Former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) Smiles (Photo : Reuters/Tim Chong/Files)
Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has announced in a press statement that the country's founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew has peacefully died of pneumonia at the hospital today, Monday, March 23, at the age of 91, according to Rappler.
The statesman, who catapulted Singapore from a small port city to a bustling economic hub, had been confined at the Singapore General Hospital since February 5 due to severe pneumonia. Two years before the reported confinement, he signed an advance directive, instructing medical doctors not to put him in any life support should they fail to revive him.
Prime Minister Lee made the announcement on the patriarch's death using his Facebook page and was soon after followed by messages of condolences, more prominently from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who was deeply saddened by the elder Lee's death.
Known for his iron grip on freedom of speech that targeted political oppositions who were placed under serious restrictions if not coerced to submission, Lee managed to stay on power and governed Singapore for 31 years, winning every election since 1959 after co-founding People's Action Party (PAP), BBC news reported.
Despite the backlash on his authoritarian stance, Lee gained reverence for being the architect behind the prosperity of Singapore, a former British colony turned into a bullish financial center for sea trade, air transport and high-tech industries.
In 2013, Lee published his last book "One Man's View of the World" where he reflected on his political life and expressed satisfaction for what he had done to the best of his ability.
