Lee Kuan Yew: Feared founder of modern Singapore

Singapore's first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, a towering figure in post-colonial Asian, died today in hospital. Lee's son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said in a statement that he "deeply grieved to announce the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the founding Prime Minister of Singapore". Photo: AFP

Lee Kuan Yew, one of the commanding figures of Asia’s post-war economic rise, was an authoritarian leader who transformed Singapore from a sleepy British imperial outpost into a global trading and financial centre.

The former prime minister known as “LKY” died Monday (Mar 23) following a seven-week struggle with pneumonia, aged 91, after bestriding the city-state’s politics for half a century following its emergence from colonial rule.