Lee Kuan Yew (back row, centre) outside his Norfolk Road home in 1936 with siblings (front, from left) Suan Yew, three; Monica, seven; Freddy, nine; and Dennis, 11; and parents Chua Jim Neo, 29; and Lee Chin Koon, 33.
Mr Lee asked his cousin to photograph him and Ms Kwa Geok Choo together in 1946 in anticipation of the three years the couple would be apart while he studied law in England and she remained in Singapore.
Mr Lee taking a break at the Istana while two of his children, Hsien Yang (left) and Wei Ling, play with their pet labrador Niki on the front lawn of Sri Temasek.
LKY100 – Remembering Lee Kuan Yew’s life and legacy
The nation celebrates the 100th birth anniversary of visionary leader Lee Kuan Yew, the man who built Singapore with his optimistic, never-say-die attitude.
Growing up in colonial Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew was like any typical child – footloose and fancy-free. The boy who would grow up to become prime minister would catch fighting fish from drains, fly kites and take leisurely swims in the sea. Born on Sept 16, 1923, to a wealthy Straits Chinese family, he was the eldest of five children of Shell Oil Company depot manager Lee Chin Koon and Madam Chua Jim Neo. In 1935, he topped his school in an islandwide examination and clinched a place at the prestigious Raffles Institution. He was active in scouting, playing cricket and tennis, and debating.
Four years later, he came in first in Singapore and Malaya in the Senior Cambridge examinations, winning a scholarship to read English, economics and mathematics at Raffles College. His education was interrupted by World War II. A resourceful survivor, he found work as a clerk and an English-language editor for the Japanese propaganda department. He traded food on the black market, started a stationery gum business with Mr Yong Nyuk Lin in 1944, where he met Mr Yong’s sister-in-law, Ms Kwa Geok Choo, a former Raffles College classmate whom he started dating.
After the war, Mr Lee sailed for England in 1946 on his 23rd birthday. He enrolled in the London School of Economics to read law but transferred to the more idyllic Cambridge University the next year. Ms Kwa won the Queen’s Scholarship and joined Mr Lee at Cambridge in 1947 to read law. Eager to start their life together, Mr Lee and Ms Kwa married secretly on Dec 23, 1947, at Stratford-upon-Avon. Both Mr Lee and his wife graduated from Cambridge on June 21, 1949, with first class honours, with Mr Lee winning the only star for distinction on the final Law Tripos II honours list. A year later, they were called to the Bar at Middle Temple and returned to Singapore on Aug 1, 1950.
They held their official wedding at the Registry of Marriages on Sept 30, 1950, and began married life at the Lee family’s two-storey bungalow at 38 Oxley Road. Both found jobs as pupils at Laycock & Ong in Malacca Street. Five years later, they founded their own law firm, Lee & Lee, with Mr Lee’s brother Dennis.
Mr and Mrs Lee have three children, Hsien Loong, Wei Ling and Hsien Yang, and seven grandchildren. Mrs Lee died on Oct 2, 2010, at the age of 89, and Mr Lee on March 23, 2015, at the age of 91.
1923
Lee Kuan Yew was born on Sept 16, 1923, at his family’s two-storey bungalow at 92 Kampong Java Road. He was delivered by pioneer doctor Albert Lim, who started the first blood transfusion unit in Singapore. A soothsayer predicted at Kuan Yew’s birth that he would cross the ocean and return a great man, said his sister Monica. This photo was taken after he had won first place in a baby show. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
1925
Two-year-old Kuan Yew riding a tricycle with his father Lee Chin Koon at their Neil Road home, where they had Javanese servants and a brown chow chow, in 1925. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew was named “Harry” by his Anglophile grandfather Hoon Leong, who himself dressed in Western suits and enjoyed a good Dutch-style steak, sprinkled with nutmeg. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
1936
Lee Kuan Yew (back row, centre) outside his Norfolk Road home in 1936 with siblings (front, from left) Suan Yew, three; Monica, seven; Freddy, nine; and Dennis, 11; and parents Chua Jim Neo, 29; and Lee Chin Koon, 33. Source: Lee Suan Yew
1925
The day Mr Lee (centre) left for England on his 23rd birthday on Sept 16, 1946, friends and family gathered at his Oxley Road home to bid him farewell. (From left) Second brother Dennis, family friend Hon Sui Sen, cousin Harold Liem, Raffles Institution friend Chia Chwee Leong, cousin Albert Liem, Raffles College friend Maurice Baker, Ms Kwa Geok Choo, youngest brother Suan Yew, third brother Freddy, sister Monica, family friend Goh Kok Kee, father Lee Chin Koon and a friend. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
1946
The night before Mr Lee (standing, centre) left for England, his family had a steak dinner at Pavilion Steakhouse in Orchard Road before walking to nearby Lloyd Studio for this family portrait, taken in 1946. (Clockwise from top left) Siblings Monica, Dennis, Freddy and Suan Yew, and parents Chua Jim Neo and Lee Chin Koon. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
Mr Lee (right) began dating Ms Kwa Geok Choo (second from right) during World War II. The young couple would go for walks together and occasionally joined others, including (from left) neighbour Chua Swee Sin, Mr Lee’s sister Monica and Raffles College friend Kwan Sai Kheong and his wife Polly at Punggol river for a picnic and a swim. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
1946
Mr Lee asked his cousin Harold Liem to take photos of him and Ms Kwa together on Sept 5, 1946, in anticipation of the three years the couple would be apart while he studied law in England and she remained in Singapore. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
1949
The couple, seen here in academic robes, graduated from Cambridge University on June 21, 1949, and was called to the Bar a year later. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
1947
The reception of Mr Lee and Ms Kwa’s (fourth and fifth from left) official wedding at Raffles Hotel on Sept 30, 1950. (From left) Mr Lee’s mother Chua Jim Neo, paternal grandmother Ko Liem Nio, Mr Lee’s father Lee Chin Koon, Mrs Lee’s mother Wee Yew Neo and father Kwa Siew Tee. Mr Lee and Ms Kwa married in secret three years earlier at Stratford-upon-Avon in England on Dec 23, 1947. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
Portraits of Mr Lee’s children, Hsien Loong, Hsien Yang and Wei Ling, during their childhood. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
1965
Mr Lee on a marine patrol boat named Tekong with (from left) Hsien Loong, Wei Ling, Hsien Yang and Mrs Lee on a Sunday outing in 1965. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
A time-starved Mr Lee often took his family along to events on weekends. He is seen here with younger son Hsien Yang on his shoulders, Mrs Lee (in hat and sunglasses), Hsien Loong (in front of Mrs Lee) and Wei Ling (partially hidden) during a constituency visit. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
Mr Lee taking a break at the Istana while Hsien Yang (left) and Wei Ling play with their pet labrador Niki on the front lawn of Sri Temasek. Mr Lee spent an hour or so every evening with his children at the Istana before having dinner together at their Oxley Road home. Then, he would resume his work at home. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
1965
Relaxing with his children over a game of Chinese chess while Mrs Lee reads the papers on the verandah of their Oxley Road home in May 1965. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
Wei Ling, Hsien Loong and Hsien Yang having fun on the lawn beside Sri Temasek, the official residence of the prime minister at the Istana, where the children played daily. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
1989
Mr Lee Hsien Loong and Ms Ho Ching, with children (from left) Yipeng, Xiuqi and Hongyi, welcoming baby Haoyi to their family on March 7, 1989. Mr Lee married Ms Ho, then an engineer with the Ministry of Defence, on Dec 17, 1985. ST Photo: Wan Seng Yip
1995
Mr Lee Hsien Yang on holiday in Perth with (from left) wife Suet Fern and sons Shaowu, Huanwu and Shengwu in 1995. Source: Lee Hsien Yang
1982
Mr Lee Kuan Yew carrying his first grandson Yipeng, while Mrs Lee guides only granddaughter Xiuqi, two, as she strokes Yipeng on his head, in 1982. The couple have seven grandchildren. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
1987
Mr Lee with Hsien Yang’s eldest of three sons, Shengwu, on June 7, 1987, at the Istana. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
1989
Mr and Mrs Lee, with grandsons (from left) Yipeng, Shengwu, Huanwu and Hongyi, feeding the fish at the Japanese Garden in the Istana in 1989. Photo: Chua Soo Bin
2001
Mrs Lee watching a make-up artist preparing Mr Lee for his public appearance at the 2001 National Day Rally at the National University of Singapore’s University Cultural Centre. Known for her attention to detail, Mrs Lee once interrupted the taping of an interview to put her finishing touches on her husband’s hair and make-up. ST Photo: George Gascon
2006
Mr and Mrs Lee at a May Day rally on May 1, 2006. Mrs Lee’s last wish was to be with her husband in death as in life, and to have her ashes placed with his when his time came. Photo: Nicky Loh/Reuters
2006
Mrs Lee glancing at Mr Lee covering his ears as firecrackers explode at a Chinese New Year light-up in Chinatown on Jan 7, 2006. ST Photo: Bryan van der Beek
2007
Better together: Mr Lee putting eye drops for his wife in an airport waiting room in Milan on May 16, 2007. Photo: Li Xiuqi
2006
Mrs Lee applying Mr Lee’s make-up at Pudong Shangri-La hotel before a TV appearance in Shanghai on May 17, 2006. Photo: Li Xiuqi
2006
The couple keeping each other company at the Ritz Paris hotel on Nov 17, 2006. Mr Lee is wearing a heated brace to ease a stiff neck. The three photographs above were taken by their granddaughter Xiuqi, a film-maker, who travelled regularly with them in their later years. She is Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s daughter. Photo: Li Xiuqi
2008
The couple posing in front of a Valentine’s Day floral display in Sentosa on Feb 14, 2008. Photo: Kwa Kim Li
2010
Grandson Yipeng comforting Mr Lee during the funeral service of Mrs Lee, who died at the age of 89 on Oct 2, 2010, following a long illness after suffering three strokes. ST Photo: Terence Tan
2010
A final kiss to say goodbye: At the end of Mrs Lee’s funeral at Mandai Crematorium, Mr Lee gave his wife a red rose, then brought his fingers to his lips and reached down to touch her face. Photo: Spencer Chung/Lianhe Zaobao
2015
When Mr Lee died on March 23, 2015, nearly half a million people queued for hours over four days at the Padang to pay their last respects to their much-loved and admired leader, lying in state at Parliament House. The Singapore Armed Forces erected some 300 tents to provide shelter under the scorching sun. ST Photo: Neo Xiaobin
2015
Singaporeans bidding Mr Lee a final farewell as the cortege filed past City Hall in Stamford Road on March 29, 2015. In all, an estimated 100,000 people lined the streets under pouring rain as the cortege made its way along the 15.4km-long route from Parliament House to the University Cultural Centre in Kent Ridge for the state funeral. ST Photo: Desmond Foo
