Thousands line Singapore’s streets to pay respect to Lee Kuan Yew

Thousands of people lined Singapore’s streets on Wednesday as a gun carriage took the casket of Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of modern Singapore, to Parliament House for public viewing. Lee died on Monday, aged 91. Chants of “Lee Kuan Yew” rang out from the crowd as the carriage entered the colonnaded Parliament House in the heart of the city-state’s business district, where his body will lie in state until Saturday. The queue of people waiting to enter Parliament House stretched for about 2 km across a bridge on the nearby Singapore River into the Boat Quay area and up to Fort Canning park.

This is the last opportunity. I would love to have met him in person to thank him personally. But I hope he knows we are grateful for what he has done.

Mariam Mohammed, 52, waiting in line

Lee, Singapore’s first prime minister, is credited with transforming the city-state from a British colonial outpost 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.

I think it’s important for my son to understand the country’s history, the history of somebody who started the country and brought it to today.

Nadim van der Ros, 37-year-old businessman

Asia-Pacific Lee Kuan Yew