Lee Kuan Yew Becomes First Prime Minister of Singapore
Lee Kuan Yew became the first Prime Minister of Singapore on June 5, 1959, marking a significant moment in the nation’s journey toward independence. This followed the establishment of Singapore's new constitution just days earlier. As a city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, Singapore has evolved from small fishing villages into a thriving regional port and trading center, benefiting from its strategic position along the Singapore Strait. Lee, born to a wealthy Chinese family in 1923, was educated in Britain and returned to Singapore in 1949 to practice law, but his passion for politics led him to become a key figure in the country's independence movement. He played a crucial role in negotiations with the British, culminating in the signing of the Constitutional Agreement in 1958. During his tenure, which lasted until 1990, Lee’s administration was marked by significant economic development, despite criticisms of authoritarian governance. Singapore's brief union with Malaysia in 1963 ended with its full independence in 1965, solidifying its status as a sovereign nation. Lee Kuan Yew's leadership remains a pivotal chapter in Singapore's history.
Lee Kuan Yew Becomes First Prime Minister of Singapore
Lee Kuan Yew Becomes First Prime Minister of Singapore
Lee Kuan Yew was sworn in as the first prime minister of the newly independent nation of Singapore on June 5, 1959. This followed shortly after Singapore's new constitution became effective on June 3 of that same year.
Singapore is a city-state in Southeast Asia at the southern tip of the Malay peninsula. It consists of one major island and several dozen neighboring islands. The nation sits astride the Singapore Strait, which links the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea, and has derived its present prosperity from this strategic commercial location. Singapore once consisted of nothing more than a few fishing villages, but it became a major regional port and trading center after the British acquired it in the 1820s, and today it has over 4 million inhabitants. Roughly three-fourths of the population is of Chinese ancestry and most of the rest are of Malayan or East Indian descent.
Yew was born on September 16, 1923, in Singapore to a wealthy Chinese family. He was educated in Britain at Cambridge University and returned in 1949 to Singapore, where he intended to practice law. Yew eventually turned to politics and became actively involved in the growing independence movement. He was one of the leaders who negotiated on behalf of Singapore with the British in the late 1950s, which eventually led to the signing of the Constitutional Agreement in London on May 28, 1958. Singapore held elections in May 1959 for its new Legislative Assembly, and by June a government was ready to take charge when independence became a reality. Yew would serve as prime minister from 1959 until 1990, and although he was often criticized as overly authoritarian, during his administration Singapore became a highly developed and economically prosperous trading center. A brief union with Malaysia in 1963 ended in 1965, and the nation has been a sovereign state ever since. Yew resigned from office in November 1990.