Prime Minister’s office on Thursday said that the first Prime Minister of Singapore and the man widely credited with the city-state’s economic success, Lee Kuan Yew, is still on mechanical ventilation in an intensive care unit in hospital.
Lee, who turned 91 last September, was admitted to hospital on 5 February with severe pneumonia. “His doctors have restarted him on antibiotics and are continuing to monitor him closely,” the statement said.
Thursday’s statement came after rumours spread on social media on Wednesday night that Lee may have died.
The government did not issue any statement overnight, but the state-owned ChannelNewsAsia and the pro-government Straits Times newspaper published stories that the rumours were untrue.
Lee has receded from the public and political scene but his health is watched closely as he is still seen as an influential figure for the government of the current prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, his oldest son.
Even Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin posted on his Facebook about the rumours late on Wednesday. Late on Wednesday, he said, “Do continue to pray for his recovery.”
Lee, a Cambridge-educated lawyer, is widely credited with building Singapore into one of the world’s wealthiest nations on a per capita basis with a strong, pervasive role for the state and little patience for dissent.
He co-founded the People’s Action Party, which has ruled Singapore since 1959 and led the newly born country when it was separated from Malaysia in 1965.
In a book published in 2013, Lee said he felt weaker by the day and that he wanted a quick death.
Bureau Report
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