UNDER Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore has held its own in an era of globalised finance and cutting-edge technology, while continuing his venerated father's policy of muzzling free media and snuffing out dissent.
But the premier announced on Monday he would step down next month, passing the baton to his deputy, Lawrence Wong, the second non-member of the Lee family to lead the wealthy nation.
As the son of the country's founding leader Lee Kuan Yew, Hsien Loong had to live with the perception that he could not have become prime minister without his pedigree. But after nearly two decades at the helm, steering Singapore through a global financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic while diversifying its economy, he has left his own imprint on the city-state.
He has not hesitated to use defamation laws against critics, suing anyone who suggested corruption or nepotism in the government.
Rules against public protests have been tightened — even a one-person demonstration can be dispersed as an illegal assembly.
Lee was sworn in as the nation's third prime minister on Aug 12, 2004 at age 52. Now 72, he has projected a more consultative style.
He has presided over efforts to retool the city-state's export-driven economy by focusing on advanced industries, such as biotechnology and electronics, as well as financial services.
Hsien Loong was born on Feb 10, 1952, to lawyers Kuan Yew and Kwa Geok Choo.
His father was carving out a reputation as a steely leader in the rough and tumble of Singapore politics ahead of self-rule in 1959 — when he became prime minister — and eventual independence in 1965.
"Of course, growing up as my father's son could not but mean being exposed to politics very early... Growing up with my father, living through those years with him, made me what I am," the younger Lee said in a eulogy after his father's death.
He joined the Singapore Armed Forces in 1971 and graduated on a scholarship from Britain's Cambridge University in 1974 with first-class honours in mathematics and a diploma in computer science.
When Cambridge's Trinity College offered him a fellowship to teach maths, he wrote to his tutor: "I must go home. I've joined the Singapore Armed Forces, my father's the PM and for me not to go home and do what I have to do would be bad for the country and for me."
He became a brigadier-general, but left the military in 1984 to become a member of parliament.
Kuan Yew stepped down in 1990 as part of a succession process within the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), his son becoming deputy to successor Goh Chok Tong.
Under his leadership, Singapore hosted historic summits between then Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou and China's Xi Jinping in 2015, as well as 2018's meeting between United States president Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong-un.
Despite his seemingly charmed life, Lee had to endure two major personal crises.
In 1982, his first wife Wong Ming Yang, a Malaysian-born doctor he met at Cambridge, died after giving birth to their second child.
Three years later he married senior civil servant Ho Ching, former chief executive of state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings. They have two children.
In 1992, Singapore was stunned when the country's two deputy prime ministers — Hsien Loong and Ong Teng Cheong — were diagnosed with lymphoma, a form of cancer.
Hsien Loong underwent intensive treatment and was pronounced cured in 1997, but Ong died in 2002.
Seen as an aloof intellectual when he first entered politics, Lee has undergone an image overhaul since becoming PM. A month after taking office, he hit the dancefloor at one of Singapore's trendiest discos, in a bid to reach out to younger Singaporeans.
But the Lee family's image was stained by a bitter sibling feud after the patriarch's death in 2015.
Hsien Loong's sister and younger brother accused him of going against their father's wish to have the historic family bungalow demolished.
The sister, Lee Wei Ling, accused him of trying to capitalise on their father's legacy to build a dynasty — a charge the brother has rejected.
Younger brother Lee Hsien Yang, who has fled Singapore with his wife following police investigations for potential offences related to the family row, accused him of persecution.
The writer is from Agence France-Presse
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times
