KUALA LUMPUR (politicsnowmy.blogspot.com) - The only daughter of Singapore's late legendary prime minister Lee Kuan Yew has passed away at home at the age of 69.
At the centre of a high profile family squabble that rocked the city-state in 2017, Dr Lee Wei Ling had been battling a rare, degenerative brain disease since 2020.
Her death was disclosed on Facebook by her younger brother, Lee Hsien Yang, whom she had sided in a public quarrel with older brother Lee Hsien Loong, also a former prime minister like their father and now a Senior Minister in current premier Lawrence Wong's cabinet.
“She was fiercely loyal to her friends and always stood up for the underdog, mobilising herself to act against unfairness or wrongdoing,” Hsien Yang hailed her while Hsien Loong too praised her fortitude during her four-year-long battle against progressive supranuclear palsy.
The illness stems from a condition that affects physical movements, balance, and swallowing, which can lead to serious complications such as pneumonia.
“She faced her illness with the same fortitude she displayed throughout life,” said Hsien Loong. “I will deeply miss Ling. May she rest in peace.”
So bitter was the quarrel between the siblings over what to do with the family home at 38 Oxley Road following Kuan Yew's death that they became estranged with a fuming Hsien Yang even leaving Singapore for foreign shores.
It is not clear if her brothers will reconcile as they mourn her passing. Funeral arrangements have not been announced yet and while her condition has been known to be terminal for years, her death is still likely to jolt Singaporeans, many of whom have known her since she was a child.
A neurologist by profession, Dr Lee headed Singapore’s National Neuroscience Institute from 2004 to 2014.
In a 2020 Facebook post, she described her illness as a “nasty brain disease” but accepted it with characteristic stoicism, quoting the Chinese word “忍” (ren), meaning “endure”.
Hsien Yang has requested that no flowers be sent, but encouraged donations to charities including Canossa Mission Singapore, Parkinson Society Singapore, and Total Well-Being SG.
Written by Stan Lee, PoliticsNow Malaysia
https://politicsnowmy.blogspot.com/
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