Lee Wei Ling, Lee Kuan Yew's daughter, dies aged 69

SINGAPORE — Dr Lee Wei Ling, the daughter of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, has died at the age of 69, four years after she was diagnosed with a rare, degenerative brain disease.

Her death was disclosed by her younger brother Lee Hsien Yang in a Facebook post at 5.50am on Oct 9.

Dr Lee, the second of three children, is also the sister of Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Writing on Facebook, SM Lee said his sister was a fighter, and her character remained unchanged throughout her life.

"She was fiercely loyal to friends, sympathised instinctively with the underdog, and would mobilise actively to do something when she saw unfairness, or suspected wrongdoing," he added.

Dr Lee, a neurologist who headed the National Neuroscience Institute as director from 2004 to 2014, was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy in 2020.

The condition affects physical movements, walking, balance and eye movements, and eventually swallowing, and can lead to serious complications such as pneumonia and choking.

Announcing her diagnosis in a Facebook post on Aug 8, 2020, Dr Lee described it as a "rather nasty brain disease" that will result in death "for the fortunate".

Yet, she appeared to have dealt with it with the stoicism she displayed in her writings, and had said in her post: "My immediate reaction to the news was "忍"(ren), or 'endure' in Chinese, of which the traditional character has a knife above a heart. I have been practising "忍" since I was in Chinese school, recognising that life has many unpleasant, unavoidable situations.

"It would be nice if this entire episode turns out to be a nightmare and that I will wake up. But it is getting increasingly real and inescapable every day."

Born in 1955 into one of Singapore's most well-known families, Dr Lee was the only daughter and middle child of Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Madam Kwa Geok Choo.

Her father became Singapore's founding prime minister the year she turned four.

Dr Lee's achievements were chronicled in newspaper articles over the years, such as when she became one of the youngest Singaporeans to attain a black belt in karate in 1970, and when she graduated top of her class year after year and became a President's Scholar in 1973.

In an interview with Today newspaper in 2003, she spoke of being a role model for national policies when she was young.

"I had to be very effective at being bilingual because I had to prove that the bilingual policy was going to be a successful policy. I had to take a third language in addition. I had to try and do well academically. I had to be a cadet because that time was the days of the rugged society, remember? I had to be a model to other students," she had said.

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In his Facebook post on Oct 9, Mr Lee Hsien Yang said Dr Lee died at home, and that details of the funeral arrangements will be announced soon.

"At our father's funeral in 2015, Ling closed her eulogy thus 'I can't break down (and cry), I am a Hakka woman.' Ling, I am less stoic than you," he wrote.

Mr Lee requested no flowers to be sent, adding that donations to charities such as Canossa Mission Singapore, Parkinson Society Singapore and Total Well-Being SG would be meaningful to Dr Lee.

SM Lee Hsien Loong said one of his early memories of his sister was of her first day in kindergarten, when she cried all the way home while on the school bus, despite his best efforts to comfort her. "After that, our mother arranged for our grandfather to pick us up after school instead."

Dr Lee loved animals, especially dogs, and wanted to become a vet, SM Lee recounted. But after being dissuaded by their parents, she took up medicine instead, topping her class at the University of Singapore — now the National University of Singapore — before becoming a paediatric neurologist, specialising in epilepsy.

"She brought to medicine the same intensity and commitment she did to everything, and developed close bonds with her patients, many of whom she treated over many years," SM Lee said.

SM Lee said his sister stayed on at the Lee family home at 38 Oxley Road with their parents after he and Mr Lee Hsien Yang married and moved out.

"She kept a watchful eye on their well-being as they grew older. She supervised our mother's care after her strokes. She took care of my father, too, who was himself growing older and frailer even as he looked after our mother, and especially after she died in 2010," he added.

"Years ago, when I was about 13, my father felt his life to be in danger, and told me that if anything happened to him, I was to take care of my mother and younger sister and brother," SM Lee said.

"Sadly, after he passed away in 2015, a shadow fell between my siblings and me, and I was unable to fulfil his wish. But I held nothing against Ling, and continued to do whatever I could to ensure her welfare."

Dr Lee and Mr Lee Hsien Yang were the joint administrators and executors of Mr Lee Kuan Yew's will. In 2017, they made public their dispute with SM Lee over the will with regard to 38 Oxley Road.

After Dr Lee was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy in 2020, she took it with her usual fortitude and stoicism, and posted about it as one of those things in life to be borne and endured, SM Lee said.

"She knew what it meant, and made the most of the time she had, even as her health declined. Now she has left us. I will deeply miss Ling. May she rest in peace."

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said Dr Lee had devoted her life to medicine. "Throughout her career, she was unswerving in her focus on patient welfare and medical ethics," he wrote in a Facebook post.

PM Wong added that Dr Lee had also written newspaper columns later in her career, where she shared her stoic outlook on life as well as stories of Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

"Many readers would have come away enriched by her strong convictions and incisive observations," he said.

SM Lee said his sister had expounded her views "trenchantly and vividly" in her column in The Sunday Times.

Some of these pieces were later published in a book titled A Hakka Woman's Singapore Stories: My Life As A Daughter, Doctor And Diehard Singaporean.

Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean said in a Facebook post: "Dr Lee Wei Ling was a passionate and dedicated person. She put her all into what she did, in particular as a doctor. Over the five decades we've known each other, we had a number of deep discussions on the issues which meant much to her, like early childhood education.

"She remained stoic in her final years, though she was afflicted with a degenerative and debilitating illness and saw just a few close family members and associates."

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.