Singapore lee kuan yew biography malaysia

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 t