Mr. Lee Kuan Yew’s Condition

In Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew is a man without equal. He’s Singapore's first prime minister and the man widely credited with our country’s economic success. Since Feb 5th however, Mr. Lee has been admitted to hospital for severe pneumonia.

Since then…it has been a deafening silence.

So I wasn’t all that surprised when rumours began circulating has it that Mr. Lee has died, and I was just as unsurprised when the state-owned news channel, ChannelNewsAsia, and the pro-government Straits Times newspaper quickly came out to quash the rumours. The simple fact is; in the face of no information, people are going to be tempted to make their own.

That’s just a simple fact. We know Mr. Lee’s condition is serious and he is on mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit of the hospital. We know that his condition is so serious that Singapore Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin even asked Singaporeans to "pray for his recovery" on Wednesday.

So…just how serious is his condition? I totally understand the need and desire for privacy from his family but Mr. Lee is a titan not just in Singapore, but throughout Asia. People want to know how he is doing. I would suggest the Singapore government release regular updates on his condition to satisfy the people’s curiosity. If they do not, the rumours will just keep on popping up.