By Huileng Tan, P.R. Venkat and Jake Maxwell Watts
SINGAPORE-- Google Inc. added an image of a black ribbon to its
local website, DBS Group Holdings Ltd. kept its building logos dark
and school children observed a minute of silence.
Throughout Singapore on Tuesday, people paid tribute to Lee Kuan
Yew, the country's first prime minister on the second day of
mourning after his death.
"Our lives are all much easier because of him," said Wang
Liping, a 70-year-old cleaning woman who is illiterate. She said
Mr. Lee once visited her village and helped her three children get
financial aid for education and today, all three are university
graduates with good jobs. "I was planning to let my children drop
out of school because we had no money," she said.
Mr. Lee, who led Singapore for 31 years and was widely credited
with transforming the former British outpost into a global trade
and finance powerhouse, died at Singapore General Hospital early
Monday. The Singapore government declared a seven-day period of
national mourning and Parliament will hold a special session on
Thursday to pay tribute to Mr. Lee, who was still a serving member
of parliament at his death. A state funeral will be held on
Sunday.
Outside Parliament House, people left messages for Mr. Lee and
his family on condolence cards.
"#No Yew No Us, thank you RIP," one said in English. "A great
man who transformed the fortunes of Singapore, we will always
remember," another said in Chinese.
A private wake took place Tuesday morning at Istana, the
presidential palace and official residence of the prime minister,
where Mr. Lee's family, friends and colleagues gathered. Among
those attending were Singapore President Tony Tan and Hong Kong
billionaire Li Ka-shing.
Foreign companies and local firms made arrangements for their
employees to pay tribute to Mr. Lee, whose body will lie in state
at Parliament House from Wednesday to Saturday.
DBS, Singapore's largest bank by assets, said that in addition
to keeping the bank's logo on building dark, its flags at overseas
locations will be flown at half-mast.
Schools in Singapore also flew flags at half-mast and observed a
minute's silence to reflect on Mr. Lee contributions to the
country.
Meanwhile, train stations replaced advertisements with screens
showing Mr. Lee's name and years of his birth and death.
"We arrived yesterday and heard of his passing, so we bought
some flowers and came to pay our respects," said Australian tourist
Slavka Tanasoska outside Parliament House.
Newley Purnell contributed to this article.
Write to P.R. Venkat at venkat.pr@wsj.com
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