SINGAPORE-ANNIVERSARY/FILE File footage chronicles key moments in Singapore's history ahead of the nation's 50th anniversary

Record ID: 144969

  • Title: SINGAPORE-ANNIVERSARY/FILE File footage chronicles key moments in Singapore's history ahead of the nation's 50th anniversary
  • Date: 5th August 2015
  • Summary: SINGAPORE (FILE - MARCH 29, 2015) (REUTERS) OFFICERS WALKING ALONGSIDE GUN CARRIAGE CARRYING COFFIN DURING FUNERAL PROCESSION FOR FORMER PRIME MINISTER LEE KUAN YEW, PEOPLE STANDING ALONG ROADSIDE WAVING SINGAPORE FLAGS IN RAIN COFFIN DRAPED IN SINGAPORE FLAG PEOPLE FOLLOWING GUN CARRIAGE IN RAIN, STREETS LINED WITH PEOPLE MILITARY PERSONNEL SALUTING AS GUN CARRIAGE PASSES
  • Embargoed: 20th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Indonesia
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAEXSDN6SAXXMBN3QBB8T79C7HN
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    On the morning of August 9, 1965, Singapore separated from the Malaysian Federation and had statehood thrust upon it.
    Lee Kuan Yew, the new country's prime minister, set out with his government to create a viable nation out of a polyglot collection of migrants, no hinterland, and no resources.
    But Singapore was transformed from a British tropical outpost to an affluent, global city in just over a generation, setting the example for developing economies from China to Dubai.
    English was retained as Singapore's working language as a means of keeping the peace between the island's Chinese majority and Malay and Indian minorities.
    The making of a "clean and green" Singapore to be one of Asia's most livable and corruption-free countries was a focus from very early on.
    Nevertheless, Lee, a Cambridge-educated lawyer and a towering figure in post-colonial Asia, had little tolerance for opposition views, despite the facade of a Westminster-style democracy that gave every adult Singaporean the vote.
    While the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), co-founded by Lee, has propelled the city-state into a gleaming financial hub, it has also been criticized for heavy-handed government with little tolerance of dissent.
    Under Lee - a huge fan of late former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - political opposition and independent media were not allowed to flourish in the same way as the economy, a state of affairs that persists to this day.
    Singapore placed 153 out of 180 countries in the latest World Press Freedom Index.
    His stern approach included caning for many offences and the death penalty for murder and drug trafficking. Lawsuits against political opponents and media organisations were a Lee hallmark.
    Lee stepped down as prime minister in 1990, handing power to Goh Chok Tong, but remaining influential as senior minister in Goh's cabinet and subsequently as "minister mentor" when his eldest son, Lee Hsien Loong, became prime minister in 2004.
    The elder Lee resigned from his cabinet position in 2011 after the PAP suffered its worst electoral showing since independence in 1965.
    Although he had receded from public and political life in the past few years, Lee was still seen as an influential figure in the government of his eldest son.
    Lee's death, less than five months before the city-state's 50th anniversary of independence this year, prompted an unprecedented show of grief among its population of 5.4 million people.
    2015 represents a possible turning point for Singapore, as it heads into a new era without their mentor Lee Kuan Yew but still quite confidently in the hands of both the PAP and Lee's son.
    As the nation prepares to celebrate 50 years as an independent nation, the country faces a sixth decade without the resounding and unifying power of a survival rhetoric - the nation is already developed, stable and prosperous, a feat many in the international arena believed impossible, leaving many to wonder "what is next?"
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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