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http://wp.sg/2015/03/condolence-let...-to-pm-lee-on-the-passing-of-mr-lee-kuan-yew/
Dear Prime Minister,
On behalf of the Workers’ Party, I wish to convey my deepest condolences to you and your family on the passing of your father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
Mr Lee was Singapore’s first Prime Minister, heading the Government for over three decades and thereafter serving another 21 years in the Cabinet as Senior Minister and Minister Mentor. He led Singapore with a group of like-minded individuals through our tumultuous early years of nationhood, including a difficult merger with Malaysia and subsequent independence in 1965.
Mr Lee served in public office for almost his entire adult life. His passing marks an end of an era in Singapore’s history. His contributions to Singapore will be remembered for generations to come.
With deepest sympathies,
LOW THIA KHIANG
Secretary-General, Workers’ Party
Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC
***
Dear Kenneth and Philip Jeyaretnam
I was sad to learn that your father, Mr Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, has passed away. Mr JB Jeyaretnam was a Member of Parliament for Anson constituency from 1981 till 1986, and a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament from 1997 till 2001. He used to engage in heated debates in the House. Perhaps it was because he and the PAP never saw eye to eye on any major political issue and he sought by all means to demolish the PAP and our system of government. Unfortunately, this helped neither to build up a constructive opposition nor our Parliamentary tradition. Nevertheless, one had to respect Mr JB Jeyaretnam’s dogged tenacity to be active in politics at his age.
However, our differences were not personal. In 1993, one of you (Kenneth) wrote to Mr Goh Chok Tong, who was then Prime Minister, to say that you found employers in Singapore reluctant to offer you a job, and your only explanation was that the employers felt the authorities would not welcome your employment because of your name. Mr Goh replied with a letter which could be shown to prospective employers, to say that the government did not hold anything against you, and that employers should evaluate you fairly on your own merits, like any other candidate, because Singapore needed every talented person that it could find. Mr Goh had previously made the same point to your brother Philip, whom he had invited to lunch. I am therefore happy that both of you have established yourselves in Singapore.
Please accept my deepest condolences.
Yours sincerely
Lee Hsien Loong
Dear Prime Minister,
On behalf of the Workers’ Party, I wish to convey my deepest condolences to you and your family on the passing of your father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
Mr Lee was Singapore’s first Prime Minister, heading the Government for over three decades and thereafter serving another 21 years in the Cabinet as Senior Minister and Minister Mentor. He led Singapore with a group of like-minded individuals through our tumultuous early years of nationhood, including a difficult merger with Malaysia and subsequent independence in 1965.
Mr Lee served in public office for almost his entire adult life. His passing marks an end of an era in Singapore’s history. His contributions to Singapore will be remembered for generations to come.
With deepest sympathies,
LOW THIA KHIANG
Secretary-General, Workers’ Party
Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC
***
Dear Kenneth and Philip Jeyaretnam
I was sad to learn that your father, Mr Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, has passed away. Mr JB Jeyaretnam was a Member of Parliament for Anson constituency from 1981 till 1986, and a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament from 1997 till 2001. He used to engage in heated debates in the House. Perhaps it was because he and the PAP never saw eye to eye on any major political issue and he sought by all means to demolish the PAP and our system of government. Unfortunately, this helped neither to build up a constructive opposition nor our Parliamentary tradition. Nevertheless, one had to respect Mr JB Jeyaretnam’s dogged tenacity to be active in politics at his age.
However, our differences were not personal. In 1993, one of you (Kenneth) wrote to Mr Goh Chok Tong, who was then Prime Minister, to say that you found employers in Singapore reluctant to offer you a job, and your only explanation was that the employers felt the authorities would not welcome your employment because of your name. Mr Goh replied with a letter which could be shown to prospective employers, to say that the government did not hold anything against you, and that employers should evaluate you fairly on your own merits, like any other candidate, because Singapore needed every talented person that it could find. Mr Goh had previously made the same point to your brother Philip, whom he had invited to lunch. I am therefore happy that both of you have established yourselves in Singapore.
Please accept my deepest condolences.
Yours sincerely
Lee Hsien Loong
