JAKARTA, 24 March 2015 – ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh joined other world leaders in mourning the loss of Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore, who passed away yesterday at 91. In a letter addressed to Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of Singapore and son of Lee Kuan Yew, Secretary-General Minh conveyed his “deepest condolences” on the passing of the late Prime Minister.
In his letter, Minh described Lee Kuan Yew as “a great statesman who had built Singapore with his vision, wisdom and courage.” The ASEAN Secretary-General also acknowledged the late Prime Minister as one of those “instrumental in the establishment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations” in 1967. Singapore is one of ASEAN’s five founding members and together with the other leaders, he has provided guidance to ASEAN in its formative years.
For three decades, Lee Kuan Yew dedicated his life to the success of his country and is widely recognised as the architect of Singapore’s transformation from a small port town 50 years ago to one of the world’s wealthiest countries. Secretary-General Minh noted that the late Prime Minister “has left a lasting legacy not only for Singapore but also for ASEAN and he will be greatly missed.”
Lee Kuan Yew has attended the first three ASEAN Summits with the 1987 Summit in Manila being his last. He stepped down as Prime Minister of Singapore in 1990 but continued to serve his country as Senior Minister and later as Minister Mentor.
Besides Singapore, the other founding members of ASEAN are Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. They are now joined by Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam.