SINGAPORE — Almost 130,000 people have waited for as long as eight hours to pay tribute to Singapore’s first prime minister as more stand in line to view the body of Lee Kuan Yew, who lay in state Thursday for a second day.
Lee died Monday at 91 after being hospitalized on Feb. 5 for severe pneumonia. His state-flag-draped coffin was carried to Parliament House on a gun carriage from the presidential palace on Wednesday. As of 6 p.m. Thursday, 124,660 people had visited Lee’s body at the venue, the government said, after it allowed mourners 24-hour access.
Roads were closed, events canceled and lights turned off at some buildings as the Southeast Asian nation remembered Lee, who led the island from 1959 to 1990 and stepped down from the cabinet in 2011. Lee’s state funeral on Tuesday will be attended by government leaders including Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Australia’s Tony Abbott, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Park Geun-hye, as well as former President Bill Clinton.
“Singapore shared this founding father with the world,” U.S. Ambassador to Singapore Kirk Wagar, said in an interview. “We feel like we’ve been a part of this journey.” Wagar is attending the funeral as part of a five-member U.S. delegation led by Clinton that also includes former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Lee’s friend for decades.