As a young lawyer, Mr Lee, seen here in his office in 1952, established himself as a champion for workers by devoting his time to helping unions and other vulnerable groups in their run-ins with the British.
Headed for the first Merdeka talks for Singapore’s independence in April 1956. (From left) Mr Seah Peng Chuan from the Labour Front, Mr Lim Choon Mong from the Liberal Socialist Party, and Mr Lim Chin Siong and Mr Lee from the People’s Action Party.
Mr Lee (centre) at Jurong port in May 1965, with Economic Development Board chairman Hon Sui Sen (right, in glasses). Jurong’s deep coastal waters made it suitable for a port, which became operational that year.
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.
The fifteen years from 1950 to 1965 were the most eventful for Mr Lee and Singapore. Four years after his return from Cambridge University, he formed the People’s Action Party in 1954 in the basement dining room of his Oxley home, with support from leftist trade unions, Chinese middle school students and workers of all races. Within five years, he had led the party to a landslide victory in the 1959 Legislative Assembly elections, winning 43 of the 51 seats to form the government.
But the party soon became embroiled in an internal power struggle with pro-communist leftist leaders that led to a major split and the formation of the breakaway Barisan Sosialis. In the midst of these political battles, Mr Lee campaigned for Singapore’s merger with the Federation of Malaya to form Malaysia in 1963. Once in the union, however, he found himself facing constant attacks from Malay politicians in the peninsula who disagreed with his vision of a Malaysian Malaysia for all races.
The differences led to Singapore’s worst-ever racial riots in 1964, with 36 people killed and 560 others injured. Singapore was eventually forced out of Malaysia to become an independent nation on Aug 9, 1965. It was the lowest point of Mr Lee’s political career, one which he would later describe as his greatest political regret. But it also made him even more determined to succeed. A month after the separation, he made this fighting call to Singaporeans: “Here we make the model multiracial society. This is not a country that belongs to any single community: It belongs to all of us. Over 100 years ago, this was a mud-flat swamp. Today, this is a modern city. Ten years from now, this will be a metropolis. Never fear!”
There are no books on how to build a nation from a disparate group of immigrants, Mr Lee wrote in the first chapter of his memoir, From Third World To First. He had to learn from scratch. But he did so with his trademark determination, supported by a group of committed and talented ministers who formed the first Cabinet. The to-do list must have looked daunting: build an army from the ground up, provide public housing for the masses, develop an economy without a hinterland, educate a people.
1952
As a young lawyer, Mr Lee (above), seen here in his Laycock & Ong office on May 13, 1952, established himself as a champion for workers by devoting his time to helping unions and other vulnerable groups in their run-ins with the British. Source: The Straits Times
1952
His first major case involved the Singapore Post and Telegraph Uniformed Staff Union, for whom he secured salary increases of $10 monthly in May 1952. In just two years, he became legal adviser to more than 100 unions and associations. Many workers later campaigned fervently on his behalf when he ran for elections in 1955. Source: The Standard-Sin Chew
1963
Mr Lee continued to mediate on behalf of workers, including the nurses seen here, who were on strike at Singapore General Hospital on June 8, 1963. ST Photo: Low Yew Kong
1963
Mr Lee addressing Singapore Harbour Board Staff Association members at a vacant lot on July 22, 1963. He announced that he had deregistered the communist-influenced union after it decided to proceed with its strike despite his promise of a $2 million interim award for wage claims. He sought to free the unions from communist control to create a stable environment attractive to foreign investors. ST Photo: Han Hai Fong
1965
Mr Lee (second from left), seen here in a 1965 wage dispute meeting with leaders from two unions, continued to concern himself with workers’ issues after he became prime minister in 1959. But to lay the foundation for industrial peace, he introduced a law to restrict unions’ right to strike in 1968. Between July 1961 and September 1962, Singapore had a record 153 strikes. By 1969, for the first time since before the war, Singapore had no strikes or work stoppages. ST Photo: Low Yew Kong
1955
Mr Lee (in sunglasses) was legal adviser to the Singapore Bus Workers’ Union when it went on strike in April 1955. He is seen here with the union’s leader, Mr Lim Chin Siong (facing Mr Lee), on May 4. The workers had gone against Mr Lee’s advice and called the strike before their 14-day notice of a strike had expired. ST Photo: N.J. Cotterell
1956
Headed for the first Merdeka talks for Singapore’s independence in April 1956. (From left) Mr Seah Peng Chuan from the Labour Front, Mr Lim Choon Mong from the Liberal Socialist Party, and Mr Lim Chin Siong and Mr Lee from the People’s Action Party. Source: British Overseas Airways Corporation
1957
Mr Lee taking a break with British delegates during the second round of talks in London in 1957 to discuss Singapore’s constitutional future. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
1959
Jubilant supporters carrying a victorious Mr Lee after the People’s Action Party won 43 of 51 seats at the Legislative Assembly elections on May 30, 1959. Mr Lee would become Singapore’s first prime minister. Source: MCI Collection
1959
Mr Lee (foreground, left) and his first Cabinet ministers meeting the press after they were sworn in at City Hall on June 5, 1959. Source: The Straits Times
1959
Mr Lee (third from right) inspecting a cluster of Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) flats near Upper Queenstown on Sept 18, 1959. With him are National Development Minister Ong Eng Guan (behind Mr Lee) and Mr Teh Cheang Wan (right), an architect with SIT who became chief architect with the newly formed Housing and Development Board in October 1959. Mr Lee’s vision then was to provide all Singaporeans with a home to call their own. ST Photo: Chew Boon Chin
1961
The Bukit Ho Swee fire on May 25, 1961, razed the entire area to the ground, killing four, injuring 85 others and rendering 16,000 homeless. Mr Lee (third from left), with National Development Minister Tan Kia Gan (left), visited the site after the fire was put out. The Government moved quickly to provide housing for the victims. In February the following year, HDB completed new flats in the area to provide shelter for 1,900 families affected by the fire. Source: The Straits Times
1961
Arriving together with Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman (centre) at Paya Lebar Airport, where they were received by Deputy PM Toh Chin Chye (left) on Oct 24, 1961. Mr and Mrs Lee were returning from a two-week holiday in Kuala Lumpur, while the Tunku, who was on his way to Vietnam, would visit London the next month for talks on the formation of Malaysia. ST Photo: Chew Boon Chin
1962
Mr Lee making his first call on a direct line to Malayan PM Tunku Abdul Rahman in Kuala Lumpur from his City Hall office in Singapore on Nov 6, 1962. The new line allowed them to do away with a telephone operator. ST Photo: Ali Yusoff
1964
Mr Lee (second from right) urging Cantonment Road residents to quash all talk of communal hatred, bitterness or revenge on July 26, 1964, after racial riots broke out five days earlier. Everyone wanted to live in peace and friendship, he assured them. ST Photo: Mak Kian Seng
1965
Mr Lee (foreground, second from right) speaking to reporters at a television studio in Caldecott Hill on Aug 9, 1965, when he announced Singapore’s separation from Malaysia. He said he had believed his whole life in the unity of the two territories. ST Photo: Ali Yusoff
1965
“When Singapore broke away from Malaysia, he broke down and asked the TV cameras to stop for a while. I remembered his coming upstairs (we were at Sri Temasek then) and telling me, ‘Well, I’ve made an exhibition of myself’. He sounded rueful, and I didn’t quite grasp the significance of what had happened until I watched the TV thing. I didn’t know that he’d broken down and wept. He didn’t tell me.” – Mrs Lee in her oral history interview in 1981 on her husband breaking down during the announcement of Singapore’s independence.
1965
The first Parliament sitting for independent Singapore on Dec 8, 1965. It was boycotted by eight left-wing Barisan Sosialis MPs, who had broken away from the People’s Action Party in 1961 in protest against Singapore’s split from Malaysia. They failed to win public support and all Barisan MPs eventually resigned. This was to give the PAP total control of Parliament until Mr J.B. Jeyaretnam of the Workers’ Party entered Parliament in 1981 as an MP for Anson constituency. Source: The Straits Times
1965
Mr Lee (centre) at Jurong port on May 2, 1965, with Economic Development Board chairman Hon Sui Sen (right, in glasses). Jurong’s deep coastal waters made it suitable for a port, which became operational that year. ST Photo: Han Hai Fong
1965
Mr Lee, accompanied by his daughter Wei Ling (centre), listening to a worker talk about his job at a factory in Jurong during a visit to the industrial estate in 1965. Source: MCI Collection
1965
The trade union movement was a key partner to the Government in the economic development of Singapore. The National Trades Union Congress played a leading role in this, led by its founding leader, Mr C.V. Devan Nair, seen here on stage with Mr Lee (left of Mr Nair) at the NTUC May Day Rally in 1965. Source: Lee Kuan Yew
1967
Mr Lee talking to enlisted national servicemen at a sending-off dinner in Tanjong Pagar on Aug 29, 1967. To strengthen Singapore’s security and defence, Mr Lee introduced a law in 1967 requiring all male Singapore citizens and permanent residents aged 18 and above to do national service. To boost the morale of those enlisted, sending-off parties were organised in all constituencies. ST Photo: Low Yew Kong
1971
A group of students seeking Mr Lee’s autograph at the Kallang Amusement Park on Labour Day in 1971. ST Photo: Mazlan Badron
1978
Mr Lee was not above picking up the broom when he visited schools in the Keppel and Cantonment areas to see how students there took part in the Use Your Hands campaign on May 27, 1978. The campaign sought to inculcate healthy attitudes towards manual work among students. Source: MCI Collection
1979
Mr Lee believed the use of Chinese dialects at home would hamper students’ ability to learn the Chinese language in school. On Sept 7, 1979, he launched the Speak Mandarin Campaign at the Singapore Conference Hall to encourage Chinese Singapore parents to speak more Mandarin and less dialect with their children. ST Photo: Tan Wee Him
1987
Mr and Mrs Lee (both seated, centre and right) enjoying the clean waters of the Singapore River on Sept 2, 1987. The once-polluted river, together with Kallang Basin and Marina Bay, had undergone a 10-year overhaul to clean up Singapore’s waterways. ST Photo: Wong Kwai Chow
