Global tributes continue to pour in for Mr Lee Kuan Yew

SINGAPORE — Tributes from around the world continued to pour into Singapore yesterday (March 24) following the death of the Republic’s founding father and first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his condolences to Singapore President Tony Tan over the death of Mr Lee, the Tass news agency reported. The Russian President praised Singapore’s achievements in the social, economic, scientific and technical fields under the leadership of Mr Lee, an outstanding politician in modern history, the Kremlin press office said.

“Over the decades of his work in the post of the prime minister and other posts, he won the sincere love and respect of his compatriots, and also the highest international respect,” Mr Putin said in his message.

Mr Lee will be remembered in Russia as a consistent advocate of the development of friendly relations between the two nations and who made a considerable personal contribution to strengthening mutually advantageous bilateral cooperation, Mr Putin said.

Indonesia’s former President, Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, also paid tribute to Mr Lee in a video uploaded onto his official YouTube channel. In the video, Dr Yudhoyono said that Mr Lee devoted his whole life to delivering remarkable progress to Singapore. Mr Lee “has worked hard to develop close relations with Indonesia,” he added. “I consider Mr Lee Kuan Yew a personal close friend, and I know he is a true friend of Indonesia,” Dr Yudhoyono said.

Recounting his meetings with Mr Lee during the course of his presidency, Dr Yudhoyono said: “In every one of those meetings he always gave me valuable motivation and advice for the success of Indonesia.” He ended the tribute by saying, “He will be sorely missed not just by Singaporeans, but by Indonesians, and by South-east Asians.”

In Malaysia, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the passing of Singapore’s first Prime Minister “is a great loss to not only his family and Singapore, but the region as well”.

Speaking after signing the condolence book for Mr Lee at the Singapore embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Mr Muhyiddin said there were occasions still fresh in his mind from his time working with Mr Lee during his stint as Johor chief minister.

“I experienced working with him in one particular occasion, which is still clear in my mind. It was during our negotiation of a new water deal for Singapore, which later led to the building of a dam in Johor. It was a tough negotiation but Lee expressed very strongly how water resources were critical for Singapore,” he said.

As a result, he added, the deal was successfully concluded in record time.

“He was responsible for most of the developments Singaporeans are enjoying today,” he said.

In Laos, Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong signed the book of condolence at the Singapore Embassy in Vientiane and later Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Dr Thongloun Sisoulith wrote that “the demise of Mr Lee Kuan Yew constitutes a great loss of an outstanding politician leader, a hero of the people of Singapore, a founder of modern, prosperous Singapore who dedicated his life to the development of the country, and (who) significantly contributed to the development of friendly relations with the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.” AGENCIES