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Lee Kuan Yew was born to a well-established Chinese family in Singapore. His forefather had migrated there in the C19th and found it an amenable place to live. Singapore was a colony of Britain at the time and served as an entrepôt state and a naval base. As a young man, therefore, Lee naturally gravitated towards Britain. English was his fist language and he went to study law at the University of Cambridge. It was during this period, in which his academic brilliance was demonstrated, that he formulated his socialist ideas. He qualified for the bar in Britain but preferred to return to his home. There, he took work with the Postal Union and helped negotiate better wages and conditions for various sets of trade unionists. Drawn into politics, Lee was part of a delegation to Britain to request home rule but this was unsuccessful. He became involved with the attempt to improve the representativeness of the advisory council to the British Governor, since this Council was dominated by wealthy Chinese businessmen who were appointed rather than elected. Lee Kuan Yew worked first with Lim Yew Hock and David Saul Marshall but eventually decided that he should follow a more radical path, siding with various Communists in forming the People's Action Party (PAP). These were times of potential unrest and several PAP members were arrested. However, the sea change of decolonisation was abroad in the world and Britain, having agreed to yield its empire during the Second World War as the price for American support, was merely negotiating timing rather than substance. Independence arrived for Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew was elected first prime minister in 1959. Progress was not, initially, smooth. Internal disputes in the PAP led to splits and Lee eventually severed his relationships with communists. The PAP was thenceforward dominated by moderate progressives such as Lee himself had developed into becoming. In 1963, Lee led Singapore into the newly-formed Malaysian Federation, believing in the multiracial model being sponsored by Kuala Lumpur. Yet when he led the PAP in national elections, there was rioting in Singapore and all of the tolerance appeared to be threatened. Lee had no choice but to withdraw from the Federation. A small state surrounded by much more powerful neighbours of whose good wishes it could not be sure, the very survival of Singapore was threatened. Lee Kuan Yew realised the necessity of rapid economic development and governmental control of society. While nearly everyone will agree with his success in the former area, the latter is a much more controversial area. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Lee Kuan Yew in East Asian History is owned by John Walsh. Permission to republish Lee Kuan Yew in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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