Death and state funeral of Lee Kuan Yew


, the founding Prime Minister of Singapore and former leader of the People's Action Party, died at the age of 91 on 23 March 2015, after being hospitalised with severe pneumonia on 5 February that year. Many world leaders issued public condolences.
A week-long period of national mourning was declared by the government, from 23 to 29 March that year. All flags, including the National Flag, were flown at half-mast during the period.

Timeline

All times are set out in Singapore Standard Time.

Death of Lee Kuan Yew on 23 March 2015

On 23 March 2015 at 1:00 pm, Lee's body was brought to the Istana, the official residence of the President of Singapore and the office of the Prime Minister. It was placed in Sri Temasek, the Prime Minister's official residence in the Istana grounds, where a private wake was held from 23 to 25 March 2015.

Mourning

The government declared a week long mourning period from 23 to 29 March 2015 for Lee Kuan Yew. Flags were lowered to half-mast as a mark of respect. Most events and activities were scaled down, postponed or cancelled completely throughout the mourning period. Entertainment outlets, such as cinemas, theatres, nightclubs and bars announced that they would be closed or operate under reduced hours during this period.
Upon the announcement of his death, all free-to-air television channels and radio stations suspended their regular programming and simulcast special programmes from broadcasters Mediacorp and SPH Media, which consisted of a montage of videos and photos of Lee Kuan Yew's life, accompanied by coverage of live events from the Istana, Parliament House and the state funeral procession. Some pay-TV channels were blacked out and replaced by this programming too. Most Singaporean and some international websites switched to greyscale colour schemes as well.
18 community tribute sites were set up islandwide during the mourning period, to allow citizens and residents to pay tribute to the late Prime Minister. Each community tribute site consisted of wreaths from various citizens and organisations, as well as a projection screen showing montages of Lee Kuan Yew's life. Memorial ceremonies were held during certain evenings as well.
Singapore Turf Club announced they will cancel all the race meetings during the period of National Mourning.

Lying in state

The body of Lee Kuan Yew was conveyed by gun carriage from the Istana to the Parliament House on the morning of 25 March 2015. After leaving Sri Temasek, the gun carriage paused in front of the main Istana building to allow President Tony Tan Keng Yam, his wife Mrs. Mary Tan, Emeritus Senior Minister and former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, and Istana staff to pay their respects. During this time, a piper from the Gurkha Contingent of the Singapore Police Force played "Auld Lang Syne" from the roof of the building. The cortege then made its way down Bras Basah Road and North Bridge Road, which were lined with members of the public, to Parliament House.
Lee's body lay in state at Parliament House from 25 March 2015 to 28 March 2015, which was subsequently opened 24 hours for the public to pay their respects. To facilitate this, Mass Rapid Transit services, Light Rail Transit services, and selected bus services ran for 24 hours on 25 and 27 March and throughout the early hours of the morning of 26 March 2015 and 28 March 2015. The Land Transport Authority announced that public transport services would end later than usual after midnight on 27 March 2015, but would not run throughout the night due to essential maintenance works.
About 447,000 people paid their last respects to Lee at Singapore's Parliament House throughout the 24 hours from Wednesday 10.00 am until Saturday 8.00 pm, 28 March. In addition, thousands of people lined the roads to watch Lee move from the Istana to Parliament House on 25 March in the morning. In total, more than 1.2 million paid their respects and tribute to Lee at Parliament House and in the 18 tribute centres across the island. More than 100,000 people also lined the streets in torrential rain from Parliament House to the National University of Singapore University Cultural Centre on Sunday, 29 March 2015 to see Lee off.
Lee was also accorded the highest form of respect given by the Singapore Armed Forces, where a vigil guard consisting members of the top military brass consisting of Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant-General Ng Chee Meng; together with Chief of Army, Major-General Perry Lim; Chief of Navy, Rear-Admiral Lai Chung Han; Chief of Air Force, Major-General Hoo Cher Mou; and Chief of Staff, Joint Staff, Brigadier-General Chia Choon Hoong stood guard during the lying in state. This honour is akin to the Vigil of the Princes where male members of the British Royal Family have stood guard during the lying in state of one of their relatives during or as part of a British state funeral or ceremonial funeral.

Special parliamentary session

On 26 March 2015 at 4:00 pm, a special parliamentary session was held for Members of Parliament to pay tribute to Lee Kuan Yew. They included:
Lee's state and private funeral services was held on Sunday, 29 March 2015. 87 bus services were either diverted, shortened or suspended from 11:30 am to 7:00 pm to facilitate the road closures. The SCDF Public Warning System siren was sounded twice islandwide at 4:35 pm to signal the start and end of a minute of silence in honour of Mr Lee. Prior to the minute of silence, all MRT trains stopped at stations and opened their doors. Similarly, buses scheduled to depart from bus interchanges or terminals were held back during the one minute of silence. Passenger Information Displays in the MRT network and bus interchanges showed "One minute of silence for Mr Lee Kuan Yew". Announcements were also made at stations and on-board trains.
The state funeral was held at the University Cultural Centre, National University of Singapore, from 2:00 pm. It was attended by members of Lee's family, the President, Cabinet Ministers, members of the Judiciary, Members of Parliament, and foreign leaders. Ordinary Singaporeans from all walks of life have also been invited to attend. The Master of Ceremonies was Peter Ong, Head of the Civil Service. Ten eulogies were delivered, in the following order:
The state funeral was followed by a private funeral at 5:00 pm at Mandai Crematorium for invited guests.
On 27 March 2015, Singapore's defence minister Ng Eng Hen mentioned in a Facebook post that the Singapore Armed Forces will accord Mr Lee due military honours. On the day of the state funeral, a 21-gun salute was fired by four ceremonial 25-pounder guns as the procession headed to University Cultural Centre. In addition, four Republic of Singapore Air Force black knights made a fly pass salute. The originally planned missing man formation was not flown due to rainy weather. As his body passed Esplanade Bridge, both RSS Dauntless and RSS Resilience conducted a ceremonial sailpast.
The 21-gun salute honour is traditionally only accorded to the heads of state. As Lee Kuan Yew was only a former head of government, he would typically only be entitled to a 19-gun salute. Special permission was given for the 21-gun salute to honour him.

Notable mourners

Notable mourners at the private wake at Sri Temasek:
CountryTitleName
Sultan of BruneiHassanal Bolkiah
Hong Kong business magnateLi Ka-shing
Hong Kong businessmanRichard Li
Hong Kong businessmanVictor Li
Republic of China President of the Republic of ChinaMa Ying-jeou
Republic of China Former President of Control YuanFredrick Chien
Australian businesswomenGina Rinehart

Foreign dignitaries who paid their respects at Parliament House:
CountryTitleDignitary
Deputy Foreign Minister of AfghanistanHekmat Karzai
Son of Crown Prince of BahrainIsa bin Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa
King of BhutanJigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck
Queen of BhutanJetsun Pema
Executive Chairman of Alibaba GroupJack Ma
Vice-President of the People's Republic of China,
member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China		Li Yuanchao
Spouse of former President of IndonesiaAni Yudhoyono
Former co-ordinating Minister for Economics in the Indonesia cabinetChairul Tanjung
Former Indonesian Ambassador to the United StatesDino Patti Djalal
Former Foreign Minister of IndonesiaHassan Wirajuda
5th President of IndonesiaMegawati Sukarnoputri
Former Indonesia presidential candidatePrabowo Subianto
Vice-chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly of IndonesiaSapta Odang
6th President of IndonesiaSusilo Bambang Yudhoyono
Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly of IndonesiaZulkifli Hasan
President of IsraelReuven Rivlin
Malaysia Minister of Foreign AffairsAnifah Aman
Former Malaysia Finance MinisterDaim Zainuddin
Malaysia Natural Resources and Environment MinisterG. Palanivel
Malaysia Minister for TransportLiow Tiong Lai
Prime Minister of MalaysiaNajib Razak
Raja Permaisuri JohorRaja Zarith Sofia
Spouse of the Prime Minister of MalaysiaRosmah Mansor
Sultan of JohorSultan Ibrahim Ismail
Former President of the MaldivesMaumoon Abdul Gayoom
Foreign Minister of MongoliaLundeg Purevsuren
Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of OmanSayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood AlBusaidi
Foreign Minister of Sri LankaMangala Samaraweera
Republic of China Former ROC Premier, former Senior Advisor to the President of the ROCHau Pei-tsun
Former President of East TimorJosé Ramos-Horta
Member of the ruling Al Nahyan family of Abu DhabiSheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Former President of the United StatesBill Clinton
Former United States Secretary of StateHenry Kissinger
Former Assistant to President for National Security AffairsThomas Donilon
Former US Ambassador to SingaporeSteven J. Green
Secretary General of the Association of Southeast Asian NationsLê Lương Minh

Foreign dignitaries who represented their countries at Lee's state funeral at the University Cultural Centre, NUS, on 29 March 2015:
CountryTitleDignitary
AustraliaPrime Minister of AustraliaTony Abbott
BangladeshMinister of Foreign Affairs Abul Hassan Mahmud Ali
BhutanKing of BhutanJigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck
BhutanQueen of BhutanJetsun Pema
BruneiSultan of BruneiHassanal Bolkiah
CambodiaPrime Minister of CambodiaHun Sen
CanadaGovernor General of CanadaDavid Johnston
ChinaVice-President of the People's Republic of China,
member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China		Li Yuanchao
Hong KongFormer Chief Executive of Hong Kong,
representative of Chief Executive of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Government		Tung Chee-hwa
IndiaPrime Minister of IndiaNarendra Modi
IndonesiaPresident of IndonesiaJoko Widodo
IsraelPresident of IsraelReuven Rivlin
JapanPrime Minister of JapanShinzō Abe
KazakhstanPrime Minister of KazakhstanKarim Massimov
LaosPrime Minister of LaosThongsing Thammavong
MalaysiaKing of MalaysiaAbdul Halim
Myanmar President of MyanmarThein Sein
NepalDeputy Prime Minister of NepalPrakash Man Singh
New ZealandGovernor General of New ZealandJerry Mateparae
PhilippinesPresident of the Senate of the Philippines representing President Benigno Aquino IIIFranklin Drilon
PhilippinesSecretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario
PhilippinesSecretary of Finance Cesar Purisima
QatarEmir Sheikh of QatarTamim bin Hamad Al Thani
RussiaFirst Deputy Prime Minister of RussiaIgor Shuvalov
South AfricaMinister of Public Works Thulas Nxesi
South KoreaPresident of South KoreaPark Geun-hye
ThailandPrime Minister of ThailandPrayut Chan-o-cha
Republic of China Former ROC Vice-President, Former ROC PremierLien Chan
Republic of China Former ROC Vice-President, Former ROC PremierVincent Siew
Republic of China Former ROC Premier, former Senior Advisor to the President of the ROCHau Pei-tsun
Republic of China Former ROC Premier, former Secretary-General of the ROC Presidential OfficeSu Tseng-chang
United KingdomFirst Secretary of State and Leader of the House of Commons of United KingdomWilliam Hague
United StatesFormer President of the United States,
leading the Presidential Delegation representing President Barack Obama		Bill Clinton
United StatesFormer Secretary of State of United States & a close friend to Lee Kuan YewHenry Kissinger
United StatesUS Ambassador to SingaporeKirk Wagar
United StatesFormer US Ambassador to SingaporeSteven J. Green
United StatesFormer Assistant to President for National Security AffairsThomas Donilon
VietnamPrime Minister of VietnamNguyen Tan Dung

Reactions

Singapore

Prior to the death of Lee Kuan Yew, when he was hospitalised at the Singapore General Hospital on 5 February, Singaporeans expressed concern for his health through social media websites. On 17 March 2015, the Prime Minister's office announced that Lee's condition has worsened due to an infection. Following that, many Singaporeans went to the hospital to pay tribute to Lee Kuan Yew, however as Lee was in the Intensive Care Unit, no visitors were allowed and the hospital could not accept gifts such as flowers and cards. On 20 March 2015, the Singapore General Hospital designated an area for well-wishers to leave cards and flowers for Lee Kuan Yew. Several Singaporeans and Foreigners were seen leaving cards and flowers at the designated site. Additionally, the Tanjong Pagar Community Club set up a "get well corner" for residents to write messages and leave flowers and cards for Lee Kuan Yew.
After the death of Lee Kuan Yew was announced on 23 March 2015, an estimated 447,299 Singaporeans & non-Singaporeans went to the Parliament House of Singapore to pay their respects to Lee Kuan Yew.
A tribute site was set up at the Istana, as well as other community clubs around the country for Singaporeans to pen their wishes for the late Lee Kuan Yew.
On 25 March 2015, as the private wake for friends and family of Lee Kuan Yew ended, a ceremonial gun carriage carried the body of Lee Kuan Yew from the Istana to Parliament House. Singaporeans lined up from the gates of parliament house to the Istana. Many in the crowd outside the Istana clapped and cheered Mr Lee Kuan Yew's name as his hearse drove past, while some wept for Lee. Members of the public were soon allowed inside parliament house to pay their respects to Lee Kuan Yew. A queue started to form from parliament house stretching to Hong Lim Park and Fort Canning Park. Authorities advised members of the public not to join the queue as the wait was estimated to be 8 hours.

Africa

1st (2016)

Led by People's Association deputy chairman Chan Chun Sing, more than a hundred remembrance events were held across the island in March 2016, including a tree-planting exercise at Jurong Lake Park and a brisk walk at Sembawang Park. A remembrance service was held at Tanjong Pagar Community Club on 23 March 2016.

Subsequent

As Lee Kuan Yew was a person who liked to keep his personal life private, he publicly expressed his opinion many times in the news when he was alive that he did not like Singapore to build a "personality cult" on him after his death as he, like many other Singaporeans, was just a Singaporean who love Singapore. In his biography books, he had written specifically that he did not want any road to be named after him or his beloved wife, as he was personally against the idea. A committee to create a Founders' Memorial, dedicated not just to Lee Kuan Yew but all of Singapore's founders, was consequently formed.