Former US Secretary of State Henry Alfred Kissinger, "an old and close friend of" the late Lee Kuan Yew according to his son Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, has written a eulogy, published in The Washington Post.
Said the Prime Minister in a Facebook post, they first met in 1967 when Singapore's founding Secretary-General was taking a sabbatical in Harvard. Since then they'd kept close, in and out of office. When Lee Kuan Yew fell ill recently, Kissinger had wanted to visit his friend one more time, but the Prime Minister said, "my father was not in a condition to receive him".
In his eulogy, Kissinger wrote, "a world needing to distill order from incipent chaos will miss Lee Kuan Yew", describing him as a "statesman who acted as a kind of conscience to leaders around the globe".
He also revealed how Lee's trips to Washington would be considered a kind of "national event", adding that "interlocutors attended not to be petitioned but to learn from one of the truly profound global thinkers of our time".
In his encounters with Lee, Kissinger sensed that he was "not a man of many sentimental words", but his attachment to Singapore and his work was apparent.
If at all, Lee appeared emotional to his friend only when his wife suffered a stroke and became bedridden, unable to move or communicate. "Through all that time, Lee sat by her bedside in the evening reading to her," Kissinger recalls. "He had faith that she understood despite the evidence to the contrary."
Visit The Washington Post to read the eulogy in full.
Former US Secretary of State Henry Alfred Kissinger, "an old and close friend of" the late Lee Kuan Yew according to his son Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, has written a eulogy, published in The Washington Post.
Said the Prime Minister in a Facebook post, they first met in 1967 when Singapore's founding Secretary-General was taking a sabbatical in Harvard. Since then they'd kept close, in and out of office. When Lee Kuan Yew fell ill recently, Kissinger had wanted to visit his friend one more time, but the Prime Minister said, "my father was not in a condition to receive him".
In his eulogy, Kissinger wrote, "a world needing to distill order from incipent chaos will miss Lee Kuan Yew", describing him as a "statesman who acted as a kind of conscience to leaders around the globe".
He also revealed how Lee's trips to Washington would be considered a kind of "national event", adding that "interlocutors attended not to be petitioned but to learn from one of the truly profound global thinkers of our time".
In his encounters with Lee, Kissinger sensed that he was "not a man of many sentimental words", but his attachment to Singapore and his work was apparent.
If at all, Lee appeared emotional to his friend only when his wife suffered a stroke and became bedridden, unable to move or communicate. "Through all that time, Lee sat by her bedside in the evening reading to her," Kissinger recalls. "He had faith that she understood despite the evidence to the contrary."
Visit The Washington Post to read the eulogy in full.