People queue up to pay their respects to the late first Prime minister Lee Kuan Yew at the Padang grounds outside the Parliament House in Singapore. World leaders arrived in Singapore to attend the funeral.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday arrived in Singapore to attend the State Funeral Services of Singapore’s founder and first premier Lee Kuan Yew.
Lee, 91, died of severe pneumonia on March 23.
The Prime Minister will be attending the funeral of Lee on Sunday, the Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry said.
In his condolence message after Lee’s demise, Mr. Modi had said, “A far-sighted statesman and a lion among leaders, Lee Kuan Yew’s life teaches valuable lessons to everyone. News of his demise is saddening.”
Apart from Mr. Modi, several world leaders are expected to attend Lee’s funeral, including former U.S. President Bill Clinton, South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Malaysian King Abdul Halim Shah.
Factfile
- ›September 16, 1923: Lee Kuan Yew is born in Singapore as a British subject.
- ›1942-1945: Worked as transcriber of Allied wire reports under Japanese occupation of Singapore.
- › Studied law at Cambridge University, graduated with double First Class Honours.
- ›1949: Returned to Singapore with firm belief in self-governance.
- › When the People's Action Party was formed in 1954, he became its Secretary-General.
- › He has been the head of Singapore's Government since 1959, through three general elections.
- › Mr. Yew had visited India three times.
- › Lee Kuan Yew's quotes: “First, to understand Singapore, you've got to start off with an improbable story. It should not exist . . . We haven't got the base, the space, the wherewithal.”
- › "Suddenly, we're on our own. ... It's one thing running Hong Kong under British or Chinese protection; it's another matter governing tiny Singapore." (1965)
- › "If there were no international law and order, and big fish eat small fish and small fish eat shrimps, we wouldn’t exist.”