to Asians.

Related Topics:
Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge - United Kingdom - 1949 - Lawyer

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Lee and his wife Kwa Geok Choo were married on September 30, 1950. They have two sons and one daughter.

Related Topics:
Kwa Geok Choo - September 30 - 1950

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