Birthday website set up for former PM Lee Kuan Yew
The ruling People’s Action Party has set up a special birthday website for former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who turns 91 on Tuesday.
The website, http://www.happybirthdaylky.org, allows users to post messages that will appear in a live-updating e-card stream on a separate page.
It also catches birthday wishes with the hashtag #happybirthdayLKY posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as long as users have their privacy settings on “Public”.
In a post on its Facebook page on Saturday evening, the PAP said it was a move to “do our part” amid a #happybirthdayLKY movement that “has taken Singapore by storm”, a movement that appears to have been started by local designer Catherine Leck.
Leck uploaded a video of herself putting together a confetti art depiction of Lee, encouraging other Singaporeans to put up tributes in their own creative ways to various social media platforms. Since then, hundreds of well-wishes have poured in, in a live stream of posts.
When Lee turned 90 in 2013, a tribute was held in Parliament where he appeared for about half an hour, with Members of Parliament cutting a birthday cake for him afterward.
In recent years, Lee has suffered from a variety of health problems including abnormal heart rhythm, peripheral neuropathy and bacterial invasions. At the recent National Day Parade held at the Marina Bay floating platform on August 9, a frail-looking Lee appeared to thunderous applause.
Lee is Singapore’s first Prime Minister, and also its longest-serving Member of Parliament. He is additionally acknowledged to be one of history’s longest-serving Cabinet ministers.
